In a rare letter, the sons of the late Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman responded to charges that they were involved in smuggling large quantities of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States.
Last month, the United States Department of Justice announced drug trafficking charges against four sons of El Chapo, the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel who is now serving life sentences in American prisons.
Ovidio Guzman, one of El Chapo’s four accused kids nicknamed as “Los Chapitos,” or tiny Chapos, was arrested in Mexico in January and is now awaiting extradition to the United States.
They responded, “We have never produced, manufactured, or marketed fentanyl or any of its derivatives,” and the letter was published by the Mexican news source Milenio late on Wednesday.
Jose Refugio Rodriguez, acknowledged he is the Guzman family lawyer and sent Milenio a copy of the letter.
The sons write that they are not the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel and that they are the targets of a worldwide disinformation effort by corporations, the media, and public personalities.
The letter was sent in reaction to a news conference held by top U.S. authorities on April 14 in Washington, DC, during which they claimed that the Sinaloa Cartel was the United States’ primary source of illegal fentanyl.
They also pointed fingers at Los Chapitos and other leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, saying that they are to blame for the escalation of the opioid crisis in the United States.
Last month, the United States and Mexico reached an agreement to increase their efforts to combat the trafficking of fentanyl, which has contributed to a dramatic increase in overdose fatalities in the United States.
