One of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s sons has been sanctioned in connection with his siblings’ Los Chapitos network and the organization’s trafficking of illegal fentanyl and other deadly drugs to the United States.
Joaquín Guzmán López reportedly works hand-in-hand with his three brothers, Iván Guzmán Salazar, Jesús Guzmán Salazar and Ovidio Guzmán López and is tasked with keeping a close eye on many of the Los Chapitos transactions. Foreign Assets Control said in a statement Tuesday.
The group, a powerful faction of their father’s Sinaloa cartel, is said to have risen to power after the infamous kingpin was arrested in Mexico in 2016 and then extradited to the United States in 2017. A federal court in New York found him guilty in February 2019 and sentenced him to life in prison in July 2019.
The Treasury Department indicated that Joaquín Guzmán López manages the “super labs” of the Los Chapitos network, which are provided by Ludim Zamudio Lerna and Luis Zamudio Lerman, siblings who are both based in Sinaloa.
The sanctions require all property owned by US citizens to be blocked and reported. It also prevents people from coming into contact with sanctioned persons.
“Today’s action continues to disrupt key hubs of the global illicit fentanyl business, including the producers, suppliers and transporters,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “Treasury, working closely with the government of Mexico and U.S. law enforcement, will continue to use our authorities to isolate and disrupt Los Chapitos and the operations of the Sinaloa Cartel at any time.”
Joaquín Guzmán López was sanctioned Tuesday by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for his dealings with Los Chapitos, a network run by him and his three brothers that controls half of the Sinaloa cartel.
After his extradition to the United States in 2017, the four sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán rose to power to control half of the Sinaloa cartel.
Joaquín Guzmán López was first indicted in 2018 when the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia slapped him with federal charges of drug trafficking. He is also arraigned in several replacement charges in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on April 14.
The US State Department is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
A $10 million reward is also being offered for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction of Ivan Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Guzmán Salazar.
Meanwhile, Ovidio Guzmán López is locked up in a prison in Mexico City, fighting to avoid his extradition to the United States.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has also sanctioned Raymundo Pérez, who is reportedly the head of a network that supplies the Sinaloa cartel with chemical precursors needed to produce drugs.
The U.S. State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, one of the four sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán who led half of the Sinaloa cartel under the Los Chapitos network
Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar (pictured) is one of three sons of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán wanted by the US
Also sanctioned was Saul Paez, a cousin of Joaquín Guzmán López and Ovidio Guzmán López, who is reportedly responsible for coordinating drug shipments.
The federal agency also included Mario Ogazon among those charged, accusing him of buying chemical precursors from Ludim Zamudio Lerma. He would be involved in the activities of the cartel’s laboratories.
The FBI also sanctioned Sumilab, SA, the CV, a Sinaloa-based chemical and laboratory equipment company that supplies and ships chemical precursors “for and to members and associates of the Sinaloa cartel.”
A second company, identified as real estate company Urbanization, Real Estate and Construction Works, SA de CV, was also sanctioned.
According to the DEA, Los Chapitos supply fentanyl to 27 cities in the United States
US prosecutors allege Los Chapitos receives chemical precursors to manufacture fentanyl from China and then manufacture it in clandestine labs in Mexico before being smuggled into the United States
The company is “owned, controlled or directed by, or has acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly” of Mario Ogazon.
The sanctions were issued after Los Chapitos released a letter to Mexican news network Milenio saying that they “are not the head of the Sinaloa cartel and we don’t want to be.”
In the post, the siblings stated that “what does exist are a countless number of small and large groups that have their base of operations in the state or are made up of people from Sinaloa and are active in other parts of the country or even in other parts of the country.” of the world.’
In addition, Los Chapitos denounced the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ahead of its April 14 press conference, where agency administrator Anne Milgram released details of charges against the Sinaloa Cartel, accusing Los Chapitos of being at the forefront of the “most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation” from the organization. in the world.’
The indictment accused Los Chapitos of flooding the streets of the United States with fentanyl for the past eight years, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
According to the DEA, Los Chapitos supply fentanyl to 27 cities in the United States.
‘The fame of our name reached an unexpected position. We have never worked with fentanyl before,” the letter said. “But in Sinaloa, there are many who are working on it. That’s why there are attacks, which have a first and last name, [investigations].
“It’s easy to know who really owns all those seizures. We have never knowingly formed relationships with people who traffic fentanyl. We want to make this clear: Iván will never say or say ‘we will flood the streets of the United States with fentanyl’.