On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that expanded the capabilities of the U.S. Treasury Department to fight against illegal drug trade in the nation and overseas. Bounties of $5 million for each of the four sons of El Chapo were announced. More than 100,000 Americans have died from a drug overdose in twelve months ending April. Drug overlord El Chapo is serving a life sentence in a U.S. jail.
The statement from the government said that the U.S. had been facing the worst drug epidemic in its history, as a result of heroin overdoses as well as “illicitly manufactured fentanyl” and an increase in the availability of “methamphetamine.”
U.S. authorities said that rewards have been offered for the four sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman: Ovidio Guzman Lopez, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, Jesus Alfredo Guzman and Joaquin Guzman Lopez. They are called the Los Chapitos. They had taken on leadership roles in the Sinaloa Cartel together with their uncle Aureliano “El Guano” Guzman and co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The press release said that the U.S. authorities were also offering rewards for Chinese nationals including Chuen Fat Yip, who is a major drug dealer and Fujing Zheng and Guanghua, who are accused traffickers of fentanyl.
In November, Emma Coronel Aispuro received a three year prison sentence. The 32-year old wife of El Chapo was charged with helping her husband to run his drug cartel. Now, the U.S. authorities are trying to imprison his sons.
On Thursday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that American federal agents could not step on Mexican soil to arrest them. During a press conference, he said that if they were in “national territory,” it was up to the national authorities to stop it, “foreign agencies” were “not allowed to do so.”
In June 2020, Lopez Obrador had termed the decision to release Ovidio Guzman Lopez as a decision taken by him. He said that he wanted to save hundreds of innocent lives that had been at stake. He said that time would tell whether he made the right choice.
Image Credit– Twitter
