Mexico broadcasts dramatic video showing how military operation against El Chapo’s son fell apart
- Authorities briefly captured suspected trafficker earlier this month, but were forced to release him to avoid bloodbath
Mexican soldiers who detained a son of the jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman forced him to telephone his brothers in a desperate effort to call off a rescue attempt by cartel gunmen.
Instead, the call triggered a fresh onslaught in the northern city of Culiacan as the Sinaloa cartel mounted a terrifying show of strength that eventually prompted the outnumbered soldiers to free the capo’s son in exchange for their lives.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador insisted the report would rebut the arguments of critics who say the disastrous operation has made his government appear weak and have called on him reconsider his commitment to a non-confrontational “hugs not bullets” security strategy.
“We want everything to be known. That’s how we demonstrate the responsibility of the actions taken in a complex, difficult, and very serious situation,” the president said.
