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Case of ‘El Chapo' son cooperating with U.S. prosecutors roils Mexico

Case of ‘El Chapo' son cooperating with U.S. prosecutors roils Mexico

MEXICO CITY — A bitter public dispute between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the New York lawyer representing a son of drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán has raised speculation here that the deal-seeking scion of the onetime Sinaloa cartel leader may expose corrupt Mexican officials.
On Tuesday, Sheinbaum said she had filed a defamation complaint in Mexico against Jeffrey Lichtman, the high-profile attorney representing Ovidio Guzmán López, who last week pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to fentanyl trafficking and other crimes. He has agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors in a bid to reduce a potential life sentence.
In comments after the court hearing, Lichtman labeled as 'absurd' Sheinbaum's repeated contentions that Washington should coordinate with Mexico on the case — especially if, as is widely expected, Guzmán López spills the beans on alleged ties between Mexican officials and cartels.
In an incendiary post on X, Litchman assailed the Mexican leader's 'corrupt office and government' and charged that Sheinbaum 'acts more as the public relations arm of a drug trafficking organization than as the honest leader that the Mexican people deserve.'
That sparked a flurry of denunciations from allies in Sheinbaum's ruling Morena bloc, which dominates Mexican politics.
Ernestina Godoy Ramos, Sheinbaum's official counsel, labeled Lichtman's comments 'grotesque and unforgivable, breaking the ethical and legal limits of the profession.'
Declared Sheinbaum: 'I'm not going to establish a dialogue with a lawyer for [a] narco-trafficker.'
Lichtman also represented El Chapo — now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison in Colorado — and is the attorney for Joaquín Guzmán López, another son of the drug lord. Like his brother, he is in U.S. custody and faces drug smuggling and other charges.
El Chapo's sons, known as Los Chapitos, or the 'Little Chapos,' assumed responsibility for cartel dealings after their father's arrest in 2016, prosecutors say. Guzmán López was extradited to the United States in 2023 after being nabbed following a shootout outside Culiacán, the Sinaloa state capital, that left almost two dozen people dead, including 10 Mexican soldiers. Two other sons of El Chapo remain in Mexico directing cartel operations, according to U.S. officials.
Behind the nasty contretemps between the New York barrister and la presidenta is a widespread sense here that Guzmán López is poised to dish a mound of dirt about Mexican politicians on the payroll of the Sinaloa cartel. He may have already done so.
What else, political observers ask, could explain the special treatment that members of El Chapo's family received in the spring?
In May, U.S. authorities escorted 17 members of El Chapo's extended family — including his ex-wife, the mother of Ovidio and Joaquín — into San Diego from Tijuana. Although the U.S. Justice Department declined to comment, Mexico's top law enforcement official said the move was probably part of a cooperation deal between Guzmán López and Washington.
'He [Ovidio] must be singing,' said Guillermo Valdés Castellanos, a former intelligence chief in the administration of former President Felipe Calderón, a political adversary of Sheinbaum. 'I think it's part of a very clear strategy by the government of Donald Trump to pressure Mexico … to take action against the profound links between organized crime and and Mexican politics.'
While frequently praising Sheinbaum, Trump has denounced the 'intolerable alliance' between Mexico's government and organized crime. Trump has imposed punishing tariffs on Mexico in what he calls an effort to shut down fentanyl trafficking.
Though critics have called Trump's characterizations overblown, the narco-government collaboration in Mexico goes back decades.
Calderón's top security official, Genaro García Luna, was convicted of taking millions of dollars in bribes from Sinaloa cartel traffickers and is serving a 38-year U.S. prison sentence.
Sheinbaum and her political mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, hailed the U.S. prosecution of García Luna — a case that exposed deep corruption among their political rivals. But the tables may now be turning.
There have been no public disclosures about what Guzmán López may be secretly revealing to U.S. prosecutors. But speculation in Mexico has focused on the suspected crookedness of so-called narco-governors serving under the banner of Sheinbaum's dominant Morena political bloc. None have been charged.
But even more explosive, experts say, would be any fresh allegations against López Obrador, Sheinbaum's predecessor and the founder of Morena. During his six-year term, López Obrador repeatedly denied unconfirmed reports of having received political donations from people tied to organized crime.
By all accounts, any public airing of new accusations against López Obrador from U.S. authorities could trigger a political earthquake in Mexico.
'There is total uncertainty and fear in the presidency,' said José Luis Montenegro, a Mexican journalist who wrote a book on Los Chapitos. 'The politicians of Morena must be trembling.'
Sheinbaum has won widespread acclaim for her 'coolheaded' approach to Trump provocations on issues such as tariffs, immigration and drug smuggling. But the Mexican president has sharply rebuked U.S. prosecutors' apparent deal-making intentions with El Chapo's son. She has accused U.S. authorities of hypocrisy — seeking cooperation from Guzmán López at a time when the Trump administration has designated the Sinaloa cartel and other Mexican crime groups as terrorist organizations.
'So where is their position of 'not to negotiate with terrorist groups'?' Sheinbaum asked this month.
Mexican leaders are still outraged about what they call the U.S.-orchestrated kidnapping almost a year ago of Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada — co-founder of El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel — who is now also in custody in the United States.
Mexican officials suspect that U.S. authorities recruited Joaquín Guzmán López to abduct El Mayo, bundle him into a private plane and fly him to an airfield outside El Paso, where U.S. agents arrested both El Mayo and Joaquín Guzmán López.
Washington has never clarified its role in the sensational case. The apparent betrayal of El Mayo set off a civil war in the cartel — pitting El Mayo loyalists against Los Chapitos — that has cost hundreds of lives in Sinaloa state.
Now, three top accused Sinaloa cartel capos sit in U.S. custody, and at least one, Guzmán López, appears keen to make a deal that could expose a web of official corruption, roiling Mexican politics.
Special correspodent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
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Man Married to US Citizen Held in Alligator Alcatraz After Traffic Stop
Man Married to US Citizen Held in Alligator Alcatraz After Traffic Stop

Newsweek

time6 hours ago

  • Newsweek

Man Married to US Citizen Held in Alligator Alcatraz After Traffic Stop

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Oscar Alejandro, a Mexican national married to a U.S. citizen, and his brother, Carlos Martin Gonzalez, who was traveling on a tourist visa, were arrested during a traffic stop in Orlando, Florida, and taken into custody at the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center, according to multiple local media reports. Newsweek has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Florida Highway Patrol, and the Consulate of Mexico in both Orlando and Miami for comment via email on Friday. Newsweek has filled out a contact form for comment with Reyes Legal, who are representing the brothers. Why It Matters In recent weeks, human rights advocates have raised concerns about a new Florida detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," which was quickly created on Everglades land and holds an estimated 1,000 beds currently. 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You drink as little as possible so they don't get sick, while there are a lot of mosquitoes. They have them chained to the floor, hands and feet." Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Garrett J. Ripa said Friday about Alligator Alcatraz: "We've had two or three removal flights, and we'll continue to have those removal flights. Up to 100 individuals who were illegally present in the state of Florida have already been removed from the United States." What Happens Next Deportation flights from Alligator Alcatraz have commenced. Sabines Guerrero said that "following instructions from President @Claudiashein," the consul has assigned the brothers legal representation in an effort to release them from the facility. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday confirmed 14 Mexican nationals are being held at the facility and said "all arrangements are being made to ensure they are repatriated immediately."

Who's in charge at Alligator Alcatraz? ‘We've gotten a lot of runaround'
Who's in charge at Alligator Alcatraz? ‘We've gotten a lot of runaround'

Miami Herald

time8 hours ago

  • Miami Herald

Who's in charge at Alligator Alcatraz? ‘We've gotten a lot of runaround'

Immigration attorneys and environmental activists — even the Mexican government and the Archdiocese of Miami — have all asked who's in charge at Alligator Alcatraz. They say they can't get a straight answer. 'We've gotten a lot of runaround,' Archbishop Thomas Wenski told the Miami Herald after trying unsuccessfully to provide religious services for detainees. 'We don't know who's really accountable for that facility, whether it's the state of Florida or the federal government.' Now nearly a month since Florida opened the country's newest, most novel immigration detention center, the question of whether the state or federal government has jurisdiction over the facility — and especially its detainees — continues to puzzle legal experts, tangle up lawsuits and complicate due process for the people held there. Attorneys say they have repeatedly been told their clients at Alligator Alcatraz are not in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, even though immigration enforcement is historically the realm of the federal government. Environmental activists suing in federal court to shut down the facility have been told the Trump administration is barely involved. Lawmakers given a tour of the detention camp said they were told it is functioning under a federal program that gives state and local officials the power to hold immigrants for the federal government — even though the state entity in charge has no such agreement. The confusion has real-life consequences for the hundreds of men held in the detention camp's tents and pens, and potentially broad implications for immigration enforcement under the Trump administration, which may replicate the precedent established in Florida. The Trump administration is inviting states and local governments to apply for FEMA 'detention support' grants from a $608 million pool to fund the expansion of facilities to hold immigrant detainees. 'We've had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us as well,' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said this month during a press conference in Tampa. THE COURTS Uncertainty around who has jurisdiction of the facility's detainees is frustrating the Mexican government's ability to push for the release of 14 Mexican nationals held at the site, including two brothers brought there on July 11 after being arrested by Florida Highway Patrol. Juan Sabines, the Mexican Consul in Orlando, told the Miami Herald in a Thursday interview that the immigration attorney hired by the Mexican government to represent the brothers is still trying to find a judge who can be assigned to their cases. The Mexican government is now working to transfer them out of the detention center and to an ICE facility, he said. 'This is a prison that is not under the custody of ICE and that has no immigration judge on site,' Sabines said. 'We are in limbo.' Also complicating their cases, according to Sabines: the brothers were only assigned an Alien Registration Number — the identifier used by ICE to keep track of detainees — for the first time on Wednesday. Sabines' comments echoed frustrations aired more than a week ago by immigration attorneys who said they had been unable to find a court assigned to handle cases for Alligator Alcatraz detainees. The state said Friday that on-site legal services would be available for detainees starting Monday. MIXED MESSAGES Federal and state officials have delivered mixed messages about who's in charge of what. 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'The ultimate decision of who to detain' at Alligator Alcatraz, wrote Thomas P. Giles, acting deputy associate director of Enforcement and Removal Operations for the Trump administration, 'belongs to Florida.' The Department of Homeland Security has said that the state is managing the facility, and that immigrants arrested under a program granting local law enforcement immigration powers are to be detained at the site. The agency did not answer questions about whether they have any kind of agreement with the state to manage the detention center, or whether detainees held there fall under federal jurisdiction. The Florida Division of Emergency Management did not respond to questions. Scott Hiaasen, a Coffey Burlington attorney representing the environmental groups who filed the lawsuit, said the question of who is running the detention center is crucial to the suit because it's based on a federal statute requiring an environmental review of major federal actions. 'It shouldn't be a mystery to either the state or federal government where the legal authority is for this place,' Hiaasen said. 'What they're trying to do, at the end of the day, is pretend like this facility is not governed by federal law.' Beyond the bounds of 287(g) Another representation from Giles — that the site is operating under the 287(g) program granting local and state agencies immigration-enforcement powers typically reserved for the federal government — has also confused lawmakers and immigration experts. Scores of Florida law enforcement agencies have active 287(g) agreements, including the Florida National Guard, which has stationed guardsmen at the detention center. But the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is tasked with running the site, is not one of them. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie told her during a tour of the site that his agency does not have the direct 287(g) authority to run the facility. She and other Democratic lawmakers said officials clarified to them many times that ICE 'is calling the shots' while they toured Alligator Alcatraz on July 12. 'They [FDEM] are not designated to manage this facility on behalf of the federal government,' said Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat. 'We were not able to get clarity on whose 287(g) authority this facility is being run.' Jennifer Whitlock, senior policy counsel at the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy organization for low-income immigrants, said she's baffled by how Alligator Alcatraz came to be, if it's not being run by ICE. Whitlock said the state and federal governments' statements that Alligator Alcatraz is authorized through the state's various 287(g) agreements sound inaccurate. A 287(g) agreement permits local and state officers to hold detainees in 'custody,' but it does not allow for detention without ICE oversight, Whitlock said. Operating a state detention center, rather than holding detainees in state prisons and county jails, is stretching the 287(g) agreement beyond the bounds of what Congress intended, Whitlock said. In the federal statute allowing 287(g) agreements, it says that any officer, employee, or political subdivision of the state is acting under the 'color of Federal authority.' Also, anyone acting on behalf of a 287(g) agreement is supposed to be under the supervision of the U.S. Attorney General — which would be Pam Bondi. 'I don't know if there is actually a plan in place for any sort of oversight,' Whitlock said. The DeSantis and Trump administrations have been clear that Alligator Alcatraz is not a federal detention center, but have been less forthcoming about what it is under state and federal law. On the state side, officials have said that the facility is not a state correctional institution because it's managed by the Division of Emergency Management, not the Department of Corrections. If that is the case, it's not legally subject to the state's standards for jails and prisons, Whitlock said. A spokeswoman for Florida's Division of Emergency Management did not answer questions about which laws regulate the operations and oversight of Alligator Alcatraz. The majority of federal immigration detention centers are run through government service contracts, said Nanya Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council. Whether through private companies or local governments, there is typically an agreement in place for the federal government to fund the facility while another entity sets it up, staffs it and runs day to day operations. While DeSantis has mentioned the possibility of getting refunded by the Trump administration for the facility's cost — about $450 million a year — DHS officials have said the federal government is not currently funding any aspect of Alligator Alcatraz. Because Florida hasn't been paid, a formal federal contract likely doesn't exist for Alligator Alcatraz, Gupta said. 'This is the Trump administration and the state of Florida being shifty about what authority they're invoking, when it suits them,' Gupta said. 'My guess is that the only way we'll be able to find that clarity, if at all, is through continued litigation in the federal courts.' Miami Herald staff writers Ana Claudia Chacin and Lauren Costantino, and Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau reporter Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.

Exclusive-Mexico's antitrust watchdog accuses banks of joint price fixing
Exclusive-Mexico's antitrust watchdog accuses banks of joint price fixing

Yahoo

time9 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Exclusive-Mexico's antitrust watchdog accuses banks of joint price fixing

By Natalia Siniawski MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico's antitrust watchdog COFECE has found that 21 banks and financial institutions operating in the country are likely responsible for fixing fees related to deferred credit card payments, according to a document produced by the government agency that was seen by Reuters. The 649-page document outlining the findings and listing the institutions and individuals allegedly involved includes the Mexican subsidiaries of HSBC, Santander and Scotiabank. The document indicates that, based on preliminary findings, there is sufficient evidence to presume the parties may have engaged in anti-competitive conduct. COFECE began the investigation in 2022, saying at the time it was looking into suspected monopolistic practices, including price-fixing and manipulation in the market for deferred credit card payments, by which the cost of a purchase can be spread over several months. The antitrust authority alleges the institutions met regularly to set surcharges for merchants, which were then formalized in regulations and collectively enforced, while also excluding some merchants from the market. The banks listed in the document are being notified of the findings, the document says, marking the start of a trial-like phase in which the parties can present evidence and arguments in their defense before the watchdog's plenary issues a final resolution. It is unclear what the penalty would be if the allegations are upheld. By law, it can impose fines as high as 10% of a company's annual Mexican earnings. COFECE's remit is limited to issuing fines. It does not have the power to prosecute, but can file class-action lawsuits and submit reports to prosecutors who can initiate legal proceedings. Some of the other institutions cited are: Red Amigo DAL; Banco Mercantil del Norte; Banco Nacional del Ejercito, Fuerza Aerea y Armada; Servicios Financieros Soriana; Banco Regional; Banco INVEX, and Banco Azteca. Others include Banca Afirme; Banca Mifel; Tarjetas del Futuro; Liverpool PC; Banco del Bajio; Banco Inbursa; Klar Technologies; Crediclub; Oplay Digital Services; Caja Morelia Valladolid and Banco Ahorro Famsa. COFECE and the banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment. COFECE has previously targeted other major industries in high-profile actions. In August 2021, the agency fined five pharmaceutical distributors and 21 individuals roughly 903 million pesos ($48.65 million) for a decade of fixing prices and restricting the supply of essential medicines between 2006 and 2016. In October 2022, it imposed over 2.4 billion pesos in fines on more than 50 liquefied petroleum gas distributors across several states, finding evidence of coordinated price manipulation and market division. ($1 = 18.5605 Mexican pesos) Sign in to access your portfolio

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