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Ovidio Guzman, a son of incarcerated Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was extradited to the United States on Friday to face fentanyl trafficking charges, in a boost for the Biden administration’s push to curb the spread of the deadly opioid.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Guzman’s extradition was the latest step in American efforts to attack “every aspect” of the drug trafficking operations run by the Sinaloa cartel long associated with the Guzman family.
“I am also grateful to our Mexican government counterparts for this extradition,” Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fuelling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country.”
Two Mexican officials familiar with the matter also confirmed the extradition of the 33-year-old Guzman.
US charges El Chapo sons and Chinese businessmen with fentanyl trafficking
US charges El Chapo sons and Chinese businessmen with fentanyl trafficking
Guzman, one of the heirs to his father’s trafficking empire, was briefly arrested in the northern city of Culiacan in 2019 but released on the orders of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to avoid bloodshed when his cartel struck back.
He was captured in January after an intense firefight in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa.
US officials have portrayed Guzman and a number of his brothers as the face of the threat posed by fentanyl, a highly addictive poison that kills nearly 200 Americans daily. That death toll has piled pressure on the Biden administration and caused diplomatic strains between the US and Mexico.
The US government asked for Guzman’s extradition in February so he could face drugs charges in a US court.
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Chaos as plane is caught in cartel crossfire after Mexico recaptures El Chapo’s son
Chaos as plane is caught in cartel crossfire after Mexico recaptures El Chapo’s son
Extradition proceedings of prominent Mexican drug traffickers can take years. The removal of Guzman was even quicker than that of his father, who was flown to the US barely a year after his final arrest in Sinaloa in early 2016.
Several Mexican media, including news network Milenio, earlier reported that Guzman had been taken out of a maximum security prison in central Mexico to be flown across the border.
According to US court documents, Guzman and his brothers allegedly controlled extensive international operations in the fentanyl trade, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in profits by “flooding” the US with the drug.
In 2021, the State Department offered a US$5 million reward for information leading to Guzman’s arrest or conviction.
His father, “El Chapo” Guzman, rose to prominence at the helm of the Sinaloa cartel. He was extradited to the US in 2017 after twice escaping from prison in Mexico. The elder Guzman is now at a high-security “Supermax” lock-up in Colorado.
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