A federal judge in Mexico City halted extradition to the U.S. of one of the sons of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Ovidio Guzmán, aka El Ratón, was arrested in northern Mexico early Thursday morning after a wild night of violence that left at least 30 people dead.
El Ratón is a high-ranking member of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, according to U.S. authorities. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, just days ahead of a scheduled meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Mexico City.
The massive operation to capture the alleged drug trafficking boss transformed the area into a war zone, with at least 19 blocked roads, the torching of several vehicles and the temporary closures of the international airport, schools and offices, according to local media reports.
The arrest also led to the the deaths of 11 members of law enforcement and 19 suspected members of the cartel, The Associated Press reported.
In December 2021, the U.S. Department of State said Guzmán and his brother, Joaquín Guzmán-López, were overseeing approximately 11 methamphetamine labs in the state of Sinaloa, which produced an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of narcotic per month.
At the time, federal authorities offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Guzmán.
After his arrest, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard confirmed U.S. authorities had issued an arrest warrant for El Ratón in September 2019 but said he couldn’t immediately turn Guzmán over to the U.S. until “the legal process is carried out.”
On Friday, a federal judge suspended “the acts consisting of deportation, expulsion, extradition and their execution,” Mexican newspaper La Prensa reported.
Later, during a hearing at the Altiplano maximum security federal prison where Guzmán is currently being held, another judge ordered him to stay in 60 days of preventive detention, allowing U.S. authorities to finalize the extradition process.
Mexican forces previously detained El Ratón in October 2019, but he was released on the orders of the nation’s president, as authorities reportedly feared violent retribution from the cartel.
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