On January 5th, Mexican drug trafficker Ovidio “El Ratón” Guzmán who is the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán was captured by Mexican authorities in the state of Sinaloa. Guzman is one of the highest-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel and is accused of orchestrating murders that according to The U.S. Department of State included informants, a drug trafficker, and a “popular Mexican singer who had refused to sing at his wedding.” He also is being accused of the manufacture of illegal drugs with the most prominent being methamphetamine and fentanyl, and the possession of illegal weapons.

Though this was not the first time that he had been arrested as he was captured by Mexican authorities in 2019 but was subsequently released. This happened because the Sinaloa Cartel had enough time to mobilize and threaten the lives of civilians and military members’ families if he wasn’t released. To avoid this grim scenario, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador released him, which was a defeat for the Mexican government. However this year the Mexican government ensured his capture was as clean as possible to avoid another 2019 event. At a press conference on January, 6th Secretary of Defence Luis Cresencio Sandoval explained that “Based on October 17, 2019, we reinforced security at military installations.” He went on to say that they also “intensified training” and that “we provided ground and air

forces, in order to fulfill the main mission.” They also didn’t go into this capture without planning and for six months they scouted out “areas detected where Ovidio carried out illegal activities, related to methamphetamine and fentanyl trafficking,” Even with this well-thought-out plan the extraction still came with immense violence, leaving 29 people dead.
Additionally, members of the cartel started putting up blockades to block roads and burned vehicles to cause more chaos and distractions for the Mexican government. With the cartel’s failed attempts, the government successfully got Guzman out of the warzone and brought him to Mexico City via military aircraft, and he is currently awaiting trial. Even with Guzman in custody, there is still a chance that he can get out again with the amount of violence still occurring in Sinaloa. Guzman’s extradition to the U.S. has also been halted by the judge overseeing his case so it makes his chances of not being put in prison even higher.
The successful capture of Guzman will not affect the Sinaloa Cartel’s distribution long-term as he still has his 3 brothers to take his spot as they are also in the cartel. The only way the Cartel would be affected would be if he started talking to authorities and gave them information on the cartel to take them down. But, with how the cartel operates and how loyal its members are it seems unlikely that he’d give much of any information to authorities. For now, the capture of Ovidio Guzmán is a success for the Mexican government, but only time will tell if it will do actual damage to drug trafficking in the country long-term.