US Charges 28 Sinaloa Cartel Members – Including El Chapo’s Sons

55

The United States Justice Department has accused many people connected to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, including the sons of a notorious drug lord called “El Chapo” Guzman, of dealing fentanyl drugs.

The Guzman family has 3 sons known as the “Chapitos” or the little Chapo. They are believed to be more dangerous and aggressive than other members of their group. Only one of the three, Ovidio Guzmán López, is currently in custody in Mexico.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Anne Milgram were joined by top federal prosecutors to announce legal charges against a global drug cartel.

The people who have been accused of bad things make up a huge group that is linked together through making and supplying things. They are from China, Guatemala and Mexico, and they are being accused of providing the ingredients needed to make fentanyl (a strong drug), running drug labs in Mexico, providing weapons and money for those who sell drugs illegally.

The situation right now in the US is very serious. About 107,000 people died because they took too much of a drug called fentanyl last year – the highest number ever recorded.

Also, since 2019, the amount of fentanyl being brought into the US has gone up by over 400%, and even this year already will exceed what was found all of last year!

The Drug Enforcement Administration says that the fentanyl being sold in America has been mostly coming from a cartel called the Sinaloa cartel. The Director of the administration, Garland, explained that this is causing great pain and suffering for families across our country. He also promised to do whatever it takes to punish the people responsible for bringing the fentanyl into America.

El Chapo, a notorious drug lord, was convicted in 2019 for illegally and secretly moving drugs like cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the United States. But he said that his trial was not fair, claiming that the judge didn’t give him a chance.

On Friday, the government talked about how bad the Sinaloa cartel is. They do horrible things to people they don’t like and even Mexican police officers! In some cases, they took victims and put them in a cage with tigers owned by Guzman’s sons – sometimes while those victims were still alive!.

Eight people have been taken into custody by law enforcement officials in Colombia, Greece, Guatemala and the United States. The U.S government has put out a reward of up to $10 million for two more people involved in this case. Documents on this case have been filed in New York, Illinois, and Washington D.C.

On Friday, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control put five people from China and Guatemala in trouble for giving drugs to a gang. Also, two Chinese companies were given punishments by the same department.

The US government has asked China to stop the shipment of certain chemicals. Since China and USA are not in friendly terms, the Biden administration is asking other countries like Europe, Middle East and others to make it clear to China that this is a worldwide problem.

In January, one of El Chapo’s sons called Ovidio Guzmán López got arrested. He was given the nickname “The Mouse” because he was not very famous until three years before when they tried to catch him but failed. This time Mexico managed to get him out of Culiacan. In 2019, they tried to capture him again but ended up having to release him after gunmen in the city started shooting.

Around 30 people, including members of the law enforcement and accused criminals, died in a situation that caused loud shooting sounds to ring out across the city, making it so no planes could take off from the airport. The government of the U.S has sent an extradition request for one of the younger people involved.

Ovidio and his brother, Joaquín Guzmán López, helped the Sinaloa cartel to become more focused on making and selling methamphetamines. They were both charged with drug trafficking in 2018 in Washington.

Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Sálazar, the two sons of El Chapo, are thought to have been helping Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada run their cartel. In the past, this was already an issue in U.S. cities like Chicago and San Diego.

Since there were rumors about El Mayo’s health being poor and him staying isolated in the mountains, the Guzmán brothers started to take a more active role in attempts to keep their cartel from falling apart.

The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) said they looked into this case in 10 different countries. These included: Australia, Austria, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and the United States.

They spoke about the cartel involved and said: “This group causes a lot of death and destruction. With today’s indictments we have done something to combat this organization and the global network it has created. That network leads to violence and death on both sides of the border.”

A reporter from Mexico City, named Sherman, wrote this story and two people from Washington, Fatima Hussein and Aamer Madhani, helped with it.