A wanted man: Five facts about Mexico's Ovidio Guzmán-López, son of El Chapo

Parts of western Mexico have been forced to a standstill as violence erupted after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán-López, son of the former drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

According to the BBC, Ovidio was captured in Culiacán, Sinaloa, and was flown to Mexico City on Thursday. The clash between authorities and the cartel has resulted in the death of 10 soldiers and 19 suspects.

The violence has been so intense that the Canadian government issued a travel advisory asking Canadians in the area to limit their movements and “shelter in place if possible.”

But who exactly is Ovidio and what made him such a wanted man?

Here are five facts about Ovidio.

It’s not the first time Mexican authorities tried to arrest him

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According to Reuters, a failed attempt to detain Ovidio resulted in humiliation for the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The 2019 operation resulted in clashes between authorities and the cartel that forced schools and airports in Culiacan to close.

To end the “wave of violence,” Ovidio was quickly released.

He was born in Sinaloa, Mexico

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The 32-year-old was born on March 29, 1990, in Culiacán.

As per a release from the US Department of State, he’s 5’8 and goes by the aliases El Ratón (The Mouse) and El Nuevo Ratón (The New Mouse).

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The US Department of State has a $5 million bounty on him

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US authorities have offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Ovidio Guzmán-López.

On April 2, 2018, Ovidio and his brothers were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Columbia and charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, 500 grams of methamphetamine, and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

He also allegedly ordered the murders of informants, a drug trafficker, and “a popular Mexican singer who had refused to sing at his wedding.”

He rose up the ranks in the cartel after his father’s arrest

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman at an airport in Mexico City in on January 8, 2016 (Octavio Hoyos/Shutterstock)

Ovidio, along with his brothers Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, and Joaquin Guzman-Lopez, allegedly “took over leadership roles” in the cartel after their father was arrested in 2014.

The siblings are known as “Los Chapitos.”

The brothers supplied methamphetamine to US and Canada-based distributors

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The US Department of State says that the brothers are currently overseeing operations at 11 methamphetamine labs located in Sinaloa.

Authorities estimate that the labs produce 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine every month which is then “sold wholesale to other Sinaloa members and to US- and Canadian-based distributors.”