Ovidio Guzmán, son of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, pleaded not guilty this Monday to the five charges against him in a federal court in Chicago, United States, including drug trafficking and money laundering.
The son of ‘El Chapo’, also known as ‘El Ratón’, 33, is accused of conspiring to distribute drugs, being part of a criminal enterprise, exporting narcotics to the United States and carrying out financial transactions with the profits. of the illegal use and carrying of illegal weapons.
The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that Ovidio Guzmán is accused of conspiring to distribute cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana from Mexico and other places to the United States.
This activity occurred between May 2008 and “at least” until October 2021.
Guzmán was extradited from Mexico to the United States on Friday and appeared this Monday before the Northern District of Illinois court in Chicago, being detained without the right to bail.
If convicted, two of the charges carry life in prison.
As is the case with all citizens that Mexico extradites to the United States, the condition has been established that the son of ‘El Chapo’ will not be sentenced to death if he is found guilty of the crimes with which he is accused.
The court session had a heavy police presence and the next hearing is scheduled for November.
Guzmán was one of Washington’s most wanted drug traffickers for his involvement in fentanyl trafficking and was arrested by Mexican authorities in January.
In April of this year, the United States filed charges in three different federal districts against ‘El Ratón’ and three of his lawyers, for allegedly assuming the leadership of the Sinaloa cartel, then imprisoned and subsequently extradited his country to them. USA.
The Sinaloa cartel, according to the United States, is the “most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world” and largely responsible for the production and manufacturing of fentanyl for distribution in the United States, where this drug, considered 50 times more powerful than heroin, is “the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 49.”
The US government headed by Joe Biden reiterated this Monday its gratitude to the Mexican authorities for their collaboration in the extradition.
Also this Monday, Mexican President López Obrador stated that the extradition was carried out to avoid giving pretexts for “using drugs for political purposes” in the United States, which has its next presidential elections scheduled for November 2024.
Source: TSF
