US officials have presented Guzman and a number of his siblings as prominent figures symbolizing the menace posed by fentanyl, an incredibly addictive substance responsible for the deaths of nearly 200 Americans on a daily basis. This staggering death toll has exerted substantial pressure on the Biden administration and led to diplomatic tensions between the United States and Mexico.
In February, the US government formally requested the extradition of Guzman to face drug-related charges in a US court.
Typically, the extradition proceedings for notable Mexican drug traffickers are protracted and can extend over several years. Remarkably, Ovidio Guzman's extradition transpired even more swiftly than that of his father, who was transported to the United States just a little over a year following his ultimate apprehension in Sinaloa in early 2016.
Various Mexican news outlets, including the prominent news network Milenio, had previously reported that Guzman was transferred from a maximum-security prison in central Mexico for aerial conveyance across the border.
As per court documents in the United States, Guzman and his brothers purportedly oversaw expansive international operations within the fentanyl trade, amassing hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue by inundating the United States with this potent drug.
Their substantial investments in the synthetic opioid, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, significantly exacerbated the opioid epidemic, making them prime targets for US anti-narcotics authorities.
The US State Department has issued substantial rewards, amounting to millions of dollars, for any information leading to the apprehension or conviction of Ovidio Guzman and three of his brothers.
His father, widely known as "El Chapo" Guzman, ascended to notoriety as the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. He was extradited to the United States in 2017 following two daring escapes from Mexican prisons. Currently, the elder Guzman is incarcerated in a high-security facility referred to as "Supermax" in Colorado.
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