Via – LA Times

MEXICO CITY — 

Mexican security forces captured and then released one of country’s most powerful drug lords Thursday after apparently being overpowered by heavily armed combatants who laid siege to the northern Mexican city of Culiacan.

Security Minister Alfonso Durazo told Reuters that officials were trying to protect lives when they decided to free Ovidio Guzman Lopez, a leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel and the son of notorious drug boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Others speculated, however, that authorities may have colluded with gang members in Guzman’s release.

The cartel’s victory was a stunning humiliation for the Mexican government, which has struggled to quell growing violence across the country.

Videos posted on social media showed a city in which the government appeared to have lost control, with masked men firing high-powered weapons in the streets and roads blocked with burning vehicles.

In one clip, a group of civilians dressed in bulletproof vests and toting assault rifles surrounds soldiers who appear pacified. In another clip, a truck is driven through the city with a .50-caliber machine gun bolted to the back.

City residents took cover from the firefights wherever they could.

In one highly circulated video, a father comforted his daughter while they sought shelter from a shootout on the floor of a store.

“Why are they shooting bullets?” she asks. “I don’t know, my love,” he answers. “Get down.”

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