The federal government launched an army-led operation in Sinaloa on Wednesday that appeared to be aimed at detaining Aureliano Guzmán Loera, a brother of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera.
At a press conference on Wednesday, federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch responded to an inquiry about claims that Guzmán Loera, aka “El Guano,” had been detained.
Operativo Federal con Helicópteros Artillados en El Triángulo Dorado, reportan enfrentamientos y la detención de Aureliano Guzmán Loera, “El Guano”, por radio frecuencia los Sicarios están confirmando su detención y la de Churras Calabazas (Informacion en el enlace)… pic.twitter.com/SklruU1q5k
— Blog del Narco México (@blogdelnarcomex) April 22, 2026
“Operational actions have been taking place in Sinaloa since this morning,” García Harfuch said, adding that the focus was on the municipality of Badiraguato — a Sinaloa Cartel stronghold where “El Chapo” was born — and surrounding areas.
“There are Security Cabinet actions, mainly led by the Ministry of National Defense. There are already people detained, the arrest of this individual [“El Guano”] is not yet confirmed, but the operations are continuing at this time,” he said.
Some 340 security personnel were reportedly participating in an air and ground operation aimed at detaining Guzmán Loera. The newspaper Reforma reported that the Mexican Army, the National Guard and other federal agencies were involved in the operation.
Badiraguato is in northeastern Sinaloa on the border with the states of Durango and Chihuahua. It is located within the mountainous Golden Triangle region of northern Mexico, which is notorious for drug production.
‘El Guano’
Aureliano Guzmán Loera is an older brother of “El Chapo,” born in 1945 or 1946, according to a 2021 U.S. State Department wanted notice.
He allegedly leads a drug trafficking group called “Los Guanos,” or “Gente de Guano” (Guano’s People), a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Department of State is offering a reward of up to US $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
In its 2021 wanted notice, the State Department said that “under the umbrella of the Sinaloa Cartel, Aureliano Guzmán’s drug trafficking organization (DTO) controls drug smuggling routes from Sinaloa, Mexico, through Sonora, Mexico, and into the United States.”
“The Aureliano Guzman-Loera DTO can be classified as a poly-drug organization responsible for growing, cultivating, producing, manufacturing, and transporting poppy, marijuana, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel,” it said.
“The Aureliano Guzmán-Loera DTO’s main source of income is derived from the significant cultivation of marijuana and poppy fields in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range of Sinaloa, Mexico,” the State Department said.
“While the Aureliano Guzmán-Loera DTO is based out of La Tuna, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico, the organization operates drug grow operations and drug production facilities throughout various locations within what is referred to as Mexico’s ‘Golden Triangle’ which is known for Sinaloa Cartelsanctioned, large-scale commercial drug cultivation operations.”
The State Department noted that in 2019 and 2020, two separate federal grand juries in Arizona returned superseding indictments charging Guzmán with drug trafficking offenses.
In 2024, a man identified as the security chief of Aureliano Guzmán Loera was detained during an operation carried out by the army and the National Guard in the region where the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua meet. That operation was reportedly aimed at capturing “El Guano.”
The alleged trafficker’s younger brother, “El Chapo,” was convicted on drug trafficking charges in federal court in New York in 2019. The former Sinaloa Cartel leader was sentenced to life in prison in 2019. He is held at the Florence Supermax in Colorado, a prison known as the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”
With reports from El Financiero and Reforma
