'You can't fight fire with fire' -Mexico's president defends decision to release El Chapo's son
Record ID:
1437376
'You can't fight fire with fire' -Mexico's president defends decision to release El Chapo's son
- Title: 'You can't fight fire with fire' -Mexico's president defends decision to release El Chapo's son
- Date: 18th October 2019
- Summary: TWO DEAD BODIES LYING IN ROAD (WARNING: GRAPHIC)
- Embargoed: 1st November 2019 14:59
- Keywords: Mexico violence shoot out arrest Guzman El Chapo son Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
- Location: OAXACA CITY & SINALOA, MEXICO
- City: OAXACA CITY & SINALOA, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA002B1MH3YB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: GRAPHIC CONTENT OF DEAD BODIES IN SHOT 13
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador defended security forces on Friday (October 18) over their handling of a shocking outbreak of drug violence, saying they had saved lives by releasing a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman after his brief capture.
Cartel gunmen surrounded security forces in the northwestern city of Culiacan on Thursday (October 17) and made them free the drug lord's son Ovidio Guzman, after his detention triggered gunbattles and a prison break that stunned the city.
Lopez Obrador was asked at his regular morning news conference who had taken the decision to release Guzman's son, and he said that his top security officials had made the call, adding that he supported it because it saved lives.
The violent reaction in Culiacan, in Sinaloa state, to Guzman's capture was on a scale rarely seen during Mexico's long drug war, even after his more famous father's arrests.
Chaos in the city continued into the night.
A large group of inmates escaped from the city prison. Residents cowered in shopping centers and supermarkets as gunfire roared. Black plumes of smoke rose across the skyline.
Lopez Obrador, a veteran leftist who took office in December, rejected criticism that the government had acted weakly in releasing the younger Guzman.
The chaos in Culiacan, long a stronghold for the Guzmans' Sinaloa cartel, has turned up pressure on Lopez Obrador, who took office promising to pacify a country weary after more than a decade of gang violence, disappearances and shootouts.
However, murders this year are set to reach a record high.
(Production: Jose Cortes, Jesus Bustamante, Manuel Carrillo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: WARNING: Editors please note, this clip contains graphic material