Ovidio Guzmán López

Ovidio Guzmán López (born 29 March 1990) is a Mexican former drug lord and high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal group based in the state of Sinaloa.

He is the son of another drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, once considered Mexico's most-wanted drug lord and the world's most-wanted criminal.

Guzmán López was suspected of being a leader within a Sinaloa Cartel faction often referred to as Los Chapitos, Los Menores, and/or Los Juniors.

He was captured on 5 January 2023 and remanded to Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1, until he was extradited to the US on 15 September 2023, where he is currently awaiting trial.

Guzmán López was born 29 March 1990 and is a son of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán with his second wife.

He was raised in Mexico City and spent four years of his education at a school run by the Legionaries of Christ.

This biography states that Guzmán López's mother took him out of the school when the families of his classmates excluded him from a school trip.

A U.S. grand jury indictment alleges Guzmán López has been involved in his father's drug trafficking business since 2008, when he was a teenager.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury named him a "Key Lieutenant" of his father and the Sinaloa Cartel in a 2012 sanctions Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act ("Kingpin Act").

It is widely reported that Guzmán López took on a prominent role of the Sinaloa Cartel after his father's arrest.

In July 2017, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia empaneled a grand jury that formally indicted both Ovidio Guzmán López and his brother Joaquín Guzmán López on charges of participating in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana since 2008.

The sealed indictment was filed 2 April 2018.

On 12 December 2018, the indictment was unsealed for the limited purpose of disclosure in an extradition proceeding pursuant to the Jencks Act.

In 2019, the Associated Press reported that he leads the cartel along with his brothers Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán, and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered the full unsealing of the indictment on 13 February 2019.

On 17 October 2019, members of the National Guard briefly arrested Ovidio Guzmán López in Culiacán, Sinaloa, setting off several gun battles in the city.

Heavily armed cartel gunmen (numbering over 700) threatened mass civilian deaths, including an attack to the apartment complex housing the relatives of the local military personnel.

Hours later, Ovidio Guzmán was freed, with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador saying he supported the decision in order to "prevent more bloodshed".

The next month, however, one of the officers who arrested Ovidio, identified as Eduardo N., was assassinated.

On 8 May 2020, Santiago Nieto, head of Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), confirmed that the Government of Mexico froze Ovidio Guzmán's assets, stating, "We have frozen the accounts of Ovidio and of 330 people linked to the cartel and have filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office. We have also found irregularities."

On 5 January 2023, the authorities arrested Guzmán López in the Jesús María district of Culiacán.

According to eyewitness accounts, Guzmán López had a family party the evening before he was arrested.

The military executed a pre-dawn raid on Guzmán López's residence that used a helicopter and convoy of ground vehicles and apprehended him within 10 hours of entry.

Reports of his arrest were later confirmed by Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval, who stated that personnel from the Army, National Guard, Secretariat of National Defense and Secretariat of the Navy had captured him and also managed to successfully transport him to Mexico City, where he was then taken to offices of the Attorney General's organized crime special prosecutor.

The Air Force then flew Guzmán López by helicopter to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 ("Altiplano"), a maximum security federal prison in Almoloya de Juárez, later that afternoon.

An additional 17 suspected cartel members were also taken into custody in the initial operation.

In a press conference, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that there was an extradition request for Guzmán López to face trial in the United States, but Ebrard noted that he was also facing criminal charges in Mexico.

The day after his arrest, a federal judge placed Guzmán López under a 60-day preventive detention to allow U.S. authorities to formally petition for his extradition.

Following the arrest, the U.S. Consulate in Hermosillo shared that it had received reports of gunfire, roadblocks, and fires throughout the cities of Culiacán, Los Mochis, and Guasave.

The Consulate reiterated the United States Department of State's highest level of travel advisory cautioning against travel to Sinaloa.

Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya called for the public to shelter in place.

Unrest led to the closure of Culiacán International Airport as two planes at the airport—an airliner operated by Aeroméxico and a military aircraft—took gunfire.

Shootouts were also reported on the runway.

Aeroméxico diverted planes away from the international airports in Los Mochis and Mazatlán as well.

Attacks on two trucks on Highway 15 in neighboring Sonora prompted Aeroméxico to also cancel flights from Ciudad Obregón International Airport.

Regular service at all the affected airports was restored during the morning of 6 January.

Looting was reported in parts of Culiacán, and numerous businesses and banks announced temporary closures across the state.

Journalists in the area reported multiple carjackings and demands for car keys.

Ten soldiers, 19 gang members, and one police officer were killed during the unrest.

Among the victims were an infantry colonel and his four escorts, who were ambushed and killed by cartel members in Escuinapa, Sinaloa.