SAN DIEGO, CA - On Wednesday, May 14th, Mexican officials confirmed that 17 family members of drug cartel leaders, including those of El Chapo, crossed into the United States as part of a deal between a son of the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Trump administration.
According to Fox News, Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed a report by independent journalist Luis Chaparro that family members of Ovidio Guzmán López had entered the United States. López, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, was extradited to the United States in 2023.
Among the family members allowed into the United States was Guzmán's former wife, Griselda López Pérez and her daughter. In a radio interview, García Harfuch said it was clear to Mexican authorities that the deal was made during negotiations between Guzmán López and the United States government. He said, "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."
At the time of the negotiations, none of the family members were being pursued by Mexican authorities. Video footage posted online by Spanish-language outlet Radio Formula shows Guzmán's family carrying luggage as they waited to be processed at the Tijuana/San Diego border crossing. They reportedly packed $70,000 in cash with them.
The confirmation by García Harfuch came the same day that the office of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced it was charging a number of top cartel leaders with "narcoterrorism" for the first time since the Trump administration declared a number of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California said, "Let me be direct, to the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters, you are the hunted. You will be betrayed by your friends, you will be hounded by your enemies and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California."
Guzmán López, 35, also known as "the Mouse," is one of the four Guzmán's sons known as "Los Chapitos," who ran the Sinaloa Cartel in their father's absence, At his peak, the elder Guzmán was one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world, turning the Sinaloa Cartel into a major force and one of the largest groups responsible for illegal drugs pouring into the United States.
He was arrested and extradited to the United States back in 2017 and convicted of drug trafficking and other crimes. He is imprisoned at the federal super-max prison ADX in Colorado. In 2023, El Chapo sent an "SOS" message to Mexico's president, alleging that he had been subjected to "psychological torment" in prison.
According to CBS News, rumors have circulated that the younger Guzmán would plead guilty to avoid trial for several drug trafficking charges in the United States after being extradited in 2023. Mexican security forces captured "the Mouse" in January 2023 in Culiacán, capital of Sinaloa state. He is accused of conspiring to ship cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana into the United States.
A 2023 indictment by the Department of Justice states that the Chapitos and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electrocution, and hot chiles to torture their rivals while some of their victims were "fed dead or alive to tigers."
According to Fox News, Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed a report by independent journalist Luis Chaparro that family members of Ovidio Guzmán López had entered the United States. López, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, was extradited to the United States in 2023.
Among the family members allowed into the United States was Guzmán's former wife, Griselda López Pérez and her daughter. In a radio interview, García Harfuch said it was clear to Mexican authorities that the deal was made during negotiations between Guzmán López and the United States government. He said, "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."
At the time of the negotiations, none of the family members were being pursued by Mexican authorities. Video footage posted online by Spanish-language outlet Radio Formula shows Guzmán's family carrying luggage as they waited to be processed at the Tijuana/San Diego border crossing. They reportedly packed $70,000 in cash with them.
The confirmation by García Harfuch came the same day that the office of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced it was charging a number of top cartel leaders with "narcoterrorism" for the first time since the Trump administration declared a number of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California said, "Let me be direct, to the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters, you are the hunted. You will be betrayed by your friends, you will be hounded by your enemies and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California."
Guzmán López, 35, also known as "the Mouse," is one of the four Guzmán's sons known as "Los Chapitos," who ran the Sinaloa Cartel in their father's absence, At his peak, the elder Guzmán was one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world, turning the Sinaloa Cartel into a major force and one of the largest groups responsible for illegal drugs pouring into the United States.
He was arrested and extradited to the United States back in 2017 and convicted of drug trafficking and other crimes. He is imprisoned at the federal super-max prison ADX in Colorado. In 2023, El Chapo sent an "SOS" message to Mexico's president, alleging that he had been subjected to "psychological torment" in prison.
According to CBS News, rumors have circulated that the younger Guzmán would plead guilty to avoid trial for several drug trafficking charges in the United States after being extradited in 2023. Mexican security forces captured "the Mouse" in January 2023 in Culiacán, capital of Sinaloa state. He is accused of conspiring to ship cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana into the United States.
A 2023 indictment by the Department of Justice states that the Chapitos and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electrocution, and hot chiles to torture their rivals while some of their victims were "fed dead or alive to tigers."
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Comments
2025-05-25T09:47-0400 | Comment by: Paul
So what's the "deal"?