Reports from Mexican media suggest that Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s former wife and 15 other relatives turned themselves in to U.S. federal agents at a border crossing recently.
This surrender took place at the San Ysidro Border Port of Entry, located between San Diego and Tijuana, just last Friday. Interestingly, this happened shortly after news emerged that Ovidio Guzmán, El Chapo’s son, was going to plead guilty to several charges.
Footage captured the moment adults and children carrying their luggage approached individuals believed to be FBI agents at the border – signaling a significant development that may indicate El Chapo’s cooperation against the Sinaloa Cartel.
The group included El Chapo’s former spouse and Ovidio’s mother, Griselda López; his daughter and her husband; a grandson and several relatives, Mexican journalist Luis Chaparro said on his YouTube show, Pie de Nota, on Monday.
The El Chapo clan abandoned Culiacan, the capital city of Sinaloa, to Tijuana, and then made it into the United States, where they were met by FBI agents.
A sharpshooter was even positioned on site to prevent an attack from cartel rivals.
Their arrival in the United States coincides with court records that show that Ovidio is prepared to enter a plea deal over drug trafficking charges.
Ovidio, who was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in 2023, came together with his brothers to operate one half of the Sinaloa Cartel faction that was known as ‘Los Chapitos.’
The group directed a transnational drug trafficking network that ‘allegedly reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in profits by flooding the United States with fentanyl,’ U.S. prosecutors allege.
Ovidio pleaded not guilty in a federal Chicago court on September 18, 2023.
However, the court document showed last Tuesday that he is now scheduled to attend a July 9 in-person hearing to change his plea.
‘Government shall provide the court with a courtesy copy of the plea agreement at least 3 days prior to the plea,’ the court record indicated.
Chaparro warned that the family’s appearance before FBI agents perhaps pointed to Los Chapitos coming up on the losing end of the internal conflict with Ismael ‘El Mayito Flaco’ Zambada Sicairos – or that they feared that the situation would worsen in the days to come.
Los Chapitos and Zambada Sicairos’ Sinaloa Cartel faction, ‘La Mayiza,’ have been warring since September 9, 2024, almost two months after his father, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Ovidio’s brother, Joaquín Guzman, were arrested in El Paso, Texas.
At the time, then U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, revealed that El Mayo, who cofounded the criminal organization with El Chapo, had been taken by force from Mexico into the United States and that Joaquín had volunteered to turn himself.
‘What the sources did reveal is that Ovidio Guzmán had requested this guarantee, to remove his entire family from Jesús María, the town where his mother and the rest of his relatives lived, to take them to the United States with permanent residency,’ Chaparro said.
Unconfirmed reports from Chaparro added that each of the 15 family members would be granted permanent residency cards.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that she was unaware of any deals between Ovidio and the U.S. government to pull his family members out of the country.
‘I asked this morning because I saw the article. There’s no more information than what’s been published in the articles,’ Sheinbaum said.
‘This person [Ovidio] was extradited by Mexico during the administration of [former] President López Obrador. The United States government must also inform the Attorney General’s Office, because the Attorney General’s Office has its investigation files in Mexico.’
