A Mexican security official says more than a dozen relatives of an infamous Mexican drug cartel boss crossed the border into the United States, reported The New York Times on Wednesday, and it was likely part of a negotiation or plea deal made with the Trump administration.
"For days, rumors had spread that 17 relatives, including one of the ex-wives of the crime boss known as El Chapo, had flown from a cartel stronghold to Tijuana, Mexico, and then crossed into the United States," reported Alan Yuhas.
This has now been confirmed by Omar García Harfuch, Mexico's secretary of security.
El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera, was the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful drug gangs in the world, and is believed to be responsible for the deaths of over 30,000 people. He is currently serving a life sentence in the United States. The Sinaloa Cartel continues to operate, albeit broken into warring factions as members of El Chapo's family fight for power and as many other leaders are prosecuted in the United States.
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The relatives who crossed the border to surrender to U.S. authorities appear to be tied specifically to one of El Chapo's four sons, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is believed to have named them as part of a cooperation agreement.
Speaking to Mexico's Radio Fórmula, García Harfuch said that “The family that left were not targets and were not being sought by the Mexican authorities,” and that “It is evident that his family is going to the U.S. because of a negotiation or a plea bargain that the Department of Justice is giving him.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is calling on the Trump administration to clarify what sort of deal, if any, was made in the interests of transparency for the public in both countries, given the Sinaloa Cartel has been responsible for thousands of deaths, including those of Mexican soldiers who carried out the operation to capture El Chapo.
