The recently arrested leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín Guzmán López, son of the drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, has pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to the crimes of drug trafficking, money laundering and possession of firearms, thus following in the footsteps of the leader of the organization, Israel ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, both arrested last week in El Paso (Texas).
For his part, Guzmán López’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, has expressed his desire to see his client and work on the case with him, according to the CNN television network.
The two alleged drug traffickers face numerous charges in the country for leading the organization’s operations, including the creation and trafficking of fentanyl, which has become “the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced.”
A few days before his arrest, the United States released another of ‘El Chapo’s’ sons, Ovidio Guzmán López, from prison. He was extradited to the United States in mid-September from Mexico to be tried for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. He was arrested on January 5 of the same year in Culiacán, Sinaloa, being the second time that federal forces had arrested him. The first time was in October 2019, but he was released hours later by order of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to avoid an escalation of violence, such as attempts by the cartel to rescue him.
