Extradition of El Chapo’s son Ovidio Guzman to US screeches to halt
Ryan King
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The extradition of Ovidio Guzman to the United States hit a roadblock Friday. A Mexico City judge opted to suspend the extradition process pending an appeal from Guzman, son of the notorious Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Mexico’s military apprehended Ovidio Guzman after an intense firefight early Thursday that left at least 29 people dead. The Sinaloa cartel has threatened violence to pressure Ovidio Guzman’s release in an apparent bid to thwart any extradition efforts, according to reports.
MEXICO APPREHENDS EL CHAPO’S SON OVIDIO GUZMAN
“As we can see, the cartel has an enormous paramilitary organization with immense capabilities in terms of logistics and firepower,” Guillermo Valdes Castellanos, a former head of Mexico’s intelligence agency, CISEN, tweeted.
Ovidio Guzman, an alleged fentanyl trafficker and member of the Sinaloa cartel, is being held at the Altiplano maximum security federal prison, according to authorities. The United States previously announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
In addition to halting his extradition, the judge halted a rule that stopped Ovidio Guzman from communicating with his legal team and determined that his team will have three days to ratify documents they filed on his behalf, per CNN.
Mexican authorities detained Ovidio Guzman in 2019 but released him to avert further bloodshed from the Sinaloa cartel. His release at the time was approved by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
During the raid to capture him Thursday, Mexico carried out a full-scale military operation with over 3,000 troops, according to the Washington Post. The operation left considerable physical damage on the outskirts of Culiacan, the city near where the raid took place.
His father, El Chapo, infamously escaped prison in Mexico twice — once in 2001 and once in 2015. Notably, during the most recent escape, El Chapo traveled through a nearly mile-long tunnel cut underneath his prison cell before being arrested in 2016. El Chapo has since been extradited to the U.S., sentenced to life in prison, and ordered to pay $12.6 billion.
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Ovidio Guzman’s arrest comes ahead of the North American Leaders’ Summit next Monday, which will feature discussions between President Joe Biden, Obrador, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.