Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he received a phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump to express "solidarity" over the events this week in the northern Mexican city of Culiacan, where soldiers faced off with cartel henchmen.
López Obrador thanked Trump in a Twitter message on Saturday for showing "respect for our sovereignty and his willingness to maintain a good neighbor policy."
The gunfight in the city of roughly 800,000 residents was triggered Thursday by the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, son of convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, in response to a U.S. request for extradition. The elder Guzmán has been sentenced to life in prison in the U.S.
The government released the son after gunmen took soldiers hostage and waged open battle.