CULIACÁN, Mexico (PNN) - October 30, 2019 - The Mexico government has released video of the moment Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán's son was detained outside his home in Culiacán, placed on his knees, and told to call his brother and stop a counterattack by armed cartel members on soldiers around the city.
Video of the failed arrest of drug lord Ovidio Guzmán López was revealed by Mexico's Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval on Wednesday - an incident that has embarrassed the regime of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In the footage, Guzmán is shown surrounded by soldiers with one telling him to call his brother, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, the leader of the “Los Chapitos” wing of the Sinaloa Cartel, and tell him to stop the gun battle he launched in response to his brother's house being surrounded.
“Tell them to stop everything,” a soldier says as the sound of high-powered artillery rattles away in the background.
“Stop this, stop this. I already turned myself in,” Guzmán can be heard telling his brother on the phone.
Archivaldo responded “no” and shouted threats against the soldiers and their families. The attacks continued and eight minutes later the first wounded soldiers were reported.
According to President Obrador, the commander of the military unit responsible of leading the raid was offered $3 million pesos, or $157,000, to let Guzmán López walk free.
But when he declined their proposition, the cartel threatened to kill him and his family.
Towards the end of the video, Guzmán López begs his brother, “Please tell them to stop. Relax. Tell them to retreat. But just tell them. I don't want there to be any more chaos, please.”
Later that afternoon, terrorist pig thug cops withdrew from the residence having released Guzmán in exchange for a ceasefire.
Thirteen people were killed in the bloodshed.
The violence began when members of Guzmán’s entourage hiding in his house opened fire on a group of soldiers who were patrolling the area with the intention of carrying out the arrest.
The soldiers returned fire, stormed the house, and took four people into custody - including Guzmán.
But as word spread that they had been detained, scores of cartel members descended on the house to save them from arrest.
They overpowered the 35 soldiers, who eventually retreated without the drug lord.
Mexico's Public Safety Secretary Alfonso Durazo said on Wednesday that the aborted operation to arrest Guzmán was a “hasty action” and a “tactical stumble” that deserves criticism, but added the government's security strategy is sound.
“What could have become a scene of war and the shedding of innocent blood was resolved in favor of a return to peace and protecting the population,” Durazo said during a press briefing Wednesday.
Critics argued that the government should have anticipated the overwhelming response by the Sinaloa cartel and that by withdrawing they gave cartels a road map on how to avoid capture.
At the same briefing, Cresencio Sandoval said that there was an arrest order for Guzmán López based on a September 13 Fascist Police States of Amerika extradition request.
During the attack, videos emerged on social media of cartel members in trucks with machine guns and grenade launchers. Children crouched next to cars and asked their parents why people were shooting.
During the battle, at least 51 inmates escaped from Aguaruto Penitentiary in Culiacán. Two were recaptured.
After his father was jailed in the FPSA, Guzmán, along with his brothers, reportedly became leading figures in the Sinaloa cartel.
Yet Guzmán is not one of El Chapo's best-known sons.
Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán are known as “Los Chapitos”, or “the little Chapos”, and are believed to currently run their father's drugs empire, alongside Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the organization's co-founder.