El Chapo’s Sons Enforce Lockdown in Cartel-Controlled City With Threats of Violence

According to reports, two of Joaqín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's sons are imposing their own 10 p.m. coronavirus curfew lockdown on the citizens of Culiacán.

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Culiacan at night.

Two of Joaqín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's sons, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán, are tapping into their inner public safety advocate by threatening violators of a coronavirus-inspired curfew, according to The Yucatan Times. These threats could be carried out via arrests, fines, or beatings with boards, with the publication adding that armored cars are roaming the streets to enforce the policy. All of a sudden getting screamed at in a supermarket line for not wearing a mask doesn't seem so bad.

The Guzmán sons' edict was intended to be heard by residents of Culiacán, which is a Sinaloa city under cartel control.

“After 10 o’clock at night, all the people must be inside their homes due to the coronavirus, otherwise they will be punished, these are orders ‘from above (from Guzmán's sons),” said a member of the Sinaloa Cartel in a video being shared online. “This is no game! We’re not playing!” 

A different video has also circulated that warns residents not to go out after 10 p.m. if they aren't "an essential worker." And that any violators will be "‘lifted’ for two days (for the respective ‘boarding’ treatment), and will have to pay a fine.

This policy should at least be somewhat routine for local residents, since the community has been living with de facto quarantine(s) and curfew(s) for a decade.

“They say if 10 years of war haven’t killed us, a virus isn’t going to. We’ve been living 10 years in quarantine,” said an anonymous resident of a border state that has been hit especially hard by cartel violence. “It’s not hard to stay home anymore.”

The two brothers, known as “los Chapitos,” or “the little Chapos,” are thought to be running their father's empire, following his life sentence and subsequent incarceration, along with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

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