El Chapo’s son released after arrest in Mexico as security forces outgunned by cartel: reports

Smoke from burning cars rises due in Culiacan, Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. An intense gunfight with heavy weapons and burning vehicles blocking roads raged in the capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state Thursday after security forces located one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons who is wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. (AP Photo/Hector Parra)

Violence seized a city in northwestern Mexico Thursday night as the son of infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was briefly arrested then released by militarized police who struggled to contend with his heavily armed supporters, according to a report.
Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested by the National Guard in Culiacan, the capital of Mexico's Sinaloa state, on drug trafficking charges after he was discovered in a house with three other men, Reuters reported.
His arrest sparked an hours’ long gun battle with cartel members who surrounded the house and outgunned security forces.
The cartel also blocked the main roads out of the city with vehicles they torched.
“The decision was taken to retreat from the house, without Guzman, to try to avoid more violence in the area and preserve the lives of our personnel and recover calm in the city,” Security Minister Alfonso Durazo told Reuters.

 Amid the gunfire, a group of prisoners escaped from the city’s prison and cartel members fought police and soldiers throughout the city as citizens cowered or ran in fear.
Cristobal Castaneda, head of security in Sinaloa told a Mexican TV network that at least two people have been killed and 21 injured as the violence continued into the night. He asked residents to stay in their homes.
Falko Ernst, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Mexico, told Reuters Lopez’s release creates a “dangerous precedent" and shows the military is not in control.
Guzman led the Sinaloa cartel for decades before he was arrested and extradited to the United States. He had previously escaped Mexican prisons twice.