Mexico admits freeing Chapo’s son after ‘bad’ op

Culiacan, October 18 

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The Mexican President faced a firestorm of criticism on Friday as his security forces confirmed they arrested kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's son, then released him when his cartel responded with an all-out gunfight.

 Admitting his forces carried out a “badly planned” operation, Defence Minister Luis Sandoval said soldiers briefly arrested Ovidio Guzman — one of several sons who have taken control of the Sinaloa cartel since their father was extradited to the US in 2017 — but released him after being overpowered by cartel gunmen. “It was a badly planned strategy,” Sandoval said in Culiacan, the western city of 750,000 people that was turned into an urban war zone on Thursday.

“The task force acted too hastily. (The operation) wasn’t improvised, there was planning, but... it takes time to obtain an arrest warrant. When the operation was under way, they decided to improvise and try to obtain a positive result,” he said. — AFP