El Chapo's son takes plea deal, admits to US drug trafficking: Here's what we know

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the four sons of the Mexican drug kingpin ‘El Chapo,' pleaded guilty on Monday, December 1, 2025, to trafficking drugs into the U.S., months after his brother entered a plea deal.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez was scheduled for a status hearing in Chicago federal court but instead chose to accept a plea deal, as reported by Associate Press.

Guzman Lopez is one of the four sons of El Chapo—locally known as 'Little Chapos'—who have overseen operations of their father’s faction of the Sinaloa cartel.

Guzman Lopez was arrested in July 2024 after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area, Texas.

It was not the only arrest, along with others was Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of Mexico’s most significant drug traffickers in history, who was instrumental in establishing the Sinaloa Cartel.

What happens now after Guzman Lopez pleads guilty?

Guzman Lopez has been facing multiple charges in the United States for routing huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs into the U.S. streets.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 39, admitted his role in a massive cross-border drug operation, pleading guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and leading a continuing criminal enterprise.

With the plea deal, his attorney said, he is expected to avoid life imprisonment.

Prosecutors stated that if Guzman Lopez cooperates with the U.S. authorities, they would seek to reduce the mandatory life sentence linked to his charges.

However, federal attorney Andrew Erskine said he still faces a minimum of 10 years imprisonment.

Guzman Lopez would have no opportunity to appeal the sentence as part of the plea deal.

For the unversed, Fentanyl overdoses have surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, reported by USA Today.

The story of El Chapo’s capture and trial

El Chapo, the drug lord of Mexico, escaped twice from Mexico’s high-security prisons, first in 2001, and then in 2015 after a decade of escape through tunnels and safe houses and with the help of his cartel’s vast resources.

On January 8, 2016, the kingpin of Mexican drugs, El Chapo, was recaptured by Mexican forces, as reported by The Guardian.

El Chapo was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.

On July 30, 2019, El Chapo was handed over a life sentence with an additional 30 years of punishment that was to make sure he would never get out of jail.