'El Chapo' Guzman's son reaches plea deal with US and could become cooperating witness

Former Mexican drug lord Ovidio Guzman, one of the sons of Mexico's most wanted drug trafficker and the world's most wanted criminal, Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, reached a deal this week with U.S. federal prosecutors.

Guzman will change his guilty plea in early July, a document from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois confirmed Tuesday.

"The status hearing set for May 12 is vacated. An in-person hearing to change the guilty plea is set for July 9," the court report notes. The text also indicates that a "courtesy copy of the plea agreement must be provided to the court at least three days prior to the plea."

With this action, the son of Chapo Guzmán, also known as el Ratón, waives a trial against him and could be a witness in several investigations into organized crime and drug trafficking.

Extraditions of Mexican drug lords to the US

Guzman, 35, arrived in the U.S. in 2023 after being extradited from Mexico and was one of Washington's most wanted drug traffickers for his involvement in fentanyl trafficking. He is one of the high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal group based in the Mexican state of that name.

For his part, 'el Chapo' Guzmán was arrested in Mexico in January 2016, after performing two escapes in 2001 and 2015, and was also extradited to the US in January 2017, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2019, plus 30 years.