The Mexican Navy is conducting an operation to detain Aureliano Guzman Loera, a Sinaloa Cartel kingpin known as "El Guano" and brother of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to a new report.
Infobae detailed that the operation began on Sunday in Sinaloa, with helicopters and military convoys circling in the area.
Consider a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, "El Guano" is also being sought by U.S. authorities. The Department of State is offering $5 million for information leading to his capture. He stands accused of several charges in Arizona, including international conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine and fentanyl.
The bounty has been in place for years, with him being on the run since 2022 after the Mexican Army arrested five of his bodyguards who posed as marines.
According to reports from Mexican and U.S. authorities, El Guano has been responsible for overseeing drug production and trafficking in remote areas of the Sinaloa mountains, particularly in the regions of Badiraguato, where the cartel's roots are deeply entrenched. His activities focus on the production of poppy seeds, marijuana, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine.
While El Chapo became the public face of the cartel's rise, El Guano was an essential part of the family's drug empire in the background. He is also the leader of his faction within the Sinaloa Cartel called "Gente del Guano" (GDG), whose security chief, given the alias Luis "N." or "R8," was taken into custody in July of last year.
"El Guano" plays a key role in the region, especially following the internal war within the Sinaloa Cartel, which erupted following the arrest of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada last year.
It was initially reported that despite their differences, El Guano had changed his loyalty from El Mayo to Los Chapitos, in the power struggle within the Sinaloa Cartel. In fact, despite reports of hostility between El Guano and his nephews, it seems that they had arrived at a truce after the death of El Guano and El Chapo's mother, María Consuelo Loera Pérez, in December of last year.
El Mayo's capture (allegedly orchestrated by Los Chapitos) ended that truce, and the fighting started again. According to a list of El Mayo's allies compiled by the Mexican Ministry of National Defense and published by Mexican newspaper Milenio, El Guano has sided with La Mayiza, reportedly assembling a group of sicarios he named "El Cartel del Guano" to help fight his nephews.
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