Last Saturday, news broke that an SUV traveling along the Mexico-Pachuca highway suddenly exploded. Inside was an individual named Francisco Beltrán—alias “El Payín”—whom authorities identified as an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel.
This is not the first time that a member of this criminal organization—which originated in the state of the same name—has been assassinated, or targeted for assassination, in the central region of the country.
Just this past December 21st, Óscar Noé Medina González—known as “El Panu” and serving as the head of security for “Los Chapitos”—was assassinated while at a restaurant in the Colonia Juárez neighborhood of Mexico City (CDMX).
However, on one particular occasion, the target of an assassination attempt in the Mexican capital was one of the criminal group’s former leaders—a figure who rose to greater prominence following the event known as the “Culiacanazo.” That individual is Ovidio Guzmán—alias “El Ratón”—one of the sons of the cartel’s founder, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera.
In 2021, Ovidio Guzmán was not only being sought for arrest by federal authorities, but he was also being “stalked” by experienced hitmen from Tijuana, Sinaloa, and Sonora who were intent on taking his life.
