Mexico has extradited Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, according to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Garland stated, “This action is the latest step in the Justice Department’s crackdown on all aspects of the cartel’s operations.”
The Mexican government has not yet responded to requests for comment.
Guzman Lopez, also known as “the Mouse,” was captured by Mexican security forces in January in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state.
An earlier attempt to capture him was aborted three years ago due to violent backlash from his cartel allies in Culiacan.
The arrest in January led to similar violence in which 30 people, including 10 military personnel, were killed in Culiacan.
FILE – A truck burns after being set on fire in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Jan. 5, 2023, the day the government detained Ovidio Guzman, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, which unleashed deadly firefights between the military and suspected members of the Sinaloa drug cartel. With Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán serving a life sentence, his sons steered the family business into fentanyl, establishing a network of labs churning out massive quantities they smuggled into the U.S., prosecutors in the U.S. revealed in an indictment unsealed April 14, 2023 in Manhattan. (AP Photo/Martin Urista, File).
The army used Black Hawk helicopter gunships to counter the cartel’s truck-mounted .50-caliber machine guns. Cartel gunmen attacked two military aircraft, forcing them to land, and targeted the city’s airport, where military and civilian aircraft were hit by gunfire.
The capture occurred just days before U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Mexico for bilateral talks and the North American Leaders’ Summit.
In his statement on Friday, Garland paid tribute to the law enforcement and military members who lost their lives in both the U.S. and Mexico. He said, “The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country.”
In April, U.S. prosecutors revealed extensive indictments against Guzman and his brothers, collectively known as the “Chapitos.” The indictments outlined how the brothers shifted the cartel’s focus to synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl following their father’s extradition and life sentence in the U.S.
The indictment unsealed in Manhattan stated that their objective was to produce large quantities of fentanyl and sell it at the lowest price possible. Prosecutors claimed that the cartel makes significant profits, even selling the drug wholesale for just 50 cents per pill due to the low production cost of fentanyl. The brothers, however, denied these allegations in a letter.
The Chapitos gained notoriety for their extreme violence, surpassing the brutality of previous generations of cartel leaders.
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