Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's son Ovidio Guzman, who was arrested in Mexico's Sinaloa state in January, has been extradited to the US on fentanyl trafficking charges, according to US authorities.
Nicknamed “El Raton” aka “The Mouse”, Ovidio is also accused of having ordered the murder of a singer who had refused to perform at his wedding.
“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 servicemembers, many of whom have given their lives in the pursuit of justice,” said US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement released by the country's Department of Justice.
“I am grateful to them and to the Department’s prosecutors for their work and their sacrifice. I am also grateful to our Mexican government counterparts for this extradition. The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country,” he added.
The move comes days after El Chapo's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro was released from US federal custody following the completion of a three-year sentence for helping the drug lord run his cartel. Aispuro, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to three federal offenses, will now serve four years of supervised release.
The woman had helped the drug lord escape through a tunnel underneath a Mexican prison in 2015 by supplying him a GPS watch disguised as a food item, helping those digging the tunnel locate him.
El Chapo, who was later arrested again in 2016, is currently serving life behind bars in a Colorado supermax prison for leading the cartel. He insisted his trial in New York wasn't fair and told the judge his case was stained.
Who is Ovidio Guzman?
Ovidio is one of the four children of El Chapo from his relationship with Griselda Lopez. The eldest of the four, Edgar, died in a shootout in 2008. Ovidio who was briefly detained in Mexico's Culiacan in 2019 was released as per President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's orders to avoid bloodshed when his cartel unleashed violence and targeted the police and soldiers.
