Ovidio Guzmán Arrested in Culiacán — Four Years After El Culiacanazo

Four years after the October 2019 Culiacanazo (when Mexico released Ovidio under cartel pressure), AMLO ordered a second operation on January 5, 2023. This time the government held firm despite intense cartel violence — 29 deaths, burned vehicles, airport shutdown, 29 soldiers captured then released. Ovidio was successfully transferred to a maximum security prison and later extradited to the US in July 2023 to face fentanyl trafficking charges. The operation demonstrated AMLO's hardened posture in his final year but cost him politically.