Current:Home > Scams"El Chapo" sons deny U.S. fentanyl indictment accusations, claim they are "scapegoats"-InfoLens
"El Chapo" sons deny U.S. fentanyl indictment accusations, claim they are "scapegoats"
View Date:2024-12-23 16:28:05
Sons of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán have denied accusations made by U.S. prosecutors last month, saying in a letter that they have no involvement in the production and trafficking of the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.
The letter was provided to The Associated Press by José Refugio Rodríguez, a lawyer for the Guzmán family. Despite not being signed, Rodríguez said he could confirm that the letter was from Guzmán's sons.
The Mexican government did not explicitly confirm the letter's authenticity, but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday it had been analyzed by the country's security council.
The sons of Guzmán said "we have never produced, manufactured or commercialized fentanyl nor any of its derivatives," the letter said. "We are victims of persecution and have been made into scapegoats."
Milenio Television first reported the letter Wednesday.
U.S. prosecutors detailed in court documents last month how the Sinaloa cartel had become the largest exporter of fentanyl to the United States, resulting in tens of thousands of overdose deaths. Guzmán is serving a life sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.
Guzmán's sons are known collectively as the "Chapitos". Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar are the lead defendants among 23 associates charged in a New York indictment. Ovidio Guzmán López, alias "the Mouse," who allegedly pushed the cartel into fentanyl, is charged in another indictment in the same district. Mexico arrested him in January and the U.S. government has requested extradition. Joaquín Guzmán López is charged in the Northern District of Illinois.
U.S. prosecutors say the "Chapitos" have tried to concentrate power through violence, including torturing Mexican federal agents and feeding rivals to their pet tigers.
The sons deny that too, saying they are not the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel and do not even have tigers. They describe a loose federation of independent drug producers and manufacturers in the state of Sinaloa, many of whom appropriate their name for their own advantage.
But according to a U.S. indictment unsealed last month, the "Chapitos" and their cartel associates have also used corkscrews, electrocution and hot chiles to torture their rivals.
The indictment goes on to allege that El Chapo's sons used waterboarding to torture members of rival drug cartels as well as associates who refused to pay debts. Federal officials said that the Chapitos also tested the potency of the fentanyl they allegedly produced on their prisoners.
Mexico arrested Ovidio Guzmán in January and has seized some fentanyl laboratories, but López Obrador has repeatedly denied that Mexico produces the drug and accused U.S. authorities of spying and espionage after the indictments were unsealed.
El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel's founder, is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offenses.
In January, El Chapo sent an "SOS" message to Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, alleging that he has been subjected to "psychological torment" in prison.
- In:
- Drug Cartels
- Mexico
- Andrés Manuel López Obrador
- El Chapo
- Politics
- Indictment
veryGood! (3775)
Related
- West Virginia governor-elect Morrisey to be sworn in mid-January
- Homeowners hit by Hurricane Helene face the grim task of rebuilding without flood insurance
- Allan Lichtman shares his 2024 presidential election prediction | The Excerpt
- Washington state fines paper mill $650,000 after an employee is killed
- Stock market today: Asian stocks dip as Wall Street momentum slows with cooling Trump trade
- Helene near the top of this list of deadliest hurricanes
- Jamie Foxx's Daughter Corinne Foxx Says She Celebrated Engagement in Dad's Rehab Room Amid Health Crisis
- Costco says it cut prices on some Kirkland Signature products in earnings call
- Congress is revisiting UFOs: Here's what's happened since last hearing on extraterrestrials
- Some children tied to NY nurse’s fake vaccine scheme are barred from school
Ranking
- MLS Star Marco Angulo Dead at 22 One Month After Car Crash
- Leslie strengthens into a hurricane in the Atlantic but isn’t threatening land
- Pennsylvania school boards up window openings that allowed views into its gender-neutral bathrooms
- Dream On: The American Dream now costs $4.4m over a lifetime
- Mandy Moore Captures the Holiday Vibe With These No Brainer Gifts & Stocking Stuffer Must-Haves
- TikToker Katie Santry Found a Rug Buried In Her Backyard—And Was Convinced There Was a Dead Body
- Ken Paxton sues TikTok for violating new Texas social media law
- Michigan offense finds life with QB change, crumbles late in 27-17 loss at Washington
Recommendation
-
Richard Allen found guilty in the murders of two teens in Delphi, Indiana. What now?
-
Who plays on Sunday Night Football? Breaking down Week 5 matchup
-
Curbside ‘Composting’ Is Finally Citywide in New York. Or Is It?
-
Vanderbilt takes down No. 1 Alabama 40-35 in historic college football victory
-
Full House's John Stamos Shares Message to Costar Dave Coulier Amid Cancer Battle
-
Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw to miss entire 2024 postseason with injury
-
A month before the election, is late-night comedy ready to laugh through the storm?
-
NFL says the preseason saw its fewest number of concussions since tracking started