The son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman pleaded not guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges Tuesday, five days after his arrest in a dramatic operation that allegedly turned over his father’s former business partner Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada to U.S. authorities.
Joaquín Guzmán López made the statement at a hearing in a federal court in Chicago before U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
The son of the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was charged in 2023, along with three of his brothers, known as the “Chapitos,” with drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the United States.
El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and convicted of murder and drug charges in 2019, is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
Guzman Lopez, aged around 30, was arrested by US authorities on Thursday near El Paso, Texas, along with “El Mayo” Zambada, a septuagenarian believed to be the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel along with “El Chapo”.
El Chapito allegedly tricked Zambada into boarding a propeller plane in Mexico by telling him they were going to look for property in the north of the country, U.S. officials familiar with the situation said last week. But the plane landed in the United States, where Guzmán López had planned to turn himself in but Zambada had not.
Last week, Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in federal court in El Paso.
His lawyer, Frank Perez, disputed the version of events offered by U.S. officials. Perez said Guzman Lopez “forcibly kidnapped” his client and took him to the United States against his will.
Jeffrey Lichtman, Guzman Lopez’s attorney, declined to comment on the kidnapping charge except to say: “Mr. Zambada is free to employ whatever defenses he wishes to the charges he faces.”
On Monday, the Mexican government said it had formally launched investigations into the events that led to the arrest of the drug traffickers, including the departure of the aircraft, the surroundings of the people, among other things. It also clarified that neither the military nor any other forces were involved in the arrest.
One of Guzmán López’s brothers, Ovidio Guzmán, 34, was extradited from Mexico last year and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in the United States. The other two brothers, who have multiple charges against them, Iván Guzmán Salazar and Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, remain at large.
U.S. authorities have said the four “Chapitos” revived their father’s drug empire after he was arrested, trafficking fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that helped fuel an epidemic north of the border.
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