Two sons of “El Chapo” negotiate a plea deal in the US

Two sons of the famous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán who face drug trafficking charges in the United States, are in plea negotiations with the federal government, attorneys acknowledged Tuesday in a Chicago court.

Neither Ovidio Guzmán López, 34, nor Joaquín Guzmán López, 38, appeared at the brief hearing.

The news of a possible agreement for Ovidio Guzmán López, who sand has declared innocentwas first disclosed during a hearing in October, months after his brother, Joaquín Guzmán López, was arrested in a surprising capture by US authorities in Texas along with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a traditional leader of the cartel. Sinaloa in Mexico.

Lawyers also publicly confirmed Tuesday that they had already begun plea negotiations for Joaquín Guzmán López, who has also pleaded not guilty.

“We need a little more time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Erskine said in court. “We tried to analyze if there could be a global resolution.”

He did not elaborate in court and later declined to speak to reporters.

Zambada eluded US authorities for years. He was believed to be more involved in the cartel’s daily operations than “El Chapo,” its best-known and most striking boss, sentenced to life in prison in the United States in 2019.

In recent years, Guzmán’s sons have led a faction of the cartel known as “los Chapitos,” identified as one of the main exporters of fentanyl to the United States. In 2023, federal prosecutors brought charges against dozens of members of the Sinaloa cartel, including both brothers, in a fentanyl trafficking investigation.

The FBI alleges that Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence.” Zambada is due in court in New York next week.

The dramatic capture of the men in July, of which many details are still unknown, has generated theories about how federal authorities achieved it. It also caused an increase in violence in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa due to a clash between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel.

Zambada’s lawyer claims that his client was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López and taken to the United States aboard a private plane that landed near El Paso. The brothers’ defense attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, has dismissed those claims and previously denied any cooperation with the government.

He did not offer details during Tuesday’s hearing, which he attended by telephone.

Ovidio Guzmán López is due in court on February 27. The next court date for Joaquín Guzmán López is March 19.

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