EL CHAPO’S SON PLEADS GUILTY TO DRUG TRAFFICKING, CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE IN U.S. FEDERAL COURT
Read Time:2 Minute, 12 Second
Agency Report
Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, pleaded guilty on Monday in a Chicago federal court to narcotics trafficking and participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, according to U.S. media reports.
Guzmán López, who had initially entered a not-guilty plea after his July 2024 arrest in Texas, changed his plea during a hearing at the U.S. District Court in Chicago, the *Chicago Tribune* reported.
His brother, Ovidio Guzmán, struck a plea deal in July 2025, admitting to drug trafficking conspiracy and involvement in a criminal enterprise. Ovidio also acknowledged that he and his siblings collectively known as “Los Chapitos” had taken over their father’s operations within the powerful Sinaloa cartel.
Their father, the 68-year-old “El Chapo,” is serving a life sentence at a supermax federal prison in Colorado following his 2016 arrest and 2019 conviction.
Guzmán López was taken into custody in July 2024 after arriving in Texas aboard a small private aircraft with cartel co-founder Ismael “Mayo” Zambada. Zambada later claimed he had been deceived about the flight’s destination and forcibly handed over to U.S. authorities.
The arrest sparked violent clashes between rival Sinaloa cartel factions loyal to the Guzmán brothers and those aligned with Zambada. The turf war resulted in an estimated 1,200 deaths and more than 1,400 disappearances across Mexico, according to official records.
The U.S. government accuses the Sinaloa cartel of trafficking fentanyl a synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in recent years fueling diplomatic tensions with Mexico.
The Sinaloa cartel is among six Mexican drug-trafficking organisations designated as global terrorist groups by President Donald Trump. As part of its intensified crackdown on cartels, the Trump administration imposed sanctions against “Los Chapitos” in June and increased the bounty for each fugitive brother to $10 million.
Two of Guzmán López’s brothers, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, remain fugitives and are wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0