- Title: Mexican guard troops patrol violence-plagued city
- Date: 20th October 2019
- Summary: CULIACAN, MEXICO (OCTOBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEXICAN NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS PATROLLING STREETS IN VEHICLES VARIOUS OF NATIONAL GUARD AND POLICE VEHICLES PATROLLING STREETS EXTERIOR OF CAR WASH (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CAR WASH MANAGER, DANIEL PICOS, SAYING: "It's good that more of them (military personnel) are coming, because at the time the other people (criminals) seemed superior. But, yes, we need more of them here in the city to try to safeguard the lives of members of society." NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS IN VEHICLES GUARD TROOPS IN VEHICLES / PEOPLE OUTSIDE RESTAURANT NATIONAL GUARDSMAN IN VEHICLE VARIOUS OF TROOPS AND VEHICLES PATROLLING STREETS VARIOUS OF GUARDSMEN MANNING WEAPONS
- Embargoed: 3rd November 2019 03:14
- Keywords: Sinaloa release patrol prisoner violence troops national guard drug gangs Mexico El Chapo Culiacan shootout
- Location: CULIACAN, MEXICO
- City: CULIACAN, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1WHOW7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Mexican national guard soldiers were out in the streets of Culiacan on Saturday (October 19) in a show of force after the arrest of kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's son led to shootouts with drug gangs and Guzman's subsequent release on Thursday (October 17).
More than 200 national guard soldiers arrived in the northwestern city of Culiacan on Friday (October 18) evening.
The shocking violence in Culiacan began Thursday when cartel gunmen surrounded around 35 police and national guard troops and made them free Ovidio Guzman, one of the jailed drug lord's dozen or so children.
The chaos turned up pressure on President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office in December promising to pacify a country weary of more than a decade of gang violence and murders.
To boost security, Lopez Obrador created the new National Guard - but thousands of that militarized police force's members have instead been sent to contain illegal immigration through Mexico at the behest of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The murder tally in Mexico this year is on track to surpass last year's record total of more than 29,000.
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