Son of Mexico’s ‘El Chapo’ to Plead Guilty in US Drug Case

The son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is expected to enter a guilty plea to drug charges in a Chicago court on Friday as part of a plea agreement that could lead to a lighter sentence.

Known by the nickname “El Raton,” or “The Mouse,” Ovidio Guzman finalised a deal on June 30, saying he would plead guilty to circumvent a jury trial and avoid a potentially more severe punishment if found guilty.

The guilty plea is expected to be officially entered during a hearing in Chicago after months of discussions with prosecutors.

Ovidio Guzman, aged 35, faces accusations of participating in an ongoing criminal enterprise, importing and distributing fentanyl, engaging in money laundering, and the use of firearms. His plea is likely to result in a significantly shorter prison term compared to the life sentence imposed on his father, El Chapo, following a highly publicised trial in 2018.

He could provide invaluable insights to US authorities regarding the cartel and its protectors, according to Mike Vigil, former head of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Ovidio Guzman came into the spotlight in October 2019 when Mexican law enforcement detained him, only to release him later on orders from then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador amid a standoff involving law enforcement and gang members.

He was recaptured in January 2023, still under Lopez Obrador’s presidency, and subsequently extradited to the United States.

US officials claim that Ovidio and his three brothers oversee Los Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel that the administration of former President Donald Trump classified as a global “terrorist” organisation.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted to a helicopter by Mexican security forces at Mexico’s International Airport in Mexico City on Feb. 22, 2014. Photographer: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg

His father, regarded as one of the most notorious drug traffickers in history, is currently serving a life sentence in a US prison.

The US alleges that Ovidio Guzman and his associates trafficked fentanyl into the nation, where the opioid crisis is associated with tens of thousands of fatalities. The Sinaloa cartel is among six Mexican drug trafficking organisations that Trump has labelled as terrorist groups.

Another of his siblings, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, was apprehended upon entering the United States last July on a private aircraft with cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped.

These arrests have led to violent confrontations within the cartel, resulting in over 1,200 deaths and 1,400 people missing in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa.

In its robust stance against drug cartels, the Trump administration imposed additional sanctions on Los Chapitos in June for fentanyl rafficking and raised the reward to $10 million for each of the fugitive brothers.