Three years have passed since the extradition to the United States of Ovidio Guzmán López, who remains in federal custody without a final sentence. The son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2025, but the key hearing in his case has been postponed seven times.
The transfer occurred on September 15, 2023, after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) authorized its delivery one day before. Since then, Guzmán López has been cooperating with US justice within the framework of a plea agreement with the Department of Justice.
Ovidio Guzmán López, alias El Ratón, had been captured on January 5, 2023 by the Army and the National Guard in an operation in the town of Jesús María, in Culiacán, Sinaloa. After his arrest, he was transferred by helicopter to Mexico City and placed at the disposal of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO).
Later, he was admitted to the maximum security federal prison Centro Federal de Readaptación Social number 1, known as the Altiplano, in the State of Mexico.
Ovidio Guzmán López is not serving a sentence in a US prison because his judicial process has not yet concluded. The leader of Los Chapitos pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2025, but the final sentence is still pending and his hearing was postponed seven times, with the next date set for October 28, 2026.
