Drug kingpin El Chapo’s son Joaquín Guzmán López plead not guilty before a US court days after his arrest. Image source: Ken Lund, via Flickr.
Joaquín Guzmán López, son of infamous drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, has pleaded not guilty on drug trafficking charges before a Chicago court.
The hearing took place on Tuesday 30 July — less than a week after his arrest — and lasted about 10 minutes.
Guzmán López answered most questions by saying “Yes, your honour” or “No, your honour”.
US District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ordered Guzmán López detained pending trial and scheduled the next court date in the case for 30 September. No trial date has been set.
The hearing did not discuss the circumstances of Guzmán López’s arrival and arrest in the United States, and details surrounding the events are unclear.
US authorities detained Guzmán López on 25 July near El Paso, Texas, alongside Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who co-founded the Sinaloa cartel with El Chapo.
The two had crossed the US–Mexico border illegally via a propeller plane and landed at a small municipal airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
According to statements by US officials familiar with the situation, Guzmán López intended to surrender himself on arrival and had tricked Zambada into boarding the plane.
However, Zambada’s lawyer Frank Perez claims his client did not willingly board the plane but had been “forcibly kidnapped” by Guzmán López.
Zambada appeared before a federal court in El Paso last week, pleading not guilty to drug charges.
Mexican authorities have said they were not involved in the capture of Guzmán López and Zambada.
El Chapo is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison after he was convicted of drug charges before a New York court in 2019.
Guzmán López and three of his brothers, known collectively as Los Chapitos, inherited their father’s faction of the Sinaloa cartel.
His brother Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested by Mexican authorities in Culiacán last year before being extradited to the US where he currently faces trial.
