Son of jailed Mexican crime lord ‘El Chapo’ to plead guilty in drug case

This Oct. 17, 2019 frame grab from video provided by the Mexican government shows Ovidio Guzman Lopez at the moment of his detention, in Culiacan, Mexico. Mexican security forces were forced to release the son of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman that day after his gunmen shot up the western city of Culiacan. (CEPROPIE via AP)

A son of the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will plead guilty next week in the U.S. state of Illinois to narcotics trafficking charges, according to federal court documents released Friday.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the four sons of the jailed Sinaloa cartel leader, originally pleaded not guilty after his July 2024 arrest in Texas. But he is to change his plea at a hearing set for Monday at US District Court in Chicago.

Another of his three brothers, Ovidio Guzman -- as part of a plea deal struck in exchange for a reduced sentence -- pleaded guilty in July 2025 to conspiracy related to drug trafficking and two counts of participating in the activities of a criminal enterprise.

Ovidio Guzman also admitted that he and his brothers, known as “Los Chapitos,” had taken over their father’s operations within the cartel.

The 68-year-old “El Chapo” is serving a life sentence at a supermax federal prison in Colorado following his 2016 arrest and 2019 conviction.

In July 2024, Joaquin Guzman Lopez pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering, and weapons possession.

He was taken into custody that month when he arrived in Texas aboard a small private plane, along with the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael “Mayo” Zambada.

Zambada claimed to have been misled about the destination and abducted by Guzman Lopez to be handed over against his will to the United States.

Following the arrest, clashes intensified between two factions of the cartel headed respectively by the Guzman brothers and Zambada.

The infighting led to approximately 1,200 deaths in Mexico and around 1,400 disappearances, according to official figures.

Washington accuses the Sinaloa cartel of trafficking fentanyl to the United States, where the synthetic drug has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in recent years, straining relations with Mexico.

The Sinaloa cartel is one of six Mexican drug-trafficking groups that U.S. President Donald Trump has designated as global terrorist organizations.

In its aggressive policy against drug cartels, the Trump administration announced additional sanctions against “Los Chapitos” in June for fentanyl trafficking and increased the reward to US$10 million for each of the fugitive brothers.

The two other “Chapitos” -- Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar -- have also been indicted on drug trafficking charges in the United States but remain at large.