The notorious Mexican drug lord "El Chapo" has been in prison for six years. Now the US wants to put his son, Ovidio Guzmán, on trial as well. In addition to drug trafficking, he is also accused of having commissioned several murders.
After the United States put the notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán behind bars for life, they now want to put his son on trial as well. The US embassy in Mexico City has filed an extradition request for 32-year-old Ovidio Guzmán with Mexico's State Department and Attorney General, a Mexican government official, who asked not to be named, said.
US authorities and experts assume that Ovidio Guzmán and his three brothers have taken command of the Sinaloa drug cartel after their father's arrest. The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Oividio Guzmán's arrest. He was finally caught in Culiacan, the capital of the state of Sinaloa, in early January. The operation killed 29 people - 10 military personnel and 19 suspected criminals.
Immediately after his arrest, Ovidio Guzmán obtained a court order that prevented his immediate extradition to the United States. A judge gave the US authorities until March 5 to file an extradition request. The US accuses El Chapo's son of overseeing nearly a dozen laboratories producing the synthetic drug methamphetamine in Sinaloa state and being involved in the trafficking of cocaine and marijuana. In addition, he is said to have commissioned several murders. For their part, the Mexican authorities are investigating Ovidio Guzmán for his involvement in organized crime and other crimes.
Ovidio Guzmán's father, the founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was at one time one of the most wanted criminals in the world. In 2019, El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment by a New York court for drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons offenses, among other things. The 65-year-old is now in a prison in the mountains of Colorado, one of the best-secured prisons in the United States.
