Ovidio Guzmán: what are they accusing the son of El Chapo detained in Culiacán

The Mexican drug lord Ovidio Guzmán, son of renowned drug trafficker Joaquín Guzmán alias “El Chapo”, was captured this Thursday, as confirmed by the Mexican authorities.

The arrest of one of the leaders of the so-called Sinaloa cartel occurred in the municipality of Culiacán, where the authorities had been looking for Guzmán, known by the alias “El Ratón”, for more than three years.

Ovidio Guzmán was one of the most wanted men in Mexico and had become a priority for the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMLO, as he is called) since Guzmán evaded an arrest operation in October 2019.

At that time, despite the fact that Guzmán had been captured by members of the police and the army in an impressive display, He was released with the intention of avoiding “a bloodbath”, as AMLO himself explained.

So far Ovidio Guzmán has only one formal open case and it is not exactly in Mexico: a court in Washington DC accused him of drug trafficking and issued an international arrest warrant.

According to the US, Ovidio Guzmán and his brother Joaquín occupy high-ranking positions in the Sinaloa cartel and are considered responsible for supervising more than a dozen methamphetamine laboratories in Sinaloa.

In fact, the US State Department offered up to US$5 million for any lead or information leading to the arrest of “the Mouse.”

However, although there is an extradition request since 2019, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard ruled out that this will be immediate and announced that the process established by law will be followed.

“As of today, I would expect a process here in Mexico,” he told local media.

The capture of Guzmán, which has unleashed a wave of violence in the state of Sinaloa that has left 29 people dead, occurs a few days before the visit of US President Joe Biden to Mexico on the occasion of the Summit of Leaders of North America, to be held in Mexico City on January 10.

But, what are the crimes of which Ovidio Guzmán is accused?

In his statement, Foreign Minister Ebrad ruled out that an extradition will take place in the short term, among other reasons, to prioritize the open processes against Ovidio Guzmán in Mexico.

In fact, the foreign minister confirmed that the capture was made by a court order in Mexico, and not by the US government’s extradition request.

During the press conference given by the Mexican authorities this Friday, it was explained, without giving many details, that there are elements to bring Ovidio Guzmán before the Mexican courts “for crimes against health and firearms.”

Now, on the US side, the judicial pages abound on the crimes of Guzmán and his brothers, who were nicknamed “Los chapitos” and were part of a kind of faction of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, founded by their father in the 1990s.

In April 2018, the court for the District of Columbia, in the USA, filed formal charges against Ovidio Guzmán and his brothers, Iván, Joaquín and Jesús Alfredoin which he accused them of “conspiring, confederating, and distributing cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana to the United States.”

In the document presented to the court, it was indicated that the defendants “made, knowingly, intentionally and deliberately combine, conspire, confederate and agree to distribute: 5 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance that contains a detectable amount of cocaine, 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine and 1,000 kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana,” the indictment read.

Added to this accusation was the observation made by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office (ICE) in which he pointed to Ovidio Guzmán as responsible for controlling at least 11 laboratories dedicated to the production of methamphetamine in the state of Sinaloa.

He was also charged with several murders related to his drug trafficking activity.

It was in 2019, after learning of the extradition request from the US government, that the Mexican authorities advanced the capture that ended with the failed operation in Sinaloa.

Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate them so you don’t miss out on our best content.