General This Is Rather Quite "Gangster" - El Chapo's Kid Escapes

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KWingJitsu

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Nov 15, 2015
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The Stunning Escape of El Chapo’s Son: It’s Like ‘a Bad Netflix Show’

MEXICO CITY — Escape, it seems, is a trait shared in the Guzmán family.

So is embarrassing the government of Mexico.

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Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as El Chapo, eluded the grasp of the government numerous times — in tunnels, behind closets, beneath bathtubs and through steep ravines in the remote mountains of Sinaloa. He even managed to escape prison, twice.

The latest family member to escape apprehension — El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán Lopez — managed his own feat of government humiliation this week, when cartel henchmen forced a patrol of at least 30 members of government forces to release him after he had been captured.

The stunning surrender — with Mexican forces badly outmatched, taken hostage by outlaws and forced to let loose a prominent suspect in their custody — began with a siege on the city of Culiacán on Thursday by members of the Sinaloa Cartel, once headed by El Chapo. Videos of fierce gun battles in the street, armed men blocking roads, residents fleeing to safety and clouds of black smoke rising from burning vehicles swamped social media.

Reports swirled that after the capture of the younger Mr. Guzmán, his cartel mounted a fierce assault to win his freedom and prevent his extradition to the United States. But the government remained silent, asking citizens to stay indoors and avoid being in the street throughout most of the day.

© Alfredo Estrella/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A burnt vehicle after gunmen fought Mexican security forces in Culiacán, Sinaloa State.
Later, it clarified, at least partially, saying a patrol had stumbled on Mr. Guzmán, but had suspended the operation when it became outnumbered and outgunned by enemy fighters. The next morning the truth came out, pried loose by local media. The patrol was actually a planned operation to capture Mr. Guzmán and extradite him to the United States, the government acknowledged on Friday.

The armed forces managed to detain him, but they were forced to let him go after eight of their members were taken by force and held hostage, the government said. Surrounded by enemies, with no clear plan for backup on ground or in the air, and no clear exit strategy, the soldiers relented and gave Mr. Guzmán back.

“Decisions were made that I support, that I endorse because the situation turned very bad and lots of citizens were at risk, lots of people and it was decided to protect the life of the people,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a news conference on Friday. “You cannot value the life of a delinquent more than the lives of the people.”

According to a former American official and another person briefed on the matter, the force behind the cartel’s rapid and effective response was yet another Guzmán — El Chapo’s older son, Ivan, who has taken a prominent role in the cartel since his father was caught, extradited to the United States and sentenced to life in prison in July on drug, murder and money laundering charges.

They said that Ivan was initially captured by the military as well, but that his henchmen quickly overpowered the armed forces and secured his release. Once free, the elder brother then orchestrated a staggering show of force to secure the freedom of his brother, Ovidio.
 
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The police took a mugshot and everything. And then all Lopez's boys showed up with the heavy weaponry.

Now all the police have is a picture