The arrest of Ovidio Guzmn, the son of the Sinaloa cartel lord, during an operation on Thursday: a message to the US
A source from the Mexican federal government told CNN that Ovidio Guzmn, the son of notorious drug lord El Chapo, was arrested in an operation in the north of the country on Thursday.
The state of Sinaloa is home to the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the world’s most powerful narcotics trafficking organizations. “El Chapo” was the leader of the cartel before he was sentenced to life in prison in 2020.
He was released on orders of the President after he was previously arrested by federal authorities.
Social media videos appear to show trucks on fire and intense shooting near the airport, which was closed for most of the day due to the violence. CNN has not yet verified these videos.
The secretary of public security in the state of Sinaloa asked the public not to leave the city because vehicles were being robbed and blockades were taking place.
School and administrative activities were suspended in Culiacn, where the education secretary had urged people in a risk area to take refuge in a safe place.
Ahead of the North American Leaders Summit in Mexico City, President Joe Biden and head of Canadian Government,Justin Trudeau, have been arrested.
Capturing Guzmán could be a way for López Obrador to show the US that he is “in control of the armed forces and Mexico’s security situation,” Gladys McCormick, a associate professor at Syracuse University who focuses on Mexico-U.S. relations, told CNN in an email.
“It also defuses the power behind any ask from the Biden administration to stem the tide of fentanyl and other narcotics across the border,” she added.
Law enforcement investigations show that Guzmn and his brother, Joaqun Guzmn-Lpez, were beneficiaries, according to the State Department.
They invested large amounts of the cash into buying marijuana in Mexico and cocaine in South America. They also began purchasing large amounts of ephedrine from Argentina and arranged for the smuggling of the product into Mexico as they began to experiment with methamphetamine production,” the State Department said.
The father of the twins was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the US for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking and firearms charges. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture.
U.S. Citizens in Mexico and the Latavia Washington McGee-Jacobi Kidnapping Tracers for Drug Trafficking
The four Americans who authorities say were kidnapped in Mexico on Friday were a tight-knit group of friends traveling from South Carolina so one of them – a mother of six – could undergo a medical procedure across the border, two family members told CNN.
According to her mother, Latavia Washington McGee was going to Mexico with four others for a procedure that never came about.
She said she was told by the FBI that her daughter had been kidnapped and was in danger. “They said if she calls me to call them,” she said.
“Given the presumption that they are American citizens, a line of direct communication was established with US authorities to exchange information and dedicated to locating them. These communications are being carried out at the highest level between the State Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the United States Embassy in Mexico,” Barrios Mojica said.
Investigators believe the Americans were mistakenly targeted by a Mexican cartel that likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers, a US official familiar with the ongoing investigation tells CNN.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/americas/mexico-matamoros-us-citizens-kidnapping-tuesday/index.html
The group of friends that made Brown’s sister laugh: It’s just tight like that. “When Zinchell is like my hip bone, he is my shadow,” she told CNN
According to Brown’s sister, the group of friends were bonding like glue. She added, that she and her brother are also close. “Zinchell is like my hip bone, he is my shadow, he is my son.” We’re just tight like that.”
Mexico has become a popular destination for “medical tourism,” attracting travelers who may be seeking cheaper alternatives or medical treatments that are unapproved or unavailable in the US. But the CDC warns the growing trend can carry dangerous risks depending on the destination and facility, including infection and possible post-procedure complications.
An unnamed U.S. official reportedly told CNN that the U.S. citizens had “traveled to the border city of Matamoros for medical procedures,” citing receipts found in the abandoned vehicle.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday that the group had crossed the border to “buy medicines” and assured the “whole government” is working to resolve the case.
These kinds of attacks are not acceptable. Our thoughts are with the families of these individuals and we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday, adding that the State and Homeland Security departments are coordinating with Mexican authorities.
Washington McGee’s aunt, Mary McFadden, told CNN that when the family hadn’t heard from the group of friends by Sunday, they began searching online for any news related to their travel destination. Then, the family saw a video McFadden described as showing her niece being kidnapped.
She was recognized by the group for her blonde hair. She said she could recognize her niece’s clothes from the live video that Washington posted to Facebook earlier Friday.
She said that Washington was a mother and that she needed to come back here to care for her children.
Tamaulipas: Investigating the alleged kidnapping of a woman and other people at gunpoint in a Mexico City
There is a video obtained by CNN showing a woman and other people getting loaded into a truck. CNN has confirmed that the video matches the event but has not independently confirmed that four Americans are shown in the video.
Additionally, photos obtained by CNN appear to show fragments of the scene where the situation occurred, including the car believed to have been driven by the Americans crashed with another vehicle before they were taken at gunpoint from the scene.
The FBI would not confirm the authenticity of the photos, but CNN has geolocated the images and confirmed their authenticity with a US official with knowledge of the investigation.
The photos also show a woman looking at and then sitting next to three people lying on the ground outside a white minivan. The van has all the doors open. It is unclear whether the four people in the photos are the US citizens.
The woman was loaded onto the bed of a white pickup truck with several other people laying on the street, the photos show.
Investigators trying to locate the US citizens and identify those involved in the alleged kidnapping have been working to gather surveillance footage, collect ballistics and fingerprint evidence, take biological samples for genetic profiles and process the vehicles involved, Tamaulipas officials said.
A joint task force of federal and state agencies has been created for “processing all the information related to the case” and maintaining constant communication with US officials, Barrios Mojica, the Tamaulipas Attorney General, said.
The public is being asked to help the FBI locate the Americans and identify anyone involved in the incident. A $50,000 reward was announced by the agency for the return of the victims.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/07/americas/mexico-matamoros-us-citizens-kidnapping-tuesday/index.html
The U.S. Ambassador to the Matamoros City of Tamaulipas (Mexico) met with the Mexican President
The country of Mexico has been battling crime and drug traffickers since at least 2006 and ongoing violence has plagued some Mexican cities.
Matamoros, a city in the state of Tamaulipas, has a population of more than 500,000 people and is located just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. The city was the site of a large group of migrants hoping to cross into the US.
The State Department says that criminals target public and private passenger buses and private cars in order to get people to pay their debts.
A meeting between the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and the Mexican President was held in Mexico City on Monday as the condition and whereabouts of four Americans who were kidnapped remain unknown.
The group of U.S. citizens were travelling from Texas to Matamoros when they were attacked by people who fired on them. The Americans were driving a white minivan with North Carolina license plates.
Salazar said various law enforcement agencies are working with Mexican authorities “at all levels of government to achieve the safe return of our compatriots.”
We want to be very careful here. Jean-Pierre told reporters that there were privacy concerns, and so he didn’t want to give too much information on how they were moving forward.
The White House and the FBI did not give any further information about the attack beyond what the ambassador and the FBI had said.
A U.S. State Department “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory on Tamaulipas’ “Violent” Region
The state of Tamaulipas is considered one of Mexico’s most violent places. The U.S. State Department’s “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory was issued in October due to crime and kidnapping.