A Mexican judge on Friday granted Ovidio Guzmán’s request not to extradite him to the United States.
The high-profile member of the Sinaloa cartel, who was arrested this week during a bloody raid that left at least 29 dead, is currently being held at the Almoloya maximum security prison in Toluca.
The 32-year-old boy, also known as El Raton, is one of the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and is listed on Washington’s most wanted list. However, Friday’s decision suspended “acts consisting in his deportation, extradition and execution”.
Thursday’s arrest in the city of Culiacan, Sinaloa state, came days before US President Joseph Biden’s visit to Mexico for the North American Leaders Summit.
Chapito was first arrested on October 17, 2019, in an operation known as “culiacanazo”, but was released a few hours later due to reprisals from other gang members.
Ovidio Guzman Lopez, along with his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, is wanted in the United States for drug sales. According to US authorities, the brothers collaborated to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana between 2008 and 2018.
The Sinaloa cartel, which Ovidio Guzman has led since his father’s arrest and deportation to the US, exports and distributes large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana and also dominates drug corridors in Arizona and California.
According to US health authorities, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin, is responsible for numerous deaths in the United States.