PREVIOUS FAILED ARREST
Ovidio Guzman was captured briefly once before in 2019, but security forces freed him after his cartel waged an all-out war in response.
Several people were killed on that occasion in the Sinaloa state capital Culiacan as gunmen launched a massive machine-gun assault, leaving the streets strewn with blazing vehicles.
His release prompted sharp criticism of Lopez Obrador, who said the decision was made to protect civilians’ lives.
The Sinaloa state government urged people to stay at home on Thursday following the latest arrest.
Lopez Obrador has struggled to curb the brutal violence racking Mexico since taking office in 2018.
He championed a “hugs not bullets” strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots by fighting poverty and inequality with social programs, rather than with the army.
The left-wing populist has asked the United States to invest in regional economic development instead of sending helicopter gunships and other weapons to take on drug traffickers.
Mexico has registered more than 340,000 murders since the government controversially deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006, most of them blamed on criminal gangs.
On Sunday, cartel gunmen attacked a prison in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, leaving nearly 20 people dead and allowing 25 inmates to flee.
The next day, seven people were killed during a police operation to recapture the prisoners.
The escapees included Ernesto Alfredo Pinon, known as “El Neto,” the leader of a gang allied with the Juarez drug cartel.
Pinon, who had been sentenced to more than 200 years in prison in 2010 for kidnapping and murder, was killed on Thursday in a shootout with security forces, authorities said.
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