Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador admitted he told the military to release Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s son during an October 2019 operation because hundreds of innocent lives were at stake.
‘I ordered that operation be stopped and that this alleged criminal be released,’ López Obrador said Friday during his daily morning press briefing.
The shocking revelation came to light while the leftist leader broached the subject of protecting his nation’s sovereignty when it comes to security issues, saying that on several occasions he rejected support offered by U.S. President Donald Trump to have American federal agents or troops intervene.
‘The decision was made when it was decided not to put the population at risk so that civilians were not affected because more than 200 people would lose their lives if we did not suspend the operation in Culiacán,’ López Obrador said.
Mexican security forces got wind of Ovidio Guzmán’s location the afternoon of October 17, 2019 after officials in Washington pushed for his extradition to shut down the Sinaloa Cartel’s alleged fentanyl trafficking to the United States.
Ovidio Guzmán stands down as the Mexican military raided his home in Culiacán, Mexico, on October 17, 2019, resulting in a violent response ordered by one of his siblings before Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered his release
During a press conference Friday, Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador admitted he ‘ordered that operation be stopped’ and for Ovidio Guzmán to be released the afternoon of October 17, 2019 when security forces temporarily detained Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s son as a result of an extradition request by the United States
Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán is serving a life sentence in the United States
What ensued next was complete chaos in the streets of Culiacán, a city in the cartel’s home state of Sinaloa, as an army of armed operatives responded with an assault that seemed to overpower the military and local police with grenade launchers and assault rifles in a war-like battle that left 13 people dead.
Video footage showed Ovidio Guzmán 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 order him to stand down in response to the house being surrounded.
The cartel’s counterattack also include the kidnapping of several military officials, who were eventually released.
High-powered artillery overwhelmed the surrounding streets while a soldier says, ‘tell them to stop everything.
A body is seen laying on the street after the deadly gun battle on October 17, 2019. Culiacán exploded in violence with armed cartel members in trucks roaring through the city’s streets shooting at soldiers with machine guns
A Mexican soldier records the moment Ovidio instructs his brother Iván Archivaldo to stop attacking security forces
Dozens of bullet casings litter the sidewalk in Mexico on October 18, 2019, a day after heavily armed gunmen attacked the military and forced the release of El Chapo’s son
A video captures the moment cartel members took to the streets with machine guns and grenade launchers in an attempt to stop the arrest of El Chapo’s son
Ovidio Guzmán is heard telling his sibling, ‘stop this, stop this. I already turned myself in,’ during the phone conversation.
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.
Toward 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.’
Dead bodies lie next to a car during the October 17, 2019 clashes between Sinaloa Cartel gunmen and federal forces following the detention of Ovidio Guzmán before Mexico President López Obrador ordered his release
A truck burns in a street of Culiacán, Sinaloa, during a war-like battle between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Mexican security forces on October 17, 2019
Later that afternoon, police withdrew from the residence, having released Guzmán in exchange for a ceasefire.
President López Obrador also sounded off on the offer from the Trump administration to assist with investigations of the November 2019 massacre of nine Mormon mothers and children, with dual U.S.-Mexico citizenship, in the northern state of Sonora that was reportedly carried out by Los Jaguares, an off-shoot of the Sinaloa Cartel.
‘We will not allow any foreign government to interfere in matters that only correspond to the Mexican authorities,’ López Obrador said. ‘That is to respect, to assert our sovereignty.’
‘This does not mean that there is no cooperation, there is cooperation,’ the Mexican leader added. ‘But we decide if that cooperation can help as long as our sovereignty is respected.’
‘El Chapo’ Guzmán is serving a life sentence in the United States.
A burnt vehicle sat across the street from a soccer stadium in Culiacán, Mexico, a day after armed gunmen waged an all-out assault against the Mexican military