CHICAGO — Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of traffic drug charges in a Chicago courtroom, where he was taken after being arrested along with Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada last week in Texas.
At a hearing in the federal court of Chicago (north) presided over by Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, Guzmán López pleaded “not guilty,” court sources confirmed.
The judge ordered her to be held without bail and her next hearing is scheduled for September 30.
The defendant was arrested last Thursday when the private plane he was travelling in landed at an airfield near El Paso, in the state of Texas, along with “El Mayo” Zambada, one of the founders of the Sinaloa cartel in the 1980s, along with El Chapo.
El Chapo Guzmán is serving a life sentence in the United States.
The arrival of the two drug traffickers in El Paso, on the other side of the Mexican border, is the subject of speculation.
The US anti-drug agency claims that Los Chapitos are waging “an internal battle” against El Mayo, who, according to local media, is reportedly quite ill and has lost power in the criminal organisation.
The Mexican government said Monday that the United States has denied planning the capture of drug lord Zambada, supporting the version that the head of the Sinaloa cartel was betrayed by his partners.
Last week, Zambada also pleaded not guilty in federal court in El Paso.
His lawyer, Frank Pérez, announced that his client had been “kidnapped” and taken to the United States against his will.
According to US media, Zambada was betrayed by Guzmán López, who apparently convinced him to board a plane bound for northern Mexico, but which ultimately landed in the neighbouring country.
Source: With information from AP
