Mexico – The key pillars of the Trump administration policy towards Mexico involve large -scale deportations and a repression of the cartels.
But reports in the Mexican media suggest that the American authorities have recently orchestrated the secret and cross -border decision of at least 17 close to the most notorious drug track in Mexico – Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – in California.
Various social media sites have circulated images that claim to show El Chapo’s rolling suitcases to shine while waiting to enter the United States last week in the border crossing of San Ysidro connecting Tijuana and San Diego.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Omar García Harfuch, Mexican security chief, confirmed that this decision had taken place.
He characterized the transfer of El Chapo’s relatives as part of a “negotiation” between the United States Ministry of Justice and the representatives of one of the sons of El Chapo, Ovidio Guzmán López, who faces drug efforts and other accusations of the Federal Court in Chicago.
Ovidio Guzmán was initially arrested in 2109 in an operation which sparked fire arms battles paralyzing the city of Culiacán, which prompted the president of the time, Andrés, Manuel López Obrador to order him the liberation in order to end violence. He was restarted in 2023 in a second bloody operation which left at least 29 dead, including 10 Mexican soldiers. Mexico extradited him in the United States in September 2023 to deal with accusations of drug trafficking.
He plans to change his plea not guilty to guilt, according to court documents, but the terms of his potential advocacy agreement remain unknown. A court hearing is scheduled for July 9 before the Federal Court of Chicago.
“As we have seen in the news, Ovidio begins a negotiation with the Ministry of Justice in the United States and it is obvious that (with) his family going to the United States, it is because of this negotiation,” said García Harfuch to the radio formula of Mexico.
The current fate of El Chapo’s parents could not be determined. It was not clear if they were in a form of protective guard.
There were speculation in Mexico that, in exchange for a reduced prison period and other concessions, Ovidio Guzmán could agree to testify for the government in drug affairs. Such “cooperation” agreements, according to experts, regularly include the protection of relatives of potential witnesses.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that reports had blinded her – she learned her in the newspapers – and that her government was looking for clarification in Washington.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, Nicole Navas, refused to comment. Ovidio Guzmán’s New York lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, has not returned messages.
El Chapo, who was sentenced in 2019 for leaving a large drug network, purges a perpetuity imprisonment in a so-called supermax prison in Colorado.
The accounts on the relatives of El Chapo entering San Diego are from Luis Chaparro, a Mexican journalist specializing in the stories about the sentenced drug trafficker.
On Monday, Chaparro, citing “sources”, reported on his YouTube channel that 17 of El Chapo’s relatives-including his ex-wife, various nephews and nieces, a grandson, a girl and a son-in-law-entered the territory of San Ysidro around midday on May 9 and were met by FBI agents. They transported more than $ 70,000 in cash, reported Chaparro, who said that at least a sniper had watched the group when they transformed to the American authorities.
Among the group was Griselda López, the former wife of El Chapo and the mother of Ovidio and his older brother, Joaquín Guzmán López, who is also in police custody in the United States.
There have been generalized speculation in the Mexican press that Ovidio Guzmán and his older brother can seek a plea agreement and perhaps agree to testify against Ismael Zambada García, co-founder, with El Chapo, of the notorious Sinalo Cartel.
Zambada said he was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López last summer and proved to be in the guard of American agents outside El Paso, Texas. Zambada would be in plea negotiations with the American authorities to avoid a potential death sentence.
The arrest of Zambada sparked a bloody war by sharing the Sinaloa cartel. The donors of Zambada fight the supporters of the sons of El Chapo, known as Los Chapitos, for the control of the legendary criminal organization. According to the authorities of Los Chapitos, the authorities are two of the other sons of El Chapo, both wanted men who remained in Mexico and avoided arrest and possible extradition to the United States.
The staff editor Keegan Hamilton in Los Angeles and the special correspondents Cecilia Sánchez Vidal and Liliana Nieto Del Río in Mexico City.
California Daily Newspapers
