Who are El Chapo's children? US increases reward for arrest of drug lord's absconding sons to $10M
NAVOLATO, MEXICO: The Drug Enforcement Administration has raised its reward to find the absconding sons of iconic Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in an effort to bring down a criminal gang that the federal government believes to be one of the primary sources of fentanyl in the United States. The DEA is now offering a $10 million reward for information that results in the arrest of El Chapo's sons Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jess Alfredo Guzman Salazar.
The reward for the two brothers is currently one of the greatest ever granted by federal officials. For, El Chapo, the reward once offered was $5 million, while for Al-Qaeda commander Ayman al-Zawahiri, the bounty was $25 million.
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El Chapo married four times and fathered at least 23 children: 'My only addiction is women'
Who are El Chapo's children?
El Chapo married Alejandrina Mara Salazar Hernandez in a simple ceremony in the Sinaloa town of Jess Mara in 1977. The couple had at least three sons -- Cesar, Ivan Archivaldo, and Jesus Alfredo. He arranged for them to stay in a ranch house in Jess Mara. When El Chapo was 30 years old, he fell in love with Estela Pea of Nayarit, a bank clerk whom he kidnapped and had sex with. They later got married. He then got married once again to Griselda Lopez Perez in the mid-1980s, and they went on to have four more children -- sons Edgar, Joaquin Jr, Ovidio, and daughter Griselda Guadalupe, as per Wikipedia.
A federal grand jury charged the four sons of El Chapo for massive drug trafficking, laundering of funds, and violent crimes associated with their assumption of cartel leadership after their father's arrest and deportation to the United States.
The accused, dubbed the "Chapitos", are Ivan Guzman Salazar, Alfredo Guzman Salazar, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez. Three brothers are still at large, while Ovidio was apprehended by Mexican authorities on January 5, 2023, in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. He is still being held in Mexico for extradition processes, as per US Attorney's Office.
Who was added to the 10 most-wanted list?
The increase in the bounty for the brothers' arrest was declared Saturday, April 22, 2023, after the federal narcotics enforcement agency added Ivan to its 10 most-wanted lists, joining his brother Jesus. The siblings run half of the Sinaloa Cartel with their half-brothers Ovidio and Joaquin Jr.
Responsible for creation and import of fentanyl into the US
According to the Department of Justice, the Sinaloa Cartel, led by El Chapo's sons, is one of the most prominent international criminal groups in the world. It is responsible for the creation and importation of fentanyl into the United States. Los Chapitos was accused in an unsealed indictment on April 14 of flooding the streets of the United States with fentanyl during the last eight years, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. However, during the last year and a half, DEA agents have been successful in infiltrating the Los Chapitos and Sinaloa Cartels, gaining "unprecedented access to the organization's highest levels, and followed them across the world."
What did DEA say?
According to the DEA, the organization has used its contacts in China to smuggle precursor chemicals to Mexico, where fentanyl is produced into powder and pills at covert facilities. The deadly narcotic is smuggled by Los Chapitos to at least 27 American cities through couriers, tunnels, and stash houses all over Mexico and the United States. The synthetic substance, which is thought to be 50 times more potent than heroin, is to blame for the majority of fatalities among Americans between the ages of 18 and 19. From 2019 to 2021, there was a 94% increase in fatal overdoses, according to authorities. During that time, fentanyl-related fatalities averaged at least 196 each day, as per Daily Mail.