Mexican marines capture man believed to be drug kingpin's son

Mexican marines capture man believed to be drug kingpin's son

Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar,26, said to been taking on an increasing leadership role in Mexico's most powerful drug cartel
Associated Press in Mexico City
guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 June 2012
Mexican marines have detained a man they believe is one of the sons of Mexico's most-wanted drug kingpin, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

The presumed son, identified by the navy as Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, 26, was allegedly taking on an increasing leadership role in Mexico's most powerful drug cartel and purportedly served as the administrator of his father's fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine at about $1bn (£640m).


Guzman Salazar, known as El Gordo or the Fat One, was captured early on Thursday during a raid in Zapopan, an upmarket suburb of the western city of Guadalajara, thanks to intelligence work and information from US authorities, navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara said at a news conference.

Also captured in the raid was an alleged 19-year-old Sinaloa cartel member, Kevin Daniel Beltran Ríos. The pair were caught with a grenade launcher and four grenades, two assault rifles, two pistols and $135,000 in cash.

Vergara said Guzman Salazar was a key element in the Sinaloa cartel, "not just because of his blood tie to the leader … but because he was presumably in charge of managing his assets".

"Intelligence sources say that Guzman Salazar was co-ordinating the majority of the drug shipments sent to the United States by the Sinaloa cartel, including cocaine and heroin," Vergara said, adding that some sources also said he was taking increasing control of the cartel's operations.

When he was paraded before the media, Guzman Salazar mostly kept his eyes down or closed. Dressed in a red polo shirt and jeans, he did not answer when asked where his father was.

Vergara said the capture was due to months of intelligence work and information from US authorities. He said Guzman Salazar was wanted in the United States on an outstanding extradition request, to face charges in Chicago related to drug trafficking.

Guzman Salazar and his father were indicted on multiple drug trafficking charges in the US district court for the northern district of Illinois in August 2009. The treasury department said announced earlier this month that it had placed financial sanctions on Guzman Salazar and his mother, Maria Alejandrina Salazar Hernandez.

The designation bars US citizens from doing business with them and allows authorities to freeze their assets.

US authorities have said they believe El Chapo has at least six children with three women, including one whom he married in 2007 and who gave birth to twin girls in California last year.

A senior US law enforcement official in Mexico, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said US officials believed Guzman Salazar "oversaw many of the drug transportation and money laundering operations … [and] operated from Jalisco, Colima and Sinaloa" states.

In May, the department announced similar sanctions against Guzman's sons Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, 31, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 22.

Ivan Archivaldo, also known as El Chapito, was detained in Zapopan on money laundering charges in 2005, but was later released. Guzman Lopez plays a significant role in his father's drug trafficking activities, the department said.

Another son, Edgar Guzman Lopez, was killed in 2008 in a gun battle in a shopping centre car park in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan. Authorities recovered more than 500 bullet casings from AK-47 rifles from the site of the killing.

El Chapo was put on the treasury department's list in 2001, the year he escaped from a maximum security prison hidden in a laundry lorry. He has evaded authorities ever since, moving from hideout to hideout as he directs the operations of his cartel and a fight against rivals that has left thousands of people dead across Mexico.

The western state of Jalisco – where Guzman Salazar was arrested – as well as the nearby states of Colima, Nayarit and Sinaloa have seen a sharp increase in drug-related killings in the past few years as the Sinaloa drug cartel battles its former allies in the Beltran Leyva cartel and its arch rival the Zetas.

Similar battles have been seen in the northern border state of Coahuila, where nine people were killed on Thursday in two shootouts between police and gunmen on one of the main avenues in the state capital, Saltillo.

The state security spokesman Sergio Sisbeles said eight suspected gunmen and one civilian who was caught in the crossfire had died. The shootouts started after police tried to stop a sport utility vehicle, whose occupants opened fire.