By Kevin Sieff and Mary Beth Sheridan
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican army on Thursday captured Ovidio Guzmán, an alleged major fentanyl trafficker and son of notorious kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, just days before President Biden is scheduled to make his first visit to Mexico, according to local media.
The arrest was confirmed by a senior Mexican security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in advance of an official announcement.
The arrest in Culiacan came three years after a humiliating episode in which the Mexican army detained the younger Guzmán but then released him after Sinaloa cartel gunmen seized control of much of that city. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had taken office in 2018 pledging to replace the “war on drugs” with a policy using social programs to tackle organized crime, was widely criticized for giving up the alleged trafficker.
The U.S. government has sought the extradition of Ovidio Guzmán, one of several sons of El Chapo who have allegedly assumed prominent roles in the Sinaloa cartel since their father was extradited to the United States in 2017. Mexican authorities have accused Ovidio of being an important trafficker of fentanyl, a synthetic drug blamed in tens of thousands of deaths in the United States.
Biden is scheduled to arrive in Mexico on Monday for a summit of the three North American leaders.
