Culiacan Mayhem : Prison doors opened and a dozen high profile prisoners were allowed to go free

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat from Reforma

'It's going to get ugly, we don't know what to do'

"Children on the floor, do not touch the bullets", was heard in one of the many videos that circulated yesterday during the taking of members of the Sinaloa Cartel to Culiacán to free Ovid Guzmán López, son of Joaquin "El Chapo" "Guzman.

The Ministry of National Defense and the National Guard went for the son of the capo.

It was 2:00 p.m., rush hour in the Tres Ríos sector, when everyone goes home to eat and leave their children after the end of the school day.

They located the house of Guzmán Loera's son, they knocked on the door and there he was, but dozens of armed men surrounded the place and activated a city takeover.

The air shots began. They detonated weapons of exclusive caliber of the Army and Armed Forces from small trucks.

Bullets rang throughout the capital. Armed and hooded men were seen walking through the Center, the Tres Ríos sector, the Las Quintas, Rafael Buelna and Chapultepec colonies, all suburb areas.

These armed groups besieged the city, closed streets, took toll booths and caused flights and bus departures to be suspended. No one could enter or leave the city.

The information was not fowarded, but dozens of videos and photographs circulating that told a reality: suspended truck routes, finished work, people running to supermarkets, businesses and any place that was open to protect themselves.

"Here in my house there are people crying who asked me  to stay until everything was over," said Natalia Reyes, a Culiacan activist.

The restaurants closed the stores too and there was a voluntary curfew.

Meanwhile, it was known that the Culiacán Prison opened its doors and at least a dozen people considered as federal prisoners of high danger could leave.

Until Thursday night it was not known how many or who left the prison, but that 9 people were being treated for serious injuries: 3 civilians, 2 police officers and 4 soldiers injured by clashes.

There were witnesses to that and they guarded where they could.

Álvaro Obregón street closed at the height of the Culiacán Cathedral, in the historic center.

This is the first time that a situation of this magnitude occurs in Culiacán, the city that has been considered the epicenter or center of operations of the Sinaloa Cartel, but since the capture of "El Chapo" had decreased the criminal incidence, a fact that US security officials have been presumed.

Just on September 16, Uttam Dhillon, director of the Administration for Drug Control in the United States (DEA), arrived at the invitation of the State Government.

Statistics were presented that they considered positive and resources were requested for training and technology purchase, and Sinaloa was recognized as an international example.

However, yesterday the capital was besieged.

The military operation against Ovid Guzman ended up being the revulsive for the groups to paralyze Culiacán from Thursday until further notice.

The Ministry of Public Education and companies such as Coppel suspended work during this Friday.

Culiacán was taken.