Family members of drug lord El Chapo enter US, Mexican officials say
Family members of drug lord El Chapo enter US, Mexican officials say
Show Caption
Hide Caption
El Chapo's family crosses into US in controversial border entry
Over a dozen relatives of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman have entered the US, sparking debate and confusion over the approval process.
Aljazeera - AJ+
Several family members of the infamous drug lord "El Chapo" have entered the United States as part of negotiations over one of his sons' trafficking charges, Mexico's security secretary said.
Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, was considered one of the leaders of the cartel and was extradited to the United States in 2023 to face federal charges that he and his brothers – known as "Los Chapitos" – made hundreds of millions of dollars by flooding the country with fentanyl.
"It's evident that his family is going to the United States because of the negotiation or opportunity the Justice Department has given him," Omar García Harfuch, Mexico's secretary of security and civilian safety, told Mexican radio network Radio Fórmula, when asked about reports that 17 family members had left Mexico.
He said the family members who entered the United States were not wanted by Mexican authorities.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo told reporters she was caught off guard by the news, and has asked the prosecutor's office to ask the U.S. Department of Justice for more information.
Court records show Guzmán López, also known as "El Ratón," is set to appear in federal court in July to enter a change of plea. He previously pleaded not guilty. The records do not include details about a possible plea agreement.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to May 14 request for comment from USA TODAY on the entry of his relatives to the country or the terms of his plea.
Jeffrey Lichtman, an attorney representing Guzmán López, told Reuters earlier in May "we have no completed agreement yet but hope to in the future."Lichtman and another attorney listed for Guzmán López did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on May 14.
The sons of Joaquin"El Chapo" Guzmán are credited by U.S. authorities with rebuilding their father's international drug empire since his 2017 extradition and 2019 incarceration.
Guzmán López was first arrested in Mexico in 2019 but released after cartel members attacked civilians in Culiacán. He was arrested again in 2023 in an operation that led to 30 more deaths.
Contributing: Kathryn Palmer, USA TODAY; Karol Suárez and Beth Warren, Louisville Courier Journal; Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
31 minutes ago
- New York Post
Russian strikes kill 10, injure 50 Ukrainians, as new EU fails to pass new sanctions package
At least 10 Ukrainians were killed and 50 others wounded by Russian strikes over the past day, just after the EU stalled on a new sanctions package hoping to tighten the pressure on the Kremlin. A drone blasted a residential tower block in the port city of Odesa overnight, causing damage to several floors and trapping residents, according to emergency service workers. 4 Two people were killed in 17 injured in the Odesa strike overnight. via REUTERS Advertisement A teacher and her husband died, their bodies found under the debris. Another 17 people were injured, including three children, according to Ukrainian officials. The offensive in Odesa followed a Russian missile attack that killed at least five people and wounded 25 in the city of Samar in Ukraine's south-east on Friday – the second strike there in three days. 4 A Russian drone blasted a residential tower block in Odesa. via REUTERS Advertisement Another two civilians were also killed in their homes during Moscow's strikes on two villages in the Donetsk region Friday, and another man lost his life in a drone attack on the Kherson region. The pummeling of Ukrainian cities and the climbing death toll in the three-year war comes as Kyiv marked Constitution Day on Saturday — with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky taking time to salute the war dead. 'We honored the memory of our defenders whose lives were taken by Russian aggression,' he posted to X. 4 Children were among the injured in the Odesa strike. via REUTERS Advertisement 'We remember their sacrifice. Eternal gratitude and respect to the fallen heroes.' Meanwhile, the European Union extended existing sanctions against Russia for another six months, but the body failed to adopt a new sanctions package due to Slovak opposition Thursday, sources told the Kyiv Independent. A planned18th sanctions package, which would include new restrictions against the Kremlin's energy and banking sectors, is not expected to be approved until next week as negotiations continue. 4 A residential building was damaged after a Russian drone attack in Odesa in which a married couple was killed. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Slovakia said it was willing to lift its veto once the EU promises to help mitigate the impact of weaning out Russian energy sources, which the country depends on. Last week, the UK and Canada escalated sanctions against Russia's financial, military and energy sectors, following the G7 meeting. 'We are coordinating on sanctions with all G7 nations, as well as with other key global jurisdictions,' Zelensky posted on X Saturday. 'Russia's accountability for this war and our sanctions pressure must be operating at full capacity. They must leave no room for Russia or its cronies to adapt.'
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business Insider
UK terminates $34B subsea cable energy agreement in North Africa
The UK government has officially withdrawn its support for the £25 billion ($34.4 billion) Morocco-UK Power Project, a pioneering plan to harness solar and wind energy from the Sahara Desert and transmit it to Britain via the world's longest subsea power cable. The UK government has withdrawn support for the £25 billion Morocco-UK Power Project due to national interest concerns. This project aimed to transmit renewable energy from Morocco to the UK via a 3,800 km subsea power cable. The lack of government-backed contracts reduced investment attractiveness, leading to project termination. The ambitious project, led by British clean energy company, Xlinks, involved laying over 3,800 kilometers of high-voltage subsea cables from Morocco's Guelmim-Oued Noun region to Devon in southwest England, to generate enough electricity to power over 7 million UK homes, accounting for up to 8% of the country's energy needs. Prior to its termination, the inter-continental energy project, which would have harnessed over 10.5 gigawatts of solar and wind power to deliver a steady 3.6 gigawatts of baseload energy, had reportedly cleared environmental permits and was scheduled for construction as early as 2027. Reuters report that over £100 million ($137 million) has already been spent on development and feasibility studies, with significant interest from lenders to fund the construction phase. However, the lack of a government-backed contract for difference and a guaranteed minimum price for electricity made the project riskier and less attractive to investors. Michael Shanks, UK Energy Minister highlighted the reasons for the decision; he said the government had concluded that, 'it is not in the UK national interest at this time to continue further consideration of support for the Morocco-UK Power Project. ' He also cited concerns over economic alignment and a shift toward ' homegrown power ' as part of a broader energy security strategy, adding that the government had concluded that it preferred domestic renewable investments with greater economic and energy security benefits. Reacting to the news of cancellation, Xlinks, Chairman, Dave Lewis said, 'We are hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed that the UK government would choose to walk away from an opportunity to unlock the substantial value that a large-scale renewable energy project like this would bring,' 'We are now working to unlock the potential of the project and maximize its value for all parties in a different way.' He added. The Morocco-UK Power Project At its core, the Morocco-UK Power Project was envisioned as a transcontinental clean energy solution; designed to tap into North Africa 's abundant sunshine and wind to help the UK meet its 2030 net-zero grid ambitions while easing reliance on natural gas. It would have featured 11.5 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity with battery storage to deliver 3.6 gigawatts of steady baseload power. Despite backing from major investors like TAQA, TotalEnergies, Octopus Energy, and GE Vernova, concerns over the project's complexity, transmission length, geopolitical risks, and dependency on a non-European partner ultimately led to the UK's decision to pull back. As global clean energy investment is projected to reach $3.3 trillion in 2025, with two-thirds going towards renewables and storage, the UK's move signals a shift towards resilient, domestic systems over cross-border mega-deals.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Mexican drug cartel used hacker to track FBI official, then killed potential FBI informants, government audit says
A Mexican drug cartel hired a hacker to surveil the movements of a senior FBI official in Mexico City in 2018 or earlier, gathering information from the city's camera system that allowed the cartel to kill potential FBI informants, the Justice Department inspector general said in a new report. The hacker also was able to 'see calls made and received' by the FBI official and their geolocation data in a major breach of operational security that occurred as the FBI was working on the case of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán Loera, the inspector general said. The hacker tracked people coming in and out of the US Embassy in Mexico City before zeroing in on the FBI's assistant legal attache, a role that works closely with Mexican law enforcement, the report said, citing an FBI case agent at the time. The report did not identify the hacker. 'According to the case agent, the cartel used (information provided by the hacker) to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses,' says the inspector general report, which was a broader review of the FBI's approach to protecting sensitive information and avoiding surveillance. The stunning new details offer a rare look at how technology can be exploited in the high-stakes battle between US law enforcement and the violent Mexican cartels that control illicit drug trade. The Trump administration has made cracking down on cartels a national security priority, in part by declaring them as foreign terrorist groups. The FBI, DEA and US military have in recent years used advanced surveillance techniques to try to infiltrate Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the other big Mexican cartel that US officials say smuggles large volumes of deadly fentanyl into the US. CNN reported in April that the CIA was reviewing its authorities to use lethal force against the cartels. With El Chapo now behind bars, the cartels themselves are increasingly run by a younger generation of tech-savvy drug lords. 'We've identified people in the cartels that specialize in cryptocurrency movements,' a senior DEA official previously told CNN. 'The cartels run a multi-billion-dollar global enterprise and utilize sophisticated technology to enhance their business operations,' Derek Maltz, who until May served as the acting DEA administrator, told CNN. 'They utilize state-of-art sophisticated surveillance techniques to identify law enforcement activities and their adversaries.' The new inspector general report raises broader concerns about the threat of high-tech surveillance to US national security. 'Some within the FBI and partner agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), have described this threat as 'existential,' the report said. There have been 'longstanding' risks posed by 'ubiquitous technical surveillance' — jargon for the widespread availability of data to adversaries — to the FBI's criminal and national security cases, the report said. But recent advances in commercial technology 'have made it easier than ever for less-sophisticated nations and criminal enterprises to identify and exploit vulnerabilities' related to such surveillance, according to the report. The FBI is working on a 'strategic plan' to address some of the inspector general's concerns about the bureau's approach to the threat, the report said. The bureau referred questions about the inspector general's report to the Justice Department. CNN has requested comment from the department.
