Ovidio Guzmán to Plead Guilty in Chicago After Deal With Prosecutors

Ovidio Guzmán to plead guilty

Avoids trial with a deal

Criticism over family transfer

Ovidio Guzmán López, one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, will change his plea to guilty in a Chicago court, after reaching an agreement with U.S. federal prosecutors.

In 2012, the U.S. government placed him on the list of international drug traffickers under the “Kingpin Act,” considering that he played “a significant role in his father’s activities,” and even alleged that the man known as “El Ratón” ordered the murder of a “popular Mexican singer” who refused to perform at his wedding.

Upon being extradited to the United States in 2023, Ovidio Guzmán had pleaded not guilty to five charges: conspiring to distribute drugs, participating in a criminal enterprise, exporting narcotics to the U.S., conducting financial transactions with illicit funds, and illegally carrying firearms.

A radical change occurred on June 30: “El Ratón” signed a document for the Southern District of New York court, pleading guilty to those crimes.

Ovidio Guzmán Facing Justice

Ovidio Guzmán to Plead Guilty in Chicago – Photo: Shutterstock

In that same document, Guzmán López requested that his case be transferred to Illinois, in Chicago, where he remains in custody and faces drug trafficking charges alongside pending cases in New York and the District of Columbia.

With this strategic move, Ovidio Guzmán López avoids going to trial and, according to EFE citing Brookings researcher Vanda Felbab-Brown, he could testify in various investigations regarding information about the Sinaloa Cartel or corruption in Mexico.

“El Ratón,” 35, rose to international notoriety after the “Culiacanazo” on October 17, 2019, when his arrest triggered gun battles in Culiacán that led to his release to prevent further violence.

However, he was recaptured in early 2023 in Culiacán, shortly before then-U.S. President Joe Biden visited Mexico for the North American Leaders’ Summit.

In May, Mexico confirmed that 17 members of “El Ratón’s” family, who were not wanted by Mexican authorities, voluntarily surrendered to U.S. authorities as part of a “negotiation” with Washington.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized that operation, pointing out the contradiction of negotiating with a drug trafficker to allow his family’s entry into the U.S. while that country refuses to engage in dialogue with terrorists and has designated certain Mexican cartels as such.

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Ovidio Guzmán’s case adds to the voluntary surrender of his brother Joaquín Guzmán López in July 2024, who also faces drug trafficking charges and is negotiating his own plea agreement.

Joaquín arrived in the United States on a private flight accompanied by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of Mexico’s most wanted drug traffickers, in what is suspected to have been a ploy to hand him over.

Although the circumstances of that flight have not been fully clarified, it appears that Joaquín Guzmán turned over Zambada as part of a deal with the prosecution.

What do you think about these negotiations between drug traffickers and U.S. authorities?

SOURCE: EFE