Who is Ovidio Guzmán, the famous son of “El Chapo”, detained in Mexico?

Ovidio Guzman Lópezarrested this Thursday by the Mexican authorities in Sinaloa, he is one of the most famous and wanted sons of the boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and the cause of the chaos, for which Mexico and the United States have been looking for him for years.

Ovidio, alias “el Ratón”, was one of the lesser-known heirs of the Sinaloa Cartel until the “culiacanazo” of October 17, 2019, a failed operation by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in which the authorities they captured him, but then released him for acts of terror by organized crime in Culiacán.

Amidst its growing profile, Washington has offered five million dollars in December 2021 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ovidio, in addition to his brothers Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Joaquín Guzmán López, known as “los Chapitos”.

Before the “culiacanazo”, of the ten children Chapo had with his three wivesthe most recognized was Iván Archivaldo for the luxuries and extravagances he boasted on the networks, where he displayed his luxury cars, jewels and exotic animals.

But Ovid’s importance in the organization was demonstrated by his capture then and by the current one, which on both occasions unleashed a wave of violence in the city of Culiacán, capital of the northern state of Sinaloa, which has put the authorities in check.

Marijuana, cocaine and ephedrine

Ovidio, the 32-year-old son of Griselda López, Chapo’s second wife, was one of the priority objectives of the United States Department of Justice.

According to the notice published by the agency in December 2021, Ovidio and his brother Joaquín were at high levels of leadership in the Sinaloa cartel, where they began their criminal career as the heirs to power of their brother Edgar Guzmán López.

The “Mouse” inherited a “large part” of the narcotics operations and began investing a “large amount” of money to purchase marijuana in Mexico, cocaine from Colombia and ephedrine from Argentina, substances which were brought into Mexican territory, where they also experimented with the production of methamphetamines, according to the United States.

Ovidio and Joaquín were indicted in April 2018 by a District of Columbia grand jury in the United States for distributing cocaine, methamphetamines and marijuana.

Brothers oversaw 11 meth labs in Sinaloawhere they produced about 5,000 pounds or 2,267 kilograms of meth per month, which is sold primarily to other Sinaloa Cartel members and drug dealers in the United States and Canada, according to the Justice Department.

Ovid has been able to keep a low profile, but since 2012 the US government has included him in the list of international drug traffickers of the “Kingpin Act”, considering that he has played “a significant role in his father’s activities”.

With his inclusion on this Treasury Department list, he was prohibited from doing business with US citizens and his financial assets in that country were frozen.

Ovidio, born in the municipality of Badiraguato, in Sinaloa, is today defined as one of the main heirs of the Chapo operation, one of the most famous drug traffickers in Mexico and in the world who has been facing life imprisonment in the USA since February 2019.

cause of chaos

Ovidio wreaked havoc in Sinaloa and resulted in some of the most controversial moments of López Obrador’s rule.

The current president has faced questions about his personal decision to release Ovid during the “culiacanazo”, an order he justified in order to preserve the peace in Sinaloa at that time.

The new operation to capture him was surprising because it happened suddenly a few days after the visit of the US president, Joe Biden, for the North American Leaders Summit.

Furthermore, it contrasts with the security strategy of López Obrador, who has always criticized the so-called “war against drug trafficking” launched by his predecessors and the intervention of US security agencies.

Source: EFE

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