Are new drug lords trying to take over the reign of 'El Chapo'?

Attacks on the kingpin's family may signal an escalation in conflict between the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

|
Marco Ugarte/AP/File
Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman (r.) is escorted by soldiers and marines to a waiting helicopter at a federal hangar in Mexico City on Friday, Jan. 8, 2016. The world's most wanted drug lord was recaptured by Mexican marines six months after he fled through a tunnel from a maximum security prison. This week his son, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, was captured by a rival drug cartel.

As Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman faces likely extradition to the United States, the rival Jalisco New Generation cartel is challenging the primacy of the Sinaloa cartel drug gang he once led. Some security experts say that the two gangs could be on the path to a bloody confrontation.

In June, a group of 150 armed men broke into the home of Mr. Guzman’s mother, stealing cars and motorcycles and killing at least three people, including a neighbor, reported El Pais. 

At least one of his grown sons has been targeted, too. On Tuesday night, Jalisco state attorney general Eduardo Almaguer confirmed that Guzman’s son, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, had been kidnapped by the Jalisco New Generation cartel from a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta along with five other men. 

Another son of the kingpin, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, may have been among those kidnapped as well. On Tuesday, Mexican newsweekly Proceso reported that family members of Guzman had confirmed the second son’s abduction, though authorities did not comment on the matter.

Samuel Logan, managing partner at the business and security consulting firm Southern Pulse, told the Associated Press that the kidnapping "could indicate an escalation" of conflict between the rival gangs.

"It doesn't surprise me that they would push to escalate this to the next level," he said. "And if anything I think it will be the next week to 10 days are going to confirm that. These guys aren't going to wait around to push back."

Since being captured by the authorities for the third time in January, Guzman seems to be detained in markedly harsher conditions, according to his testimony in one of the cases against him, in which he complains of being constantly woken up by prison authorities. In March, the AP reported that Guzman was seeking to accelerate the process of his extradition to the United States, where he hopes to be given a shorter sentence in a medium-security prison, though narcotics officials say it’s unlikely that such a deal would be negotiated prior to extradition.

Guzman was believed to be exercising some degree of control over the cartel's operations from prison during his last stint there. This time, experts say Ivan has taken the reins, which may not bode well for the Sinaloa cartel: He has cultivated a boisterous social-media presence, showing off expensive cars, clothes, liquors and weapons.

Raul Benitez, a security specialist and political scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told the AP that Ivan was "a bit crazy."

"He spent all his time posting things on Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter. A serious narco doesn't do that.... He didn't have the ability to run the cartel."

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Are new drug lords trying to take over the reign of 'El Chapo'?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2016/0817/Are-new-drug-lords-trying-to-take-over-the-reign-of-El-Chapo
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe