Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, pleaded guilty this Monday in a U.S. federal court to drug trafficking-related charges after proclaiming his innocence last year. Guzmán López, alias El Güero, pleaded guilty to narcotics and organized crime charges in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in the city of Chicago. According to media present at the hearing, Guzmán López took responsibility for overseeing the distribution of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or fentanyl while leading a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel alongside his brother Ovidio. Following his guilty plea, the Mexican will cooperate with U.S. Justice and will return to court on June 1, 2026, as ruled by the case's judge, Sharon Johnson Coleman. Last Friday, it was already known in court documents that Guzmán López would plead guilty at today's hearing, which was initially set to be routine. The Mexican arrived in the U.S. in 2024 on a private flight with Ismael 'el Mayo' Zambada, co-founder and historic leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, in what is suspected to have been a deception towards Zambada, supposedly part of another agreement with the prosecution. You may also be interested >Trump gave Maduro the option to go to Russia or another country. Last July, Joaquín's brother, Ovidio Guzmán López, also pleaded guilty to four drug-related charges before the same court, as part of an agreement with U.S. authorities whose terms were not disclosed. Both brothers are accused of leading a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. In turn, in August, 'el Mayo' Zambada formally pleaded guilty to two drug trafficking, money laundering, and weapons charges against him in a federal court in New York. EFE
