President Claudia Sheinbaum has criticized the possible negotiations between Washington and Ovidio Guzmán, son of Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who Mexico extradited to the United States in September 2023. Information has gradually emerged recently regarding an alleged agreement that allowed 17 of Ovidio Guzmán’s relatives to enter the US, apparently seeking special protection. The transfer, made behind Mexico’s back, occurred days after Guzmán agreed to plead guilty to drug trafficking and provide information to Washington.
President Sheinbaum has demanded that her counterpart be transparent about the arrangements with Guzmán, who belongs to the Sinaloa Cartel faction known as Los Chapitos. In passing, the president has questioned these alleged negotiations, after the Donald Trump administration classified El Chapo Guzmán’s cartel and five other Mexican drug trafficking organizations as terrorists. “Because they have said they don’t negotiate with terrorists,” she observed.
Relations between Mexico and the United States are going through a difficult period, despite Sheinbaum’s efforts to overcome Trump’s unpredictable negotiating style, which has exerted pressure on his trading partners in exchange for better terms in his tariff war. Sheinbaum had insisted that bilateral dialogue and cooperation had remained fluid in matters of trade, border security, combating drug trafficking, and migration. But, in recent days, the Trump administration has made unilateral decisions that profoundly affect Mexico and for which it failed to take into account its counterparts in Sheinbaum’s administration. One such case is the negotiations with Ovidio Guzmán.
“So, what are we asking for, in general? Respect, collaboration, coordination,” the president stated in her morning press conference. “They have a policy of not negotiating with terrorists. They decide to designate certain criminal organizations as terrorists. So let them report whether there is an agreement or not,” she requested. In February, the Trump administration declared six Mexican criminal groups as terrorist organizations. The order included the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), the United Cartels, the Northwest Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana. The classification raised red flags in Mexico due to its implications for sovereignty, as it entailed the possibility that the United States could attack criminal organizations directly on Mexican territory.
After media reports that Ovidio Guzmán’s family had crossed the US border, Mexico’s Secretary of Security, Omar García Harfuch, admitted that the trip had taken place, saying it was an “obvious” consequence of a negotiation. “It’s an agreement between a defendant and the authorities,” the official said in a radio interview. “It’s clear that if his family is leaving now, it’s because of this negotiation,” he added. Sheinbaum has indicated that Washington must provide information to its counterparts, especially since Guzmán was extradited by Mexico and the Prosecutor’s Office in that Latin American country has pending investigations against the kingpin.
