The US has offered a $5 million bounty for the arrest of four sons of drug lord EL Chapo. These are Ovidio, Iván Archivaldo, Jesus Alfredo and Joaquín Guzmán.

If they are extradited, they could face charges of trafficking in cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. The United States does not regard them as the leaders but as key figures of the Sinaloa cartel.

Sinaloa Cartel
Ovidio, nicknamed El Ratón (The Mouse), is the best known of the four. The 30-year-old son of Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán and his second wife Griselda López Pérez is regarded by the US as a "high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel." He is wanted in several US states for illegal drug imports and money laundering.

In Mexico, Ovidio became known to the general public at the end of 2019 when he was arrested in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, during an operation by the national police, the Guardia Nacionál. In October of that year, heavily armed, balaclava-clad officers arrested El Chapo's son on orders from the government who wanted to extradite him to the US. Almost immediately, members of the Sinaloa cartel appeared from every nook and cranny of the city and launched an attack on the police and army with weapons of war.

The city was literally under fire. Residents had to run for their lives. Shops and offices closed their doors, schools ended classes, public transport was shut down and a Mexican football match was cancelled. The drug criminals took soldiers hostage and freed 51 inmates from the local prison. Violent videos of the violence appeared on social media.

massacre
Hours later, Ovidio Guzmán was released on orders from President López Obrador because he wanted to prevent “a massacre.” This is consistent with his strategy against organized crime called 'abrazos no balazos', roughly translated: hugging each other instead of shooting at each other. Thirteen people, including a civilian, were killed during 'Black Thursday' or 'El Culiacanazo'.

Drug lord El Chapo is serving a life sentence at ADX Florence Prison in Colorado, one of the highest-security prisons in the US.