The sons of infamous drug lord JoaquÃn 'El Chapo' Guzmán have been enforcing a 'curfew' in place on the citizens of the ci...
The sons of infamous drug lord JoaquÃn 'El Chapo' Guzmán have been enforcing a 'curfew' in place on the citizens of the city of Culiacán, northwestern Mexico, due to the coronavirus crisis.
The sons, known as 'Los Chapitos' or 'the little Chapos', have threatened to 'sanction' any who do not comply with the 10 p.m. curfew, and have even sent their henchmen to torture anyone found breaking it.
Iván Archivaldo Guzmán and Jesús Alfredo's men have posted videos of themselves patrolling the streets in cars, which has then been shared online by concerned Mexicans.
Two of El Chapo's sons (Los Chapitos), Ovidio Guzmán López (left) and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán (right). Iván Archivaldo Guzmán is one of the sons who has been enforcing the 10 p.m. coronavirus curfew in Culiacán, threatening anyone who breaks it with violence
In the video, people in the patrolling car can be heard warning that anyone who does not comply with the curfew would face punishments such as 'boardings' (being beaten with a plank of wood), 'arrests', and also face 'fines'.
'After ten o'clock at night, all the people must be inside their homes due to the coronavirus, otherwise they will be punished, these are orders 'from above (from Los Chapitos)', one voice can be heard saying in the video.
'This is no game, we're not playing.'
In a separate video, an apparent enforcer for the cartel says 'anybody caught after 10 o´clock, if not an essential worker, will be 'lifted' for two days (and face boarding), and will have to pay a fine.'
The cartel members say that only those essential workers returning home after their workday will be allowed on the streets during the curfew.
Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is escorted as he arrives at Long Island MacArthur airport in New York, U.S., January 19, 2017, after his extradition from Mexico
El Chapo was captured in 2016 in Mexico, extradited to America in 2017 and handed a life-sentence in the U.S. in 2019, when he was found guilty of a number of criminal charges relating to his leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel. He is now serving a life sentence in ADX Florence.
The 'Los Chapitos' have reportedly taken up key roles in the cartel, with Iván Archivaldo Guzmán and Jesús Alfredo now reportedly leading it along with Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada.
Culiacán has been the epicenter of much violence relating to El Chapo's sons, and the Los Chapitos control drug sales the city, the capital of Sinaloa, including a growing trade in methamphetamine, according to one official in October.
In 2019, Ovidio Guzmán López, one of El Chapos sons, was found in Culiacán by police who came across him by chance. The police attempted to arrest him without military support.
In response to López's capture, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, another of the 'Los Chapitos' and now one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, ordered hundreds of heavily armed men to take over the city and force the release of his step-brother.
Despite El Chapo being incarcerated, his influence in Mexico is still felt. While his family has a reputation for violance, his daughter has reportedly been organizing the distribution of PPE to people vulnerable to the coronavirus. Pictured: A woman distributes face masks with El Chapo's picture printed on them
Mexican security forces had Guzman Lopez outside a house on his knees against a wall before they were forced to back off and let him go as his cartel's gunmen shot up the Culiacan.
It was like nothing Mexico had seen before, a military-style operation that outfoxed and outnumbered security forces, leaving the city shocked and smoldering.
The show of strength dashed hopes the cartel was seriously weakened by the life sentence El Chapo received in the United States this year.
A humbled Mexican government was forced to order Ovidio's release, opting against a bloodier confrontation that officials later said could have claimed hundreds of lives.
In further retaliation, the police officer who first arrested Ovidio Guzmán López, was shot in killed in broad daylight, reportedly receiving over 150 bullet wounds.
This October 17, 2019, frame grab from video provided by the Mexican government shows Ovidio Guzman Lopez at the moment of his detention, in Culiacan, Mexico, before the violence broke out
Culiacán has been the epicenter of much violence relating to El Chapo's sons, and the Los Chapitos control drug sales in the city, the capital of Sinaloa
Not only were the new generation of Guzmans, collectively known as Los Chapitos, keeping alive their family's near-mythical outlaw reputation, they were doing it with a brazenness akin to open warfare.
'We're facing a new generation of organized crime that doesn't respect civilians,' Cristobal Castaneda, head of Sinaloa state security, told Reuters after the attacks.
Four surviving sons of El Chapo are known to be regulars in Culiacan's nightclubs and restaurants, despite U.S. indictments against them even before October's dramatic show of force.
A concrete monument in the parking lot of a Culiacan supermarket marks the spot where a fifth son was gunned down in 2008.
None of the four are older than their mid-thirties. They have already survived kidnappings, arrest attempts and cartel infighting to establish themselves as the city's most prominent traffickers, with the support of cartel elders.
But the cartel's bigger interests are still believed to be handled by El Chapo's former partner, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, a discrete capo in his early 70s who has never been arrested.
The businesses Zambada handles move billions of dollars, U.S. authorities say, and are diversified across many sectors in dozens of countries, including even niche markets like wildlife and timber smuggling.
Northwestern Mexico was turned into a war zone as a result of a gun battle between armed cartel members and Mexican law enforcement following the arrest of one of El Chapo's sons