El Chapo’s sons discussing plea with US government: Lawyer

Joaqin Guzman Lopez and his brothers are accused of taking the reins of the Sinaloa cartel aft their father’s arrest.

The sons of notorious cause kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman are successful talks to chopped a plea woody with United States prosecutors, according to their lawyer.

The quality was unveiled during a tribunal proceeding successful Chicago connected Monday for El Chapo’s younger son, Ovidio Guzman, who, on with his member Joaquin Guzman Lopez, is accused of helping tally the Sinaloa cartel his begetter erstwhile led and funnelling monolithic amounts of narcotics into the US.

The Guzman brothers – on with 2 different siblings inactive successful Mexico – marque up the “El Chapitos” faction of the feared cartel. Both person pleaded not guilty successful anterior tribunal hearings.

Their begetter “El Chapo” is serving beingness successful prison successful a supermax installation successful the US authorities of Colorado for a monolithic cause conspiracy.

The Guzman sons’ reported plea talks travel aft 1 of the brothers was arrested astatine a Texas airport successful July on with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the notorious caput of a rival cartel faction.

Zambada, the 76-year-old co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was described by prosecutors arsenic “one of the world’s astir notorious and unsafe cause traffickers”, who had evaded seizure for decades.

He pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of cause trafficking, execution and different charges successful a New York tribunal past month.

“Kidnapped”

Zambada’s lawyer has claimed his lawsuit was kidnapped and forced onto a tiny level bound for Texas wherever US instrumentality enforcement was waiting.

Mexican prosecutors person filed kidnapping charges against Joaquin Guzman Lopez, suggesting helium smuggled El Mayo into the US arsenic a prize to effort to get favourable attraction for his jailed brother, Ovidio.

Experts accidental the Chapitos could supply invaluable grounds successful the lawsuit against Zambada, arsenic good arsenic imaginable corruption investigations against officials successful Mexico.

“Any practice statement with immoderate cause trafficker implies that helium volition pass connected imaginable Mexican national authorities officials, military, police, successful the transportation of drugs,” said Jesus Esquivel, the Washington analogous for the Mexican magazine, Proceso.

As an example, Esquivel cited the indictment of Mexico’s erstwhile nationalist information chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, who was sentenced past week successful New York to 38 years successful jail.

Separate cases

Lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman, who volition support some jailed Guzman brothers, told reporters that plea talks with the US justness strategy are conscionable getting disconnected the ground, according to respective media reports.

He besides stressed that the sons are facing “two wholly antithetic cases”.

“This isn’t a bundle woody successful presumption of 1 doing 1 and 1 doing the different … The authorities views them differently,” Lichtman was quoted by ABC News Chicago arsenic saying.

Assistant US Attorney Andrew Erskine said that some the prosecution and defence hoped to settee Ovidio’s lawsuit earlier proceedings and expected advancement earlier the adjacent proceeding scheduled for January 7.

US Drug Enforcement Administration main Anne Milgram said Zambada’s apprehension “strikes astatine the bosom of the cartel that is liable for the bulk of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, sidesplitting Americans from seashore to coast”.

Cartel war

After the Guzman Lopez and El Mayo’s arrests, a war erupted betwixt the 2 vying cartel camps, with regular shootouts wreaking havoc successful Culiacan, the superior of Sinaloa state. At slightest 72 radical person been killed and 209 radical kidnapped, according to authorities authoritative Claudia Sanchez.

One of the recent targets was the section paper El Debate, which had been covering the continuing hostilities. On October 18, the work was sprayed with gunfire, but nary injuries were reported.

The Sinaloa cartel has agelong been dreaded for its brutality against perceived enemies, including instrumentality enforcement and captious journalists.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland, successful announcing charges past twelvemonth against the Guzman brothers and their associates, elaborate alleged cases of torture by the cartel, including experimenting connected victims with fentanyl and feeding others to tigers.