The arrest of Ovidio Guzman, the son of jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has sparked a rampage of violence in the northwestern Mexican city of Culiacan, led by members of his Sinaloa drug cartel.
Gunfire has erupted, vehicles have been torched and roads blocked while cartel members clash with security forces. So far, at least 10 military personnel and 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel have been killed.
The violence has prompted government authorities to warn residents to stay indoors. The Culiacan and Mazatlan airports have been closed and all flights had been suspended at the Los Mochis airport until further notice, according to Canada’s Global Affairs. The Canadian government is urging Canadians in Mexico’s Sinaloa state to limit their movements and to shelter in place.
CBC News explains what’s causing the violence, and how it’s impacting Canadians travelling in the area.
Where is the violence taking place?
The violence is centred in northwestern Mexico, in the state of Sinaloa — specifically the state capital of Culiacan. This is about 1,200 kilometres northwest of Mexico City, and the home base of the Sinaloa cartel.
How is the violence affecting Canadians in Mexico?
Canadians vacationing in resorts in that area say they’ve been sheltering inside their hotels until the violence subsides.
On Thursday afternoon, Global Affairs Canada warned Canadians in Sinaloa to take extra care, especially in the cities of Culiacan, Mazatlan, Los Mochis and Guasave, and told Canadians to avoid non-essential travel in those areas.
Canadians in Mazatlan on impact of nearby violence
As the Canadian government encourages people travelling in Mexico to limit their movements in parts of the country due to an outbreak of cartel-related violence, two Canadians talk about how they’re getting through this challenging situation.
Patrick Hayden, a Canadian who is vacationing in Mazatlan, told CBC News that he was bit concerned — mostly because of reports of trouble at the nearby airport, where he had been scheduled to fly out on Friday.
“Also, where I’m staying is a very popular tourist destination and could be that we might be a target, but that doesn’t look like that right now,” he said.
“Today there is a lot of frustration and concern,” about being able to leave, he said. “But at this point we mostly recognize that it’s really out of our hands, so we’re just going to have to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.”
Who is Ovidio Guzman?
Guzman, 32, who goes by the nickname “The Mouse,” is the oldest son of El Chapo — Mexico’s most notorious drug lord. Guzman and his brothers emerged as leaders of one of the four factions in the cartel following their father’s arrest.
Juan Carlos Ayala, a Culiacan resident and Sinaloa University professor who studies the sociology of drug trafficking, told the Associated Press that Guzman was an obvious target since at least 2019.
This Oct. 17, 2019, frame grab from video provided by the Mexican government shows Ovidio Guzman during an earlier arrest in Culiacan. Later that same day, Mexican security forces were forced to release him after his gunmen shot up the western city of Culiacan. (Cepropie/The Associated Press)
“Ovidio’s fate had been decided. Moreover, he was identified as the biggest trafficker of fentanyl and the most visible Chapos leader.”
According to the U.S. and Mexican governments, Guzman had assumed a growing role among his brothers in carrying on their father’s business.
In December 2021, the State Department announced a $5 million US reward for information leading to the arrest of conviction of Guzman, who has been charged in the U.S. with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States.
The State Department said Guzman oversees methamphetamine labs in Sinaloa responsible for producing 3,000 to 5,000 pounds (1,360 to 2,268 kilograms) of the drug per month.
He is currently being held in a Mexico City maximum security federal prison.
His father is serving a life-plus-30-years sentence at a Colorado Supermax security prison for a series of drug-related charges.
Wasn’t Ovidio Guzman arrested before?
Guzman was detained in 2019 but was quickly released by orders of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador after hundreds of cartel henchmen overwhelmed security forces in Culiacan.
Obrador later acknowledged he released Guzman to end the violent retribution.
Why has the cartel reacted this way?
Such a show of force is not new in Mexico, said Angélica Durán-Martínez, an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. She is also an expert in political and criminal violence, drug trade and crime in Latin American politics.
“That’s associated partially with all the changes the political and criminal landscape of Mexico has experienced over the past decade and a half,” she said. “[It’s] basically a situation of political fragmentation and criminal fragmentation which varies across the states. But that creates a situation where criminal actors have become more blatant in their power.”
Security personnel guard the prosecutor’s building where Guzman is in custody in Mexico City on Thursday. (Fernando Llano/The Associated Press)
Javier Osorio, an assistant professor at the school of government and public policy at the University of Arizona, who studies political and criminal violence in Latin American, said that around 20 years ago, cartels began acquiring high-powered military-grade weaponry.
That means they now have the capacity to fight back, “especially when the government strikes a very high target like this one. They will let the government know that they can fight,” he said.
How powerful is the Sinaloa cartel?
While other cartels have fragmented and lost their leader, or even dismantled, the Sinaloa cartel has managed to survive despite a lot of government effort to dismantle them, Osorio said.
In terms of drug-related activities, they control the Sinaloa corridor, which has traditionally been an opium-producing region. But over the last five years, the cartel has focused more on producing fentanyl, Osario said.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers the Sinaloa cartel, along with the the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) to be responsible for most of the fentanyl inside the United Sates.
Federal government warns Canadians in Mexico to limit movement amid erupting violence
Canada’s government is urging Canadians in Mexico’s Sinaloa state to limit their movements and shelter in place amid an outbreak of violence in the country’s northwest following the arrest of Ovidio Guzman, a 32-year-old senior member of the Sinaloa Cartel and a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.
Since the arrest of El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel has been composed of four key factions, one that includes El Chapo’s brother and another that includes his four sons, known collectively as Los Chapitos, according to Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington.
Durán-Martínez said there are sectors of the population that support the Sinaloa cartel, “because they have received social support from them and that became more blatant in the past few years, like giving food or giving groceries to people or giving money or sponsoring parties.”
But there are many people who are “absolutely tired” of the violence and of the reputation to their city and state from the cartel, and oppose their actions, she said.
What impact will his arrest have on the cartel?
When El Chapo was arrested, the cartel seemed to have a very clear succession plan in place, Osorio said.
“He was arrested and the cartel remains consolidated. They did not fragment like many other cartels when they lose their leadership,” he said.
Firefighters extinguish a vehicle set on fire by members of a drug gang as a barricade, following the detention of Guzman, in Mazatlan, Mexico, on Thursday. (Reuters)
“If they will remain stable within and everybody stays loyal to the El Chapo legacy, then they’re going to keep the cartel intact and without much infighting.”
Durán-Martínez said it’s difficult to predict what will happen next, as incarceration of a major criminal leader can potentially lead to more infighting inside the organization, and therefore, to more violence.
“I think we may see some instability in the short term. The organization is, I think, a little bit more unstable internally than it was in the past,” she said.
“Whether that will lead to the dismantlement of the Sinaloa cartel or of criminal organizations in Sinaloa, I think the answer is no.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
