ANKARA

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleaded guilty in a US court to charges that include kidnapping Ismael Zambada Garcia, his father’s longtime partner in the Sinaloa cartel, and flying him into American custody, according to media reports on Monday.

Prosecutors said Guzman Lopez acknowledged during a hearing in Federal District Court in Chicago that he helped lure Zambada Garcia from hiding in Mexico before associates put “a bag over his head and zip ties on his hands” and transported him across the border, the New York Times reported.

The plea marks one of the most serious setbacks yet for the Sinaloa cartel, which has faced pressure in Mexico and from rival criminal groups.

Prosecutors said Guzman Lopez coordinated logistics for “Los Chapitos,” the faction led by El Chapo’s sons, in a multi-country operation that moved billions of dollars’ worth of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl and marijuana into the US since 2008. The charges stem from an indictment unsealed in April 2023.

His brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, pleaded guilty in July to similar offenses, acknowledging his role in fentanyl distribution and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. At Monday’s hearing, prosecutors said Joaquin Guzman Lopez has also been cooperating.

They recommended a minimum 10-year sentence, though his attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said “nothing is set in stone.”

The case comes as the Trump administration’s narcotics strategy faces contradictions. While the US has increased pressure on Venezuela over drug trafficking, President Donald Trump said last week he would pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of accepting bribes from El Chapo to ship cocaine across the US border.

The most serious allegation involves the kidnapping of Zambada Garcia, known as “El Mayo,” who evaded US and Mexican authorities for decades.

Prosecutors said Guzman Lopez used family ties to arrange a false political mediation meeting in Sinaloa in July 2024, where he drugged Zambada Garcia and placed him on a turboprop plane bound for an American airfield near El Paso.

The plea agreement says the US government did not “request, induce, sanction, approve or condone” the abduction, though it occurred after Guzman Lopez contacted the FBI through a confidential channel.

Assistant US Attorney Andrew Erskine told the court that Guzman Lopez believed delivering Zambada Garcia “would earn him credit” with prosecutors. “But neither he nor his brother will receive any credit for the kidnapping,” Erskine said.