Sources: El Chapo's Kidnapped Son Freed

He was captured after 'partying too much,' insider says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 23, 2016 4:26 AM CDT
Sources: El Chapo's Kidnapped Son Freed
In this Jan. 8, 2016, photo, Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican service members at a federal hangar in Mexico City.   (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

After some presumably very tense negotiations, the kidnapped son of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has been freed by his captors, multiple sources tell CNN. Jesus Alfredo Guzman—not older brother Ivan, who was named in earlier reports—was among six people gunmen seized from a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a week ago. A relative tells AFP that all six are now "free and well" and back in Sinaloa state, the home turf of Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. The kidnappers are believed to be members of the rival Jalisco New Generation cartel, which counts Puerto Vallarta as part of its territory.

A source close to the investigation tells CNN that the younger Guzman was supposed to be part of the Sinaloa cartel's new leadership after his father's recapture earlier this year, but he has "been partying a lot" and was kidnapped after being "caught off guard" at the upscale restaurant. "It's a grave error that is going to cost them a lot, either in life or in a very costly negotiation," Guillermo Valdes, former director of Mexico's intelligence services, told the AP after the kidnapping. "If you're in a fight with these gentlemen of the Jalisco New Generation, you don't go to their territory without bodyguards." (More Joaquin Guzman stories.)

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