Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s trial ended in February, with the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel found guilty on all 10 federal criminal counts against him.

He’ll be spending the rest of his life in a ‘supermax’ prison, designed to hold particularly dangerous criminals.

After hearing about some of the cartel’s murder and torture methods, it’s not surprising that they want to make sure he never escapes.

Losing the head of the family has opened up a gap in operations that a couple of people were looking to fill.

His son, Ovidio Guzmán, seems to have taken over as the head of the family business, and Mexican law enforcement aren’t having it, which is why they attempted to arrest him on Thursday.

He wasn’t going down without a fight, reports Al Jazeera.

A ferocious gun battle between security forces and drug cartel gunmen raged late into the night on Thursday on the streets of the capital of Mexico’s western Sinaloa state, after a failed police operation to capture one of the sons of jailed drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo, reporting from Mexico City, said it seemed that the country’s law enforcement authorities had been outgunned.

…”They (the drug cartel) were using machine guns and high calibre ammunition against the police,” Rapalo said, describing the violent street battle as like “images from a film”.

Mexican TV showed army and police forces under assault by gunmen with heavy machine guns.

Earlier on Thursday, sustained, heavy gunfire rocked the city of 750,000 people in a battle that left blazing vehicles strewn across the street and sent terrified residents running for shelter, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

Footage of the showdown between police and the cartel was shared widely on social media by civilians and journalists who found themselves in the middle of the fight:

More from Twitter:

As shootings were happening all over the city of #Culiacán, inmates were freed and given weapons by #Sinaloa cartel members. They then carjacked drivers passing by the prison. All this in retaliation for the capture of one of el chapo’s son by military forces. pic.twitter.com/7GwWXBcw5q

— David Wolf (@DavidWolf777) October 18, 2019

BREAKING: Heavy gunfire erupts in several areas of Culiacán, Mexico, as security forces arrest a son of El Chapo; reports of casualties pic.twitter.com/JYzovBnjRV

— BNO News (@BNONews) October 17, 2019

// Raw Footage Thread – Warning

// El Chapo’s Son Has Been Kidnapped & Groups Fighting to Get Him Back

//Follow @realMeshNews for more Raw Footage as News Happens

🎥: u/zaxtrial#Culiacan #Culiacán #elchapo #mexico pic.twitter.com/1asVBxykZd

— Mesh Live // Raw Video & News (@realMeshNews) October 17, 2019

The authorities eventually decided to abandon their attempts to arrest Ovidio Guzmán.

Mexican Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said late on Thursday that armed groups overpowered the security forces, prompting authorities to abandon their attempt to capture Guzmán’s son.

Durazo said the decision to release him was taken to protect lives.

Despite the release of El Chapo’s son, the violence continued into the night.

The battle broke out in the afternoon near the state prosecutor’s office, when masked gunmen blocked traffic and opened fire, causing panicked drivers to abandon their cars in the middle of the street.

…Gunmen blocked roads and highways around the city into the evening, bringing the capital to a standstill.

Footage of that, here:

WATCH: Despite the release of El Chapo’s son, violence against citizens from the Sinaloa Cartel continues in #Culiacán, Mexico. pic.twitter.com/MUY1zeaQ7y

— Corp Main News (@corp_main) October 18, 2019

The violence is the third serious incident in Mexico this week after 13 police officers were ambushed and killed by drug cartel members in another western state on Monday. A number of bystanders were killed in a shootout the following day.

El Chapo might be in jail, but his legacy isn’t going anywhere.

[source:aljazeera]