“Those assholes won’t catch me today or ever,” Iván Archivaldo told his cousin, El Gabacho.

In February 2025, a Federal Forces operation in Culiacán, Sinaloa, targeted the arrest of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, alias “El Chapito,” son of El Chapo Guzmán and leader of the faction known as Los Chapitos.

Despite the deployment in the Tierra Blanca municipality, the 41-year-old drug lord, wanted by the DEA with a $10 million reward for his role in trafficking fentanyl to the United States, managed to evade arrest.

Iván Archivaldo’s escape was made possible by the existence of a 700-meter underground tunnel, hidden in a home’s bathroom and exiting through an unoccupied house. This passage, which was lit and accessible on foot, had already been prepared several days in advance, suggesting meticulous planning. After traveling through the tunnel, Guzmán Salazar was extracted in a car with tinted windows, escorted by hitmen with rifles and grenades, who protected his escape.

While Iván Archivaldo fled, two of his closest operatives were arrested: José Ángel Canobbio Inzunza, alias “El Güerito,” considered the financial operator of Los Chapitos and responsible for the logistics of fentanyl production and shipment; and Kevin Alonso Gil Acosta, “El 200,” Iván’s personal security chief and coordinator of the tactical movements of his inner circle.

Security sources suggest that “El 200” was handed over by Iván himself as part of a distraction strategy, as it was learned that Guzmán Salazar was aware of the operation at least an hour beforehand, thanks to a warning from his cousin.

Specifically, the involvement of his cousin, Jaziel Abdiel Guzmán Araujo, alias “El Gabacho,” son of Aureliano Guzmán Loera, was crucial in the escape. A purported private conversation between Iván Archivaldo and “El Gabacho” reveals how the escape was coordinated.