Mexican security forces captured El Chapo's kingpin son. His cartel allies forced them to set him free.

Cartel-police battle in Culiacan, Mexico
(Image credit: Stringer/AFP via Getty Images)

Mexican security forces on a routine patrol in the northern Mexican city of Culiacan came under fire from a house on Thursday, returned fire and took control of the house, and discovered among its four occupants Ovidio Guzman, one of jailed drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's sons and apparent successor as a leader in the Sinaloa cartel, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said in a televised message Thursday night. Guzman's armed allies quickly arrived and "surrounded the house with a greater force," he added, and "other groups carried out violent actions against citizens in various points of the city, generating a situation of panic."

Durazo later told Reuters that the National Guard patrol released Guzman, in what the Los Angeles Times called "a stunning humiliation for the Mexican government" and a challenge to new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. "The decision was taken to retreat from the house, without Guzman, to try to avoid more violence in the area and preserve the lives of our personnel and recover calm in the city," Durazo told Reuters.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.