In the map of threats to the national security of the United States, Ovidio Guzmán López occupied a special place, in his capacity as leader of one of the transnational criminal organizations responsible for the introduction of lethal illicit drugs into that country.
According to a document published in February 2022 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States government, transnational criminal organizations of Mexican origin are seen by the US Intelligence Community as a “direct threat” for their role in the production and trafficking of illicit drugs, human trafficking and money laundering.
Specifically, the report prepared by the main security agencies of the United States points out that illicit drug trafficking endangers the health and safety of millions of US citizens and generates up to one trillion dollars in direct and indirect economic losses.
According to the document, the threat of illicit drugs is “at historic levels” and the supply of synthetic opioids could be the cause of more than 100,000 overdose deaths a year among U.S. citizens.
“Since 2019, Mexican TCOs (Transnational Criminal Organizations) have shifted from importing finished fentanyl from China to synthesizing fentanyl from precursor chemicals, also of Chinese origin, due in part to China’s fentanyl class controls. Mexican TCOs can circumvent international controls on precursor chemicals by changing ingredients and methodologies for synthesizing and producing synthetics,” the report states.
Another concern expressed in this document is the interference of criminal organizations in Mexican politics and their high influence in corruption processes on both sides of the border.
“Turf battles between Mexican TCOs competing for drug routes and territory have resulted in consistently high homicide rates since 2018. In Mexican territories, TCOs use billions of dollars of drug proceeds to intimidate politicians and influence elections, as well as to recruit and arm fighters capable of directly confronting government security forces,” the U.S. Intelligence Community warned in its 2022 report.
According to General Luis Crescencio Sandoval, Secretary of National Defense, Ovidio Guzmán’s main activity was precisely the production and trafficking of fentanyl and methamphetamines, whose massive consumption has ignited alerts in the United States.
Read more | Ovidio Guzmán López: who is the son of ‘El Chapo’ arrested who is accused of leading the Sinaloa cartel
The “U.S. Intelligence Community Annual Threat Assessment” was released in February 2022, a couple of months after the State Department offered a reward of up to $5 million for relevant information leading to the arrest of the four sons of Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman.
In the search form released by the State Department, it was indicated that, along with his brother Joaquín, Ovidio Guzmán López came to direct his own organization under the umbrella of the Sinaloa Cartel, inheriting the contacts and businesses of another of his brothers: Édgar Guzmán López, murdered in 2008.
“After Edgar’s death, Ovidio and Joaquin inherited a large portion of the narcotics proceeds and began investing large amounts of cash in buying marijuana in Mexico and cocaine in Colombia. They also began buying large quantities of ephedrine from Argentina and arranged to smuggle the product into Mexico when they began experimenting with methamphetamine production.
“The Guzmán López brothers currently oversee approximately eleven laboratories in the state of Sinaloa that produce an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine per month. Methamphetamine is sold wholesale to other Sinaloa members and distributors based in the United States and Canada,” the State Department statement said, dated December 2021.
The file details that Ovidio Guzmán would have ordered the murder of informants, drug traffickers and even a popular Mexican singer who refused to sing at his wedding.
In December 2021, in addition to offering this reward, the government of Joe Biden signed an executive order to update the crimes for which the sons of Chapo Guzmán are prosecuted in the United States, and other leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Los Zetas.
All this, after the announcement of the agreement called “Bicentennial Understanding”, signed on October 8This was presented as a strategy with a new focus on the fight against organized crime, replacing the Merida Initiative agreed by George Bush and Felipe Calderón in 2007.
The agreement emphasized the need to reduce the introduction of synthetic drugs into the United States, prevent and reduce the massive consumption of toxic substances such as those trafficked by Ovidio Guzmán.
The arrest of El Chapo’s son comes on the eve of Joe Biden’s visit to Mexico and the summit of North American leaders, in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will also participate.
The fight against drug trafficking — as a security threat — will be one of the topics of interest to the United States at this summit, while for Mexico, priority will be given to illegal arms trafficking — with which criminal organizations increase their firepower — and a prosperity agreement that improves the conditions of the population south of the border.
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