United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Saturday that Ovidio Guzman Lopez was successfully extradited after over a nine-month wait.
Guzman, 33, will face fentanyl trafficking charges as a leader in the notorious Sinaloa Cartel. His father, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, was the head of the cartel but is currently in a maximum security federal prison.
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“This action is the most recent step in the Justice Department’s effort to attack every aspect of the cartel’s operations. The fight against the cartels has involved incredible courage by United States law enforcement and Mexican law enforcement and military service members, many of whom have given their lives in the pursuit of justice,” Garland wrote in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country.”
Mexican authorities initially captured Guzman in 2019 but released him after the Sinaloa Cartel took control of Jesus Maria, the city in Mexico where he was originally apprehended, in a controversial move that was approved by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. They captured him once again in January, which was swiftly followed by the U.S. requesting his extradition.
Guzman has three brothers, who also have million-dollar rewards on their heads. Their father, El Chapo, infamously escaped prison in Mexico twice — once in 2001 and once in 2015. Notably, during the most recent escape, El Chapo traveled through a nearly mile-long tunnel dug underneath his prison cell before being arrested in 2016. El Chapo has since been extradited to the U.S., sentenced to life in prison, and ordered to pay $12.6 billion.
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Upon being extradited in 2017, El Chapo spent 30 months at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center before being convicted and has since spent over three years at the supermax prison in Colorado. No inmate has escaped there since 1994.
El Chapo’s wife Emma Coronel Aispuro, who is not related to this younger Guzman in U.S. custody, spent two years at a residential reentry management facility in Long Beach, California following a plea deal in which she admitted to her role in the cartel. Guzman is likely to face a similar fate as his father, as he’s already attempted to appeal his extradition and does appear as though he will plead guilty.
