Week of terror for Los Chapitos with key losses

In late December 2025, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, leader of Los Chapitos, faced several blows: the murder of close collaborators and arrests of family members. These events include the killing of Oscar Medina 'El Panu' in Mexico City and the capture of his father-in-law and brother-in-law in Jalisco.

The week of December 21 to 25, 2025, marked a turbulent end for Los Chapitos, the Sinaloa Cartel faction led by Iván Archivaldo Guzmán. On Sunday the 21st, Oscar Medina, alias 'El Panu', was killed in a shooting at the Luau restaurant in Mexico City's Zona Rosa. There were initial doubts about his identity, but the Mexico City Attorney General's Office confirmed it on Thursday the 25th through fingerprint analysis. "Through fingerprint examinations, the victim's identity was confirmed, identified as a presumed member of the criminal group Los Chapitos," the agency reported.

On Wednesday the 24th, the murder of Alan Gabriel Núñez, a Los Chapitos operator, was reported in a Culiacán, Sinaloa subdivision. His body, with bullet wounds and hands tied, was identified by family at the Forensic Medical Service. The DEA had offered a $1 million reward for him, accused of trafficking fentanyl to the United States.

That same day, César 'N', alias 'El Valdo', a key operator, received a 20-year prison sentence for organized crime in a Hermosillo, Sonora court. Detained in April 2023 in Culiacán, he participated in the 2019 'Culiacanazo' that temporarily freed Ovidio Guzmán.

The most personal blow came with the arrest in Zapopan, Jalisco, of Mario Lindoro 'N', 69 (Iván's father-in-law, alias 'El Niño'), and Mario Alfredo 'N', 44 (brother-in-law, alias 'El 7'). Both financial operators are the father and brother of Zulema Aracely Lindoro, Iván's wife. The Attorney General's Office (FGR) secured preventive detention for health crimes (methamphetamine and fentanyl), possession of exclusive military weapons, and money laundering. The operation seized seven bags of drugs, four short firearms, cartridges, magazines, vehicles, a motorcycle, phones, and cash. They were transferred to Puente Grande.

These incidents recall previous patterns, such as Ovidio Guzmán's arrest on January 5, 2023, during Christmas holidays in Culiacán, following an operation with a helicopter and shootouts.

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