Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, arrived in the US this Friday after being extradited from Mexico, US Justice confirmed.
“This action is the latest step in the Department of Justice’s effort to attack all aspects of the Sinaloa cartel’s operations,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Guzmán, who was arrested by Mexican authorities in January of this year, was one of the drug traffickers most wanted by Washington for his participation in fentanyl trafficking and now faces a series of federal charges in different courts in the country.
The prosecutor thanked the Mexican Government for achieving the transfer of Guzmán and assured that the United States will continue working to bring to justice “those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated communities throughout the country.”
In April of this year, the United States Justice filed charges in three different federal districts against Guzmán and three of his brothers for having allegedly assumed the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel after the arrest and subsequent extradition of their father to the United States.
The charges, in the federal districts of Southern New York, Northern Illinois and the District of Columbia, were issued as part of an investigation into “the largest and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world,” led by the aforementioned cartel and “fueled by Chinese pharmaceutical companies.”
The Sinaloa cartel, according to Washington, is the “most powerful drug trafficking cartel in the world” and is largely responsible for the production and manufacturing of fentanyl for distribution in the United States, where this drug, considered 50 times more powerful than heroin, is “the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 49.”
Guzmán and his brothers, known as the “Chapitos,” were also accused of “systematically” transporting tons of cocaine from and through South and Central America to the United States, according to the Department of Justice.
US authorities point out that this organization has been involved in drug trafficking activities to the US and violence for more than a decade and a half.
The Mexican Army detained Guzmán on January 5 in the northern state of Sinaloa and later transferred him to the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (Cefereso) number 1 Altiplano, also known as the Almoloya prison, located in the State of Mexico, where he also His father was held, who escaped from there in 2015.
The arrest was surprising as it occurred days before the visit to Mexico of the US president, Joe Biden, on the occasion of the North American Leaders Summit, although the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, denied any relationship between the two events.
The United States, which has offered $5 million for his capture since December 2021, accuses the alleged drug trafficker of crimes related to conspiracy to introduce drugs into that country.