Mexico City – The key pillars of the Trump administration’s policy toward Mexico involve mass deportations and the crackdown on cartels.
But reports in Mexican media show that U.S. authorities have recently planned secrets of at least 17 relatives of Mexico's most notorious drug king (Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán) cross-border moves.
Various social media sites are circulating images to show El Chapo waiting to enter the United States as they crossed the San Ysidro border connecting Tijuana and San Diego last week.
In a radio interview Tuesday, Mexico's head of security Omar García Harfuch confirmed the move.
He transferred El Chapo's relatives as part of the U.S. Department of Justice “negotiations” and representatives of Ovidio Guzmán López, one of El Chapo's sons, who faced drug and other charges in federal court in Chicago.
Ovidio Guzmán was initially arrested in 2109, and the operation inspired the battle between guns and Culiacán and prompted then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to order him to release him to end the violence. He was reoccupied in his second bloody operation in 2023, with at least 29 deaths, including 10 Mexican soldiers. Mexico extraditioned him to the United States in September 2023 and faces drug trafficking charges.
He plans to change his guilty plea to guilty, according to court documents, but the terms of his potential plea agreement remain publicly unknown. A court hearing is scheduled to be held in the federal court in Chicago on July 9.
“As we saw in the news, Ovidio started negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice, it was obvious that [with] His family went to the United States because of negotiations.
The whereabouts of El Chapo's relatives cannot be determined at this time. It is not clear whether they are under some form of protective custody.
In Mexico, there are speculation that in exchange for lower prison term and other offers, Ovidio Guzmán could agree to testify for the government in drug cases. Experts say such “cooperation” agreements often include protection for relatives of potential witnesses.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that the reports turned a blind eye – she learned from news reports – her administration is seeking clarification from Washington.
Justice Department spokesman Nicole Navas declined to comment. Jeffrey Lichtman, Ovidio Guzmán's New York lawyer, did not return the message.
El Chapo was convicted in 2019 for operating a massive drug network and sentenced him to life in prison in a so-called Super Max prison in Colorado.
The account about El Chapo's relatives entering San Diego originated from Mexican journalist Luis Chaparro, who specializes in stories about convicted drug traffickers.
On Monday, Chaparro cited “sources” to report on his YouTube channel that 17 of El Chapo's relatives – including his ex-wife, various nephews and nieces, a grandson, a daughter and a son-in-law, entered San Ysidro's U.S. territory around mid-May 9 and was a FBI Agentent. Chaparro reported that they carried more than $70,000 in cash, and he said at least one sniper looked at the group when he handed over to U.S. authorities.
The group includes El Chapo's ex-wife, Ovidio's mother Grisel da López and his older brother Joaquín Guzmán López, who is also facing drug charges.
There is widespread speculation in Mexican media that Ovidio Guzmán and his brother might seek a plea agreement and may agree to testify against the infamous Sinaloa Cartel's El Chapo and Ismael Zambada García, co-founder of El Chapo.
Zambada said he was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López last summer and was detained by U.S. agents outside El Paso, Texas. Zambada is reportedly in plea negotiations with U.S. authorities to avoid potential death penalty.
Zambada's arrest triggered a bloody turf war that split the Sinaloa cartel. Zambada supporters are fighting supporters of El Chapo's son, known as Los Chapitos, to control the legendary criminal group. Authorities say Los Chapitos is two of El Chapo's other two sons, both wanting men to stay in Mexico and avoid being arrested and potentially extraditioned to the United States.
Contributors are staff writer Keegan Hamilton in Los Angeles and special journalists Cecilia Sánchez Vidal and Liliana Nieto del Río in Mexico City.
