MEXICO’S top prosecutor yesterday said his office will investigate all those involved – including government officials – in a failed operation to arrest a son of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

The operation on Thursday, which the defence minister has admitted was “badly planned”, turned into a fiasco when heavily armed gunmen from Joaquin’s cartel waged an all-out war following his son Ovidio’s capture, leading security forces to release him and retreat.

Eight people were killed in Culiacan – the state capital of the Guzmans’ bastion, Sinaloa – as the cartel launched a massive machine-gun assault on the western city, leaving the streets strewn with blazing vehicles.

“We will carry out an exhaustive investigation to determine the responsibility of all those involved, on both sides,” Attorney-General Alejandro Gertz told a news conference.

“It is not just about the actions of one public servant or one criminal. We will be analysing all the facts… to clarify what crimes may have been committed, then prosecute and punish them, without exception.”

Leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has faced sharp criticism over Ovidio’s release, has defended his security team’s actions and said the decision was made to protect civilian lives.

Gertz said he does not believe the decision came directly from the president, saying: “That’s not his job.”

Lopez Obrador told a separate press conference that his “conscience is clear”, and that he is willing to testify before any investigation into the incident.

Ovidio, 28, is one of at least 10 children of Joaquin, who is serving a life prison term in the US after being convicted in July of trafficking hundreds of tonnes of drugs into America over the course of 25 years.

Mexican officials met yesterday with US Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau on curbing illegal arms trafficking, said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who added that many of the guns seen in the Culiacan clashes were made in the US.

Ebrard said Lopez Obrador discussed the matter with US President Donald Trump in a phone call on Saturday, and that he expects the conversation to mark a “turning point” on the issue. – AFP, October 22, 2019.