Page 12 - aruba-today-20191019

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 19 OctOber 2019
Failed raid against El Chapo's son leaves 8 dead in Mexico

By ANDRÉS VILLARREAL ing. López Obrador said
PETER ORSI he remains committed to
Associated Press tackling violence through
CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) peaceful means and dis-
— Mexican security forces missed such questions as
aborted an attempt to "the point of view of our
capture a son of impris- adversaries and the oppo-
oned drug lord Joaquin "El sition media."
Chapo" Guzman after find- But Mike Vigil, a former
ing themselves outgunned chief of international oper-
in a ferocious shootout with ations for the U.S. Drug En-
cartel henchmen that left forcement Administration
at least eight people dead who worked undercover
and more than 20 wound- in Mexico, called the vio-
ed, authorities said Friday. lence "a massive black eye
The gunbattle Thursday to the Mexican govern-
paralyzed the capital of ment" and a "sign that the
Mexico's Sinaloa state, Cu- cartels are more powerful"
liacan, and left the streets than it is.
littered with burning vehi- Streets in Culiacan, a city
cles. Residents took cover of over 800,000, remained
indoors as automatic gun- blocked with torched cars
fire raged outside. Friday morning, schools
It was the third bloody and were closed, and some A truck's windows shows hits from bullets after a gunfight in Culiacan, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 17,
terrifying shootout in less public offices asked their 2019.
than a week between se- employees to stay home. Associated Press
curity forces and cartel Few buses were running. Authorities said 35 troops Secretary Gen. Luis Cresen- said he was never under
henchmen, raising ques- Teresa Mercado, who had arrived at a home Thursday cio Sandoval said. He said formal detention. José Luis
tions about whether Presi- just returned to her native afternoon with a warrant seven members of the se- González Meza, a lawyer
dent Andrés Manuel López Culiacan on Thursday, said: to arrest Ovidio Guzmán curity forces were wound- for the Guzman family, said
Obrador's policy of avoid- "This is worse than what I López on a 2018 extradition ed and eight held captive he was told Ovidio is "alive
ing the use of force and fo- had lived through years request from the U.S. They before being released un- and free."
cusing on social ills is work- ago." entered the home, where harmed. José Reveles, the author
Guzman and three others The government's security of several books on the
Protesters bar Haiti's were inside. cabinet made the decision Sinaloa cartel, said the op-
Heavily armed men in to withdraw the troops to eration was done clumsily
president from visiting greater force surrounded avoid greater loss of life. from both an operational
the house and also un-
and a political standpoint.
"The capture of one crimi-
historic site leashed mayhem else- nal cannot be worth more "If the government says
where, taking over toll than the lives of people. it did not know anything,
booths and main roads into They made the decision that's absolutely unheard
By EVENS SANON following a military revolt. the city. and I supported it," López of, and especially for an op-
Associated Press Protesters had prevented Men carrying high-caliber Obrador said. He added: eration of this magnitude,"
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Moïse from visiting Pont- weapons blocked major in- "We do not want deaths. Reveles said. "If you're go-
— Haiti's embattled presi- Rouge, the site north of the tersections. We do not want war." ing to do an operation of
dent was forced on Thurs- capital where Dessalines Amid the chaos, inmates Security cabinet officials this size, you should do it
day to hold a private cere- was killed and where the at a prison rioted, seized said they were not in- right — guard all flanks,
mony amid heavy security ceremony is usually held. weapons from guards and formed about the opera- add security in the prison."
for what is usually a public Anger over corruption, in- fled. Fifty-six prisoners es- tion beforehand. They said At the same time, he al-
celebration of one of the flation and scarcity of ba- caped, and 49 were still at troops surrounded the lowed that "doing a surgi-
country's founding fathers. sic goods including fuel has large Friday, according to house without a search cal operation there is im-
Jovenel Moïse and other of- led to large protests that Sinaloa Public Security Sec- warrant and came under possible; the strength of the
ficials appeared at the Na- began five weeks ago and retary Cristóbal Castañe- fire before one could be Sinaloa cartel was made
tional Pantheon Museum in have shuttered many busi- da. Two guards were taken delivered, at that point de- clear."
downtown Port-au-Prince nesses and schools. captive and later freed. ciding to enter without the Vigil, the former DEA agent,
as hundreds of armed po- A couple hundred protest- Videos on social media warrant. And they said the worried that the retreat
lice officers closed down ers had already gathered showed a scene resem- troops underestimated the could lead to more blood-
the surrounding area while at Pont-Rouge as they criti- bling a war zone, with cartel's response. shed.
protesters who demanded cized Moïse. gunmen, some in black ski Sandoval said that if the se- "This is going to set an
his resignation began to "We dare the president to masks, riding in the back of curity cabinet had known example for the other
gather nearby. come," said 28-year-old trucks and firing mounted about the operation, it groups," Vigil said. "It sends
"This is not how a govern- Joel Theodore. "It will be his machine guns as smoke would have gone about it them the message that if
ment should be function- last day in office." rose above the cityscape. differently and deployed they capture a member of
ing," said Mario Terrain, The president held a sur- People ran for cover as more troops and even sent the cartel, all they have to
who is 29 and unemployed. prise press conference on gunfire rattled around air support. do is go in the city and in-
"The president is in hiding." Tuesday and said he would them, and motorists drove "It was rushed. The conse- timidate the citizenry and
Moïse did not speak to re- not resign as he once again frantically in reverse, trying quences were not consid- security forces."
porters and left after the urged unity and dialogue. to escape the bullets. ered," he said. The elder Guzman is serving
brief ceremony to com- Opposition leaders, how- Five attackers, a member It was not clear what hap- a life sentence in the U.S.
memorate the death of ever, said protesters would of the National Guard, a pened to Guzmán after the after being convicted last
Jean-Jacques Dessalines, remain on the streets until civilian and a prisoner died troops left. Federal Security February of industrial-scale
whose rule ended in 1806 he steps down.q in the gunbattles, Defense Secretary Alfonso Durazo drug trafficking.q