The search for the kidnapped son of the world’s most notorious drug lord has been narrowed to four states in Mexico, a senior Mexican law enforcement official tells CNN.
Jesus Alfredo, 29, was one of six people kidnapped early Monday morning in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta. Alfredo is one the sons of jailed Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
A senior Mexican law enforcement says police are currently searching for the kidnapped men in Michoacán, Nayarit, Jalisco and a fourth state he did not name.
Officials suspect that the Sinaloa Federation’s rival cartel, the Jalisco New Generation, may be responsible.
“This is an important development because it affects the power structure of the Sinaloa cartel. His son was supposed to be part of the new leadership,” a senior Mexican law enforcement official says, referring to Alfredo.
Alfredo and his brother, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, are thought to be involved with the Sinaloa cartel, along with Guzman’s son by another woman, Ovidio Guzman Lopez.
But, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation, intelligence suggests Alfredo was not taking his role with organization seriously and was “caught off guard,” allowing the abduction to happen.
“[He’s] been partying a lot,” the source says of Alfredo.
A war of cartels
The kidnapping is the latest blow to the elder Guzman’s efforts from behind bars to maintain the Sinaloa Federation’s dominance in the region amid challenges from its emerging rival, the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
Witness interviews, surveillance video and a search of five vehicles parked outside La Leche restaurant where the incident occurred led to the identification of Jesus Alfredo and three other men. They all have ties to organized crime, Jalisco Attorney General Eduardo Almaguer said at a news conference Tuesday.
The additional men were identified as Juan Daniel Calva Tapia, 53, Josias Nahujali Rabago Borbolla, 35, and Víctor Galvan Ureña, 46.
“At this moment, we have identified four of the kidnapped,” Almaguer said, “one of them being Jesus Alfredo Guzman.”
The Mexican army, marines, federal police, state police and the country’s top prosecution office are searching for the missing men and their kidnappers, Almaguer said.
No one has contacted Mexican authorities to report the men missing, and authorities have not heard from the kidnappers either, Almaguer said.
Jesus Alfredo is the youngest of El Chapo’s two children from his first marriage. His older brother, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, was imprisoned in Mexico in 2005 but released three years later for lack of evidence.
Earlier Tuesday, Guzman family attorney Pablo Badillo said it was “very likely” that Ivan Archivaldo was abducted from the restaurant. Badillo told CNN the Guzman family contacted him Tuesday afternoon and told him that “the possibility of Ivan Archivaldo having been abducted is very high.”
But a senior Mexican law enforcement official could not confirm that Archivaldo was among those missing.
Jalisco’s Attorney General had also said Archivaldo was among those kidnapped, though he eventually backpedaled on the claim.
Archivaldo’s name did not come up at Tuesday night’s news conference, and it was not immediately clear whether he was among those kidnapped.
El Chapo is behind bars in a Juarez, Mexico, prison as his attorneys fight efforts to extradite him to the United States.