Ovidio Guzmán López
Ovidio Guzmán López (born 29 March 1990) is a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal group based in the state of Sinaloa. He is the son of infamous drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, once considered Mexico's most-wanted drug lord and the world's most-wanted criminal. Guzmán López was suspected of being a leader within a Sinaloa Cartel faction often referred to as Los Chapitos, Los Menores, and/or Los Juniors.[2] He was captured on 5 January 2023 and remanded to Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1.[3][4][5]
Ovidio Guzmán López | |
|---|---|
Wanted poster | |
| Born | Ovidio Guzmán López 29 March 1990 Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico |
| Other names |
|
| Organization | Sinaloa Cartel (suspected)[1] |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Parent | Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán |
| Relatives | Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar (half-brother) |
| Criminal charge | Conspiracy to Distribute 5 Kilograms or More of Cocaine, 500 Grams or More of Methamphetamine, and 1,000 Kilograms or More of Marijuana, Intending and Knowing that such substances will be Unlawfully Imported into the United States (Title 21 U.S.C. §§ , , and ) |
| Penalty | 10 years (Mandatory minimum) to Life |
Reward amount | US$5,000,000 |
Wanted by | FGR FBI, DEA |
| Details | |
| Country | Mexico |
| Imprisoned at | Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 |
Early life
Guzmán López was born 29 March 1990 and is a son of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán with his second wife.[6][7][8][9] He was raised in Mexico City and spent four years of his education at a school run by the Legionaries of Christ. This biography states that Guzmán López's mother took him out of the school when the families of his classmates excluded him from a school trip.[10]
A U.S. grand jury indictment alleges Guzmán López has been involved in his father's drug trafficking business since 2008, when he was a teenager.[11][12]
Career
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury named him a "Key Lieutenant" of his father and the Sinaloa Cartel in a 2012 sanctions Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act ("Kingpin Act").[13][14]
It is widely reported that Guzmán López took on a prominent role of the Sinaloa Cartel after his father's arrest.[15][16] In 2019, the Associated Press reported that he leads the cartel along with his brothers Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán, and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.[1]
In July 2017, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia empaneled a grand jury that formally indicted both Ovidio Guzmán López and his brother Joaquín Guzmán López on charges of participating in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana since 2008. The sealed indictment was filed 2 April 2018.[11]
On 12 December 2018, the indictment was unsealed for the limited purpose of disclosure in an extradition proceeding pursuant to the Jencks Act.[17] Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered the full unsealing of the indictment on 13 February 2019.[18]
2019 capture and release
On 17 October 2019, members of the National Guard briefly arrested Ovidio Guzmán López in Culiacán, Sinaloa, setting off several gun battles in the city.[19][15][20] Heavily armed[21][22] cartel gunmen (numbering over 700) threatened mass civilian deaths,[23][24] including an attack to the apartment complex housing the relatives of the local military personnel.[25][26][27] Hours later, Ovidio Guzmán was freed,[28] with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador saying he supported the decision in order to "prevent more bloodshed".[29][30][31] The next month, however, one of the officers who arrested Ovidio, identified as Eduardo N., was assassinated.[32][33]
On 8 May 2020, Santiago Nieto, head of Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), confirmed that the Government of Mexico froze Ovidio Guzmán's assets, stating, "We have frozen the accounts of Ovidio and of 330 people linked to the cartel and have filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office. We have also found irregularities."[34][35]
2023 recapture
On 5 January 2023, the authorities arrested Guzmán López in the Jesús María district of Culiacán.[36][37] Reports of his arrest were later confirmed by Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval, who stated that personnel from the Army, National Guard, Secretariat of National Defense and Secretariat of the Navy had captured him and also managed to successfully transport him to Mexico City, where he was then taken to offices of the Attorney General’s organized crime special prosecutor.[38][2]
The Air Force flew Guzmán López by helicopter to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 ("Altiplano"), a maximum security federal prison in Almoloya de Juárez, later that afternoon.[39] An additional 17 suspected cartel members were also taken into custody in the initial operation.[40]
In a press conference, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that there was an extradition request for Guzmán López to face trial in the United States, but Ebrard noted that he was also facing criminal charges in Mexico.[2] The day after his arrest, a federal judge placed Guzmán López under a 60-day preventive detention to allow U.S. authorities to formally petition for his extradition.
Violence in Sinaloa and Sonora
Following the arrest, the U.S. Consulate in Hermosillo shared that it had received reports of gunfire, roadblocks, and fires throughout the cities of Culiacán, Los Mochis, and Guasave. The Consulate reiterated the United States Department of State's highest level of travel advisory cautioning against travel to Sinaloa.[41] Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya called for the public to shelter in place.[42]
Unrest led to the closure of Culiacán International Airport as two planes at the airport—an airliner operated by Aeroméxico and a military aircraft—took gunfire. Shootouts were also reported on the runway.[43][44] Aeroméxico diverted planes away from the international airports in Los Mochis and Mazatlán as well.[45] Attacks on two trucks on Highway 15 in neighboring Sonora prompted Aeroméxico to also cancel flights from Ciudad Obregón International Airport.[46] Regular service at all the affected airports was restored during the morning of 6 January.[47]
Looting was reported in parts of Culiacán, and numerous businesses and banks announced temporary closures across the state.[48] Journalists in the area reported multiple carjackings and demands for car keys.[44]
Ten soldiers, 19 gang members, and one police officer were killed during the unrest.[49][50][51][52] Among the victims were an infantry colonel and his four escorts, who were ambushed and killed by cartel members in Escuinapa, Sinaloa.[53]
A Secretariat of National Defense-issued report put the forces used in the operation at 3,586 soldiers.[54][55] The Secretariat also claimed that seized in the course of the opreation were "four .50 caliber Barrett rifles, six 50 caliber machine guns, 26 long arms, 2 handguns, magazines, cartridges, various tactical equipment and 13 operational vehicles."[55]
See also
References
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- ^ a b c Verza, María; Sherman, Christopher (5 January 2022). "Mexico nabs son of drug lord 'El Chapo' before Biden visit". Associated Press. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
- ^ Laurent, Anne; Rivers, Matt; Katersky, Aaron (5 January 2023). "Ovidio Guzman, son of El Chapo and alleged major fentanyl trafficker, arrested in Mexico". ABC News. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ "Guzmán López, "El Ratón", arriba al Cefereso 1, el de más alta seguridad en México". SinEmbargo MX (in Spanish). 6 January 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ Janowitz, Nathaniel; Chaparro, Luis; Green, Emily (6 January 2023). "El Chapo's Son 'El Bebe' Is the Weakest Link in the Sinaloa Cartel". Vice.com. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ "¿Quién es Ovidio Guzmán López, el hijo de "El Chapo"?". La Razón (in Spanish). 17 October 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ "Ovidio Guzmán: de "niño bien" a narco". Milenio (in Spanish). 30 October 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ "En su visita a Badiraguato, AMLO saludó a la mamá del Chapo Guzmán" (in Spanish). Aristegui Noticias. 29 March 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Linthicum, Kate (19 October 2019). "Did jailing 'El Chapo' matter? In seizing a city, the Sinaloa cartel shows it's still strong". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ Domínguez, Alejandro. "Ovidio Guzmán estudió en colegio de los Legionarios de Cristo". Grupo Milenio (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Indictment (Sealed)" (PDF), United States of America v. Joaquín Guzmán López (Court Filing), D.D.C., vol. No. 1:18-cr-00081, no. Docket 1, Attachment 0_1, 2 April 2018, retrieved 12 April 2022 – via Recap (PACER current docket view )
- ^ "Cartel gunmen terrorize Mexican city, free El Chapo's son". Reuters. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
- ^ . United States Department of the Treasury. 8 May 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "US blacklists sons of Mexico drug lord Joaquin Guzman". BBC News. 9 May 2019. from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- ^ a b Ahmed, Azam (18 October 2019). "The Stunning Escape of El Chapo's Son: It's Like 'a Bad Netflix Show'". The New York Times. from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ "What we know about El Chapo's son Ovidio Guzmán López". The Washington Post. 18 October 2019. from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ "Order on Motion to Unseal Document" (PDF), United States of America v. Joaquín Guzmán López (Court Filing), D.D.C., vol. No. 1:18-cr-00081, no. Docket 1, Attachment 0_1, 2 April 2022, retrieved 12 April 2022 – via Recap (PACER current docket view )
- ^ "Order on Motion to Unseal Document" (PDF), United States of America v. Joaquín Guzmán López (Court Filing), D.D.C., vol. No. 1:18-cr-00081, no. Docket 9, Attachment 0, 2 April 2022, retrieved 12 April 2022 – via Recap (PACER current docket view )
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