Ovidio Guzmán, son of Chapo, pleads innocent of drug trafficking and money laundering

Ovidio Guzmán, one of the sons of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, pleaded not guilty this Monday to the five charges of which he is accused in the Chicago District Court for drug trafficking and money laundering, US media indicated.

The man also known as the Mouse is accused of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, being part of a criminal enterprise, exporting said substances to the United States, illicit use and possession of firearms, and carrying out financial transactions with the proceeds of illegal activities.

Guzmán was extradited to the United States from Mexico last Friday and this was his first court appearance since then.. The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported that he was presented with an orange prison suit and shackles on his ankles.. He listened to the session through an interpreter, but promptly addressed the judge, Sharon Johnson Coleman, in English.

If convicted, two of the charges carry life in prison.. According to that local newspaper, within the framework of the extradition negotiation with the Mexican authorities, the death penalty was excluded.

Fentalin trafficking

Guzmán was one of Washington's most wanted drug traffickers for his involvement in fentanyl trafficking and was arrested by Mexican authorities last January. In April of this year, the United States Justice filed charges in three different federal districts against him and three of his brothers for having allegedly assumed leadership of the Sinaloa cartel after the arrest and subsequent extradition of their father to the United States.

The Sinaloa cartel, according to Washington, is the “most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world” and largely responsible for the production of fentanyl for distribution in the United States, where it is “the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 49.” years”.

Guzmán's arrest, on January 5, took place days before the visit to Mexico of the US president, Joe Biden, on the occasion of the North American Leaders Summit, although the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, denied then any relationship between the two facts.

This Monday, the Mexican president affirmed that the extradition has been carried out to avoid giving pretexts for “politicking” to the United States, which has its next presidential elections scheduled in November 2024. “It is important that those who use the issue of drug trafficking are not given a reason for political purposes in the United States. There are two topics that are used a lot when there are elections in the United States: drug trafficking and migration,” said the Mexican president in his morning press conference.