CEPROPIE via AP, File
Ovidio Guzmán López, son of drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, was extradited from Mexico to the U.S. on Friday.
The Justice Department released a statement from Attorney General Merrick Garland announcing the news.
“Today, as a result of United States and Mexico law enforcement cooperation, Ovidio Guzmán López, a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was extradited to the United States,” Garland’s statement said. “This action is the most recent step in the Justice Department’s effort to attack every aspect of the cartel’s operations.”
Guzmán was previously arrested in 2019, but was released to avoid bloodshed on the orders of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, per CNN. Before his arrest in January, he had been in hiding.
He was flown to Chicago on Friday, Northern District of Illinois Assistant US Attorney Joseph D. Fitzpatrick told the outlet.
Garland described the move to extradite Guzmán from Mexico to the U.S. as “the most recent step in the Justice Department’s effort to attack every aspect of the cartel’s operations.”
Garland also expressed his gratitude to the “Mexican government” for their cooperation, as well as the Department of Justice’s prosecutors.
“The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country,” the statement concluded.
El Chapo was extradited from Mexico to the U.S. in 2017.Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In aJustice Departmentpress release from April, the Sinaloa Cartel was described as “one of the most powerful drug cartels in the world,” as Garland announced charges against its leaders, including Guzmán and El Chapo’s three other sons, called the Chapitos.
The cartel is “largely responsible for the manufacturing and importing of fentanyl for distribution in the United States,” and the drug has become the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 49, per the DOJ.
“Just as we have gone on offense against terrorists and cyber criminals around the globe, the Department is now waging a relentless campaign to disrupt the production and trafficking of fentanyl – before it can reach its victims,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),the rate of overdose deaths from opioids like fentanyl in 2021was nearly 22 times the rate in 2013. Now, more than 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, per theCDC.
“We’ve seen a major increased. Fentanyl has reached into communities where it hadn’t ever been before,” Dr. Traci Green, professor and director of the Opioid Policy Research Collective at Brandeis University told PEOPLE in 2021.
A significant issue lies in how similar it can look to other drugs. “If someone who’s used to taking cocaine at parties who does a line of fentanyl or even cocaine that has some fentanyl in it, that can really be the difference between life and death,” Green said.
source: people.com
