Family members of infamous Sinaloa Cartel leader El Chapo entered the U.S. under a deal with the Trump administration, according to Mexican officials.
Relatives of cartel co-founder Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán crossed the border last week as part of negotiations regarding his son Ovidio Guzmán Lopez, known as ‘El Ratón.’
Guzmán Lopez is currently in U.S. custody after being extradited in 2023 to face drug trafficking charges over his alleged role in the Sinaloa Cartel.
Highlights
- Family members of Sinaloa Cartel leader El Chapo entered the U.S. under a Trump deal.
- His son Ovidio Guzmán Lopez, currently in U.S. custody, is set to change his plea to guilty on July 9.
- Four of El Chapo’s sons, known as Los Chapitos, face U.S. charges for leading the cartel’s operations, including fentanyl trafficking and drug manufacturing.
El Chapo’s son Ovidio Guzmán Lopez has made a plea deal in the U.S.
Image credits: Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch told the Mexican network Radio Fórmula on Tuesday that the family had entered because of a deal offered to Guzmán Lopez.
“It is evident that his family is going to the U.S. because of a negotiation or an offer that the Department of Justice is giving him,” he said.
Video footage and photographs shared by Mexican media showed the family members waiting with suitcases to cross the border.
Guzmán Lopez pleaded not guilty to the charges, but court documents indicate he reached an agreement to change his plea last week.
Image credits: US State Department
A hearing was set for May 12 in the case, but it was changed to July 9, with the court asking for a copy of the plea agreement.
Specific details on the plea deal are not known.
Four of El Chapo’s sons, dubbed Los Chapitos, have been charged in the U.S. over their alleged role in the cartel, including Joaquín Guzmán Lopez, who is also in U.S. custody.
Joaquín was taken into custody after arriving in the U.S. last year on a private plane with Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, who co-founded Sinaloa with El Chapo.
Both are facing multiple charges “for heading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” the U.S. Justice Department said.
Zambada’s lawyer, Frank Perez, has alleged that Guzmán Lopez kidnapped his client after luring him onto the private plane.
“My client did not come to the US voluntarily,” Perez said after the arrest.
Former U.S. ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar confirmed this was the case last year.
“The evidence we saw … is that they had brought El Mayo Zambada against his will.”
“This was an operation between cartels, where one turned the other one in,” he added.
Los Chapitos allegedly inherited El Chapo’s empire after he was extradited to the U.S. and imprisoned, but they had a fractured relationship with El Mayo’s faction of the cartel.
The U.S. has charged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel with narcoterrorism
Image credits: Future Publishing via Getty Images
Tensions reportedly led to violent clashes, betrayals, and a growing divide within the Sinaloa Cartel.
Guzmán Lopez’s plea deal comes as other alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel were charged with narcoterrorism in the U.S.
The indictment is the first time cartel leaders have been hit with terrorism charges in the U.S. after President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son Pedro Inzunza Coronel were charged with narcoterrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering as key leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO).
The BLO is a powerful and violent faction of the Sinaloa Cartel that is believed to be the world’s largest known fentanyl production network.
According to court documents, the BLO is known for engaging in shootouts, murders, kidnappings, torture, and violent collection of drug debts to sustain its operations.
“The Sinaloa Cartel is a complex, dangerous terrorist organization and dismantling them demands a novel, powerful legal response,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said.
“Their days of brutalizing the American people without consequence are over—we will seek life in prison for these terrorists.”