Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

‘We do not want war’: Mexican authorities defend letting El Chapo’s son go after drug cartel unleashed hell on Culiacan (VIDEOS)

‘We do not want war’: Mexican authorities defend letting El Chapo’s son go after drug cartel unleashed hell on Culiacan (VIDEOS)

The Mexican government struggled to defend its decision to release the son of Sinaloa cartel leader El Chapo after heavily-armed narcos broke dozens of reinforcements out of prison and turned Culiacan into a bloody war zone.
​Previous governments’ strategy “turned this country into a cemetery, and we don’t want that anymore,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters on Friday, defending his decision to release Ovidio Guzman, one of the sons of notorious incarcerated drug lord El Chapo.

War is what authorities got after national guard and army troops raided a house where Guzman and three associates were staying.

At least eight people were killed and 21 wounded as hundreds of heavily-armed cartel gunmen took the city hostage, blocking off roads with burning vehicles, occupying toll booths, and surrounding the house where some 35 military and police forces had cornered Guzman.

Some 56 prisoners at nearby Aguaruto prison escaped during the chaos, taking guards hostage, seizing their weapons, and commandeering vehicles at gunpoint as they rushed out into the streets. By Friday, 49 were still on the loose.

Numerous videos taken by shocked locals show heavily-armed men riding around in vehicles, some with mounted machine guns, terrorizing the city as civilians dived for shelter. Gun battles raged for hours between the cartel and the government.

Cartel gunmen sent several threatening videos to military commanders in the area, one showing army troops being held hostage and another showing a uniformed soldier executed with a shot to the head – though it was unclear if the latter was filmed on Thursday as the violence engulfed the city.

Heavily outnumbered, and with nine of their own men reportedly taken hostage by cartel forces, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo made the decision to retreat and release Guzman. Blaming a group of police eager to nab Guzman without consideration for the cartel’s reaction, Durazo called the arrest attempt a “failure,” pointing out that they didn’t even wait for a search warrant before rushing into the house.

A lawyer for the Guzman family said they would cover medical expenses for the wounded – and funeral expenses for the dead. “The family apologizes to the people of Sinaloa, and particularly to the people of Culiacan,” José Luis González Meza told a news conference on Friday.

“The message of the family, and of the mother of ‘El Chapo', María Consuelo, and (the mother) of Ovidio, Griselda López, is of thanks to the President of the Republic, López Obrador… We have a human, Christian president, who finally did not make the decision to harm Ovidio.” Another family lawyer, Juan Pablo Badillo, praised “a manly order, an intelligent order, a sensible order” given by the president to release Guzman.

The city was still largely shut down on Friday, with schools closed, most public transportation offline, and businesses asking employees to stay home. The battle was the second clash between police and the cartels this week – the Jalisco New Generation cartel, a rival of the Sinaloa, ambushed and killed 13 police officers on Tuesday.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×