Han Atrapado al Ratón
Photo of hancuffed person in an orange jumpsuit.
February 17, 2023
Joaquín Guzmán, better known as El Chapo, is a drug lord who has been sentenced to life in prison. Less famous are his four sons who also help run their business. Rather than playing catch or watching a movie, this family’s bonding time is spent running one of the most powerful narcotic trafficking organizations known as the Sinaloa cartel.
One of these sons, Ovidio Guzmán, nicknamed, “The Mouse,” was arrested on Jan. 5 in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico for being the biggest trafficker of fentanyl and the alleged leader of this business. This arrest has sparked much interest and perspectives as to why the arrest happened and what the next steps should be. He was transferred to Mexico City and is currently held in Altiplano maximum security federal prison.
In Oct. of 2019, Ovidio was arrested, but was quickly released by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in an attempt to stop the cartel bloodshed occurring at the time.
More Recently on Jan. 5, the alarming incidents have reappeared. PBS NewsHour concluded that violent patterns arose as ten soldiers and 19 cartel operatives were killed in Sinaloa when various gunmen opened fire on troops. Following this, the army sent Blackhawk helicopter gunships to attack cartel vehicles which resulted in 17 police officers and 35 military personnel that were wounded, along with the death of one police officer. The cartel then started to attack fixed wing military and civilian aircraft, as well as shooting up the airport in an effort to stop authorities from transferring their leader into Mexico City.
This havoc occurred days before President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau visited Mexico City for the North American Leaders Summit to discuss various topics having drug trafficking along with immigration as a top priority. An associate professor at Syracuse University, Gladys McCormick told CNN in an email, that he felt the arrest was an attempt in showing the United States that he had control of his country in every aspect.
Out of 20 randomly selected Millikan students on Feb. 2 during lunch, 70% felt that letting Guzman free was the best option to prevent all the destruction. The other 30% were on board with the arrest and figured the deaths were only a small price to pay.
QUEST sophomore, Diego Castillo believes that Ovidio Guzmán should stay imprisoned.
“Obviously his arrest is causing serious issues, but I think you can’t really release him because that’s just defeating the whole purpose of arresting him,” he said.
SEGA junior, Victor Lamas disagrees.
“The life of any person, let alone various people is more important than detaining a drug dealer because drugs will never just disappear,” Lamas said
Either way, Ovidio and his family continue to cause destruction throughout the world. Their family’s future is unknown and many other families are fearing for their lives, or fearing the lives of others. It is a dangerous time, stay safe.
Ari Farrell • Mar 2, 2023 at 9:30 am
On February 17, Arianna Garcia wrote an article titled “Han Atrapado al Raton” which explains the problems being caused South of our border in Mexico due to serious arrests of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquin Guzman and Ovidio Guzman. Better known as “El Chapo” Joaquin Guzman has been sentenced to life in prison, however, he handed his cartel to his son Ovidio. This article highlights the problems that can be rooted within cartels and drug businesses like this when a leader is arrested, the whole cartel will press the government just to get their leader back. The article utilizes the voice and opinion of the public to its strength by listening to what people from our very own school believe that the Mexican government should do in order to stop the mass killing and chaos coming from the cartel in backlash for the arrests, “free El Chapo? Or keep him in jail?” while the author earned a mixed reaction from the student body, it still gives the reader a point of view from one of their very own fellow classmates. Overall it was a very well-written article that was able to push the point along very easily while providing plenty of context to anyone who might not be aware of the cartel or the problems in Mexico currently.
Steve Ke • Mar 1, 2023 at 2:00 pm
On February 17, Arianna Garcia wrote an interesting article titled “Han Atrapado al Ration.” I thought that the article was very insightful why describing the controversy surrounding Guzman and the current state of Mexican cartels. I have heard of El Chapo before, but this is the first time that I learned about one of his sons. I can understand why people were so worried about releasing the drug lord from prison. Guzman’s father, El Chapo was notorious was being extremely clever and elusive with his drug operations, and he created history by escaping from a maximum security prison using a 1-mile tunnel. He created an enormous empire that continues to control Mexico. I believe that the debate on keeping Guzman won’t fix the overall drug trafficking problem since there will be violence in either situation. When one leader gets arrested, another one appears and the cycle goes on. Also, the cartels have too much leverage and political power in Mexico and as long as drugs are profitable, they will do whatever it takes to get what they want. Thank you for creating the article because believe that it is very helpful for spreading awareness of current events, and I enjoyed learning about Guzman’s and the ongoing debate.
Natalie Ceja • Mar 1, 2023 at 1:55 pm
On February 17, Arianna Garcia wrote an article titled “Han Atrapado al Raton”.The son of infamous cartel leader El Chapo was captured by the Mexican government, according to this article. They went into great detail on the effects of the imprisonment, such as the widespread fighting in Mexico and the conflict between the cartel and the Mexican government. In addition, they included data on the number of civilians, cartel members, and government officials killed during these bloody clashes. In addition, I thought it was a good idea that Millikan asked several students if they thought Guzman should remain in jail or not in a survey. To my astonishment, about 70% of respondents said they believed Guzman should be released. My personal opinion is that they should not release this individual since doing so would be counterproductive and, in a sense, would have rendered the courageous men’s deaths in trapping him ineffective. The fact that the US and Canada would soon be visiting and discussing issues like immigration and drug trafficking was also discussed. This suggests that the Mexican government may have been showing off by carrying out this act as a show of force. Yet, as the article points out, drug trafficking cannot actually be ended by simply capturing one of the top dogs. Overall, this essay provided two viewpoints on the subject and was quite useful.
Camila Hernandez • Mar 1, 2023 at 1:52 pm
On February 17, Arianna Garcia wrote an article titled “Han Atrapado al Ratón”. The article is about Ovidio Guzmán, also known as “El Ratón” or “The Mouse”. Garcia explains how he is a son of the drug lord El Chapo Guzmán and how he was arrested in the beginning of January in Culiacan, Sinaloa for being one the biggest fentanyl traffickers and the alleged leader of the Sinaloa cartel. She points out the controversy surrounding his arrest. Some believe he should be let go like he was in 2019 in order to stop the bloodshed being done by the cartel. I wonder how long it took for the Mexican president López Obrador to make such a big decision to set free a criminal like Guzmán? He was arrested a couple of days before the North American Leaders Summit happened in Mexico City. I would like to know Joe Biden’s and the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Tredeau’s thoughts on this subject. I would also like to know if the arrest was spoken about at the Summit. If it was, what was said about the situation? I like how the author asked students for their opinions on the topic and how she used student quotes as well at the end of the article.
Benjamin Truong • Mar 1, 2023 at 1:49 pm
On February 17, Arianna Garcia wrote an article titled, “Han Atrapado al Ratón.” This article mentions the dangerous Sinaloa cartel and how they seem to be unstoppable. The arrest of even one of the cartel members led to bloodshed among the streets in Mexico. I find this situation in Mexico to be quite unfortunate since when the cartel remains on the streets, drugs are passed along the country. When a cartel member is arrested, the lives of innocents are taken away in acts of revenge. This situation is quite deep and difficult to tackle because you need to answer whether you arrest the cartel or keep them out on the streets. The data taken and provided in this article is quite surprising since I didn’t know so many would support the releases of cartel members. However, I believe that it is a justified solution for the safety of innocent citizens of Mexico. Whatever the country seems to propose to deal with the cartel, it never really seems to end. It leaves me to ponder whether they will ever be stopped and if they will continue as time goes on. Thank you for writing this article and addressing a topic I would’ve never found out about otherwise.
Luis Chavez • Mar 1, 2023 at 11:59 am
On February 17, Arianna Garcia wrote an article titled “Han Atrapado al Raton”. This article is about the recent arrest of a cartel leader, known as Ovidio Guzman, son of Joaquin Guzman who is also known as El Chapo. The author did an outstanding job with the article. To begin, introducing the background and history of Ovidio Guzman by mentioning who his family members are, as well as what they do. It was also a good idea to bring up a past event, which was Guzman’s recent arrest and what it led to in Mexico. After that Garcia brought up the question about what should be the next step in this drug lord’s arrest, because the audience now knows what happens when you imprison a cartel boss. This helps the reader get involved with the article and chooses one out of two choices, keeping Guzman in jail or letting him go. Garcia then mentioned a couple the opinions of random Millikan students and also the percentage of those on each side of the issue. The author gave us the conditions and the realities of what Mexico is like, which is something that many people must know. I really like how this article involves interaction, so well done to the author.