“Jalisco state’s attorney general confirmed that 29-year-old Jesus Alfredo Guzman, a son of Chapo Guzman, was one of six men abducted by armed assailants in Puerto Vallarta”, Carrie says.
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The group of now-kidnapped men were thought to belong to the Sinaloa Cartel, an worldwide drug trafficking gang led by El Chapo, Reuters reported. Image credit: www.pbs.org.
The kidnapping was a brazen crime, one that might signal a major drug cartel rivalry, NPR’s Carrie Kahn reports.
Almaguer said the kidnappers appeared to belong to the state’s dominant Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, while the victims were from the rival Sinaloa cartel. Guzman, who is now in jail, had led the Sinaloa Cartel for years.
During Tuesday’s night news conference, Almaguer provided some details about the abduction.
There were nine women accompanying the kidnapped, according to Almaguer.
In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said it was investigating the incident, while Almaguer said he was trying to fully identify the men who were abducted.
Mexican authorities said that the five armed attackers arrived in SUVs and stormed into La Leche, next to the Friendly Vallarta Beach Resort and Spa, around 1 a.m. local time.
Almaguer observed that authorities have not been contacted to provide hints on the case.
One of the men kidnapped from the restaurant is a relative of a retired army captain who served as a bodyguard for former Jalisco Gov. Emilio Gonzalez Marquez. Jesus Alfredo, along with his father and other Sinaloa cartel leaders, were indicted in federal court in Chicago in 2009 on drug trafficking charges.
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Ivan Archivaldo is believed to have taken control of parts of his father’s business after his arrest in January. He has apparently failed to manage the cartel. “People have information about the family’s movements and they want to destroy the family”. It was not immediately clear whether Ivan Archivaldo was among those kidnapped. Narcos have traditionally kept a lower profile and Ivan Archivaldo does exactly the opposite.
