Mexican capo Ovidio Guzman extradited to US in win on fentanyl war
By Dave Graham
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Ovidio Guzman, a son of imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquin «El Chapo» Guzman, was extradited to the United States on Friday to face fentanyl trafficking charges, in a boost for the Biden administration's push to curb the spread of the deadly opioid.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Ovidio Guzman's extradition was the latest step in American efforts to attack «every aspect» of the drug trafficking operations run by the Sinaloa Cartel long associated with the Guzman family.
«I am also grateful to our Mexican government counterparts for this extradition,» Garland said in a statement.
«The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country.»
Two Mexican officials familiar with the matter also confirmed the extradition of the 33-year-old Guzman.
One of the heirs to his father's trafficking empire, Guzman was briefly arrested in the northern city of Culiacan in 2019 but released on the orders of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to avoid bloodshed when his cartel struck back.
He was captured in January after an intense firefight in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa.
U.S. officials have portrayed Guzman and a number of his brothers as the face of the threat posed by fentanyl, a highly addictive poison that kills nearly 200 Americans daily. That death toll has piled pressure on the Biden administration and caused diplomatic strains between the U.S. and Mexico.
The U.S. government requested Guzman's extradition in February so he could face drugs charges in a U.S. court.
Extradition proceedings of prominent Mexican drug traffickers can take years. The removal of
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