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Seventeen of El Chapo's family enter US in ‘secret cartel deal'

Seventeen of El Chapo's family enter US in ‘secret cartel deal'

Times16-05-2025

Seventeen relatives of the Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán were secretly brought into California, seemingly as part of a deal with the White House.
El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence at a 'supermax' prison in Colorado, is the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, which the US government says smuggles enormous amounts of narcotics into the country.
Ovidio Guzmán, one of El Chapo's four sons, was extradited to the US in 2023 for allegedly overseeing a faction of the cartel. The arrival of 17 family members in California last week is believed to be part of a deal between him and the Trump administration. Rumours circulated last week that the younger Guzmán would plead guilty to avoid trial for several drug-trafficking charges.

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