AFTER more than six months of surveillance and planning, Mexican security forces were able to capture drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, 32, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in Culiacan, Mexico, on January 5.
The mission to arrest the young Guzman came at an outrageous cost, however. Twenty-nine 29 lives — soldiers, policemen and drug cartel fighters — were lost, along with burned buildings, trucks, cars, houses and damaged military aircraft; several persons wounded, airport operations disrupted, and other economic downsides.
Mexico Secretary of Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval said 19 suspected gang members and 10 military personnel were killed in a wave of violence that occurred during and mostly after the arrest. Guzman is now detained at a maximum security federal prison after he was extracted by helicopter from a house in Sinaloa.
News reports said the arrest spurred the powerful Sinaloa cartel to go on a rampage, blocking streets with burning vehicles, indiscriminate firing of weapons, and generally terrorizing the residents of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa.
‘The quagmire into which Mexico City and Sinaloa have fallen, where the cartels exercise influence over the government because of their firepower and organization, serves as a lesson for the Philippines and its leaders.’
It may be recalled that in 2019, the Sinaloa cartel humiliated the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador following a failed military operation to arrest Ovidio Guzman. Security forces then briefly detained Ovidio, and drug cartel operatives also moved to terrorize the city, putting pressure on Lopez Obrador to release their boss. This kid-gloves handling of the drug cartels by the Mexican government during the last two years resulted in their consolidation, purchase of more powerful arms, and recruitment of even daring and ruthless fighters for the next two years — all financed by the millions of dollars they make from production and distribution of illegal drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
The Sinaloa cartel operatives tried to do another city-wide terror attack just like in 2019 to force the government to release their leader but it failed this time. One reason is that US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Mexico next week and President Lopez Obrador had to project an image of strength and a stable peace and order status.
The quagmire into which Mexico City and Sinaloa have fallen, where the cartels exercise influence over the government because of their firepower and organization, serves as a lesson for the Philippines and its leaders.
Seeing how a government and its courts and law enforcement institutions can be overwhelmed by strong criminal syndicates, we can not appreciate the tenacity and persistence of former President Rodrigo Duterte in fighting the drug lords and their minions in the Philippines.
With Duterte gone, the drug syndicates in the Philippines are fiercely reclaiming old ground and seeking new business horizons, so that it is now up to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to save and build on the gains of the Duterte administration in this campaign.
