Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of one of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges in a Chicago federal court, days after his arrest in a dramatic operation that may have turned in his father's former business partner the American authorities, the Guardian reports.
Guzman Lopez, 38, was arrested Thursday along with Ismael "El Maja" Zambado Garcia, the second founder of one of Mexico's most powerful organized crime groups, after they landed in a small plane in El Paso, Texas.
Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit but without handcuffs, Guzman Lopez presented his defense in a hearing that lasted about 10 minutes. While El Chapo is already serving a life sentence in the US, El Majo has eluded capture for decades, despite a $15 million bounty on his head. Zambada pleaded not guilty to all charges at a court hearing last Friday.
US officials told their Mexican counterparts, who were not privy to the operation, that Guzman Lopez had surrendered, but gave confused statements about the nature of El Majo's arrest. Two theories have emerged in a whirlwind of speculation: either El Majo also surrendered, or he was betrayed by Guzman Lopez, perhaps in exchange for better terms for him and his brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, who is currently on trial in the US.
El Majo is believed to be in his late seventies and, according to some sources, suffering from cancer and diabetes, which may suggest a motive for negotiating his own arrest with authorities in the United States, where some of his close family members are already in prison. However, US law enforcement sources initially claimed that Guzmán López tricked El Majo into boarding a plane to inspect secret runways, before taking him to the US.
Then, over the weekend, El Majo's lawyer rejected both claims, saying his client was forcibly abducted.
"Joaquin Guzman Lopez forcibly kidnapped my client. He was surprised, thrown to the ground and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin. His legs were tied, and a black bag was placed over his head. He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to the runway. There he was forced onto the plane, and Joaquin tied his legs to the seat, and was flown to the US against his will," Frank Perez said in a statement via text message.
This version of events may be a smokescreen to cover up the deal between El Majo and the US authorities. However, the Chapitos - a faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by El Chapo's sons - have still not denied the charge of treason.
Asked about the kidnapping charge, Jeffrey Lichtman, Guzman Lopez's attorney, said only that "Zambada has the right to use whatever defense he wants to the charges he faces."
Amid the secrecy and intrigue, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's president, called on the United States to explain exactly what happened.
This issue is diplomatically sensitive, both because of the suggestion that the US acted unilaterally, and because of the possibility that Guzman Lopez and El Majo exchanged information about political corruption in Mexico for better terms.
If El Maja was indeed betrayed by Guzman Lopez, there could be an uptick in violence between their factions, which have been fighting on and off since El Chapo's arrest in 2017.
Rival criminal groups - particularly the Jalisco cartel, which is in violent conflict with the Sinaloa cartel across Mexico - may also see an opportunity to expand their influence.
On Monday, Lopez Obrador took the unusual step of publicly appealing to criminal groups not to go to war against each other after the arrests, while sending extra troops to Sinaloa just in case.
North of the border, the Biden administration hailed the arrests as a blow against the trade in fentanyl, the synthetic opioid fueling the overdose crisis in the US, which claims about 70.000 lives a year.
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