El Chapo Sons, Known as Los Chapitos of Sinaloa Cartel, Make 'Electoral Narco-Pact' With the President's MORENA Party: Report

The four sons of former Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, known as Los Chapitos, have allegedly entered into an "electoral narco-pact" with the members of the ruling MORENA party.

According to Mexico News Daily, well-known investigative journalist Anabel Hernandez, who was writing for the German state-owned news outlet Deutsche Welle, said she had information that members of the MORENA party made a pact with Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, one of El Chapo's sons.

The narco-pact was reportedly made in the lead-up to the municipal and state elections in Sinaloa in June last year. Governor Ruben Rocha Moya, a member of the MORENA party, won the governorship.

Rocha Moya had easily beaten PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Mario Zamora. The ruling party MORENA reportedly won in most of Sinaloa state's 18 municipalities. Hernandez claimed that "direct sources that know the events first hand" maintained that MORENA made a deal with Ivan Guzman.

Ivan Guzman, along with his three brothers, "Los Chapitos," and uncles, controls a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. The investigative journalist said that people who have been part of the close team of Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador corroborated the existence of the narco-pact.

Citing these people, Hernandez noted that the president is neither unaware of nor disapproves of the agreement. Hernandez said the purpose of the deal was for El Chapo's sons and brothers to give their "blessing" to the MORENA party along with that of Sinaloa Cartel's "maximum leader" Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

The journalist wrote that the narco-pact ensured that the Los Chapitos and their uncles would help Rocha win the governor's office and support other MORENA candidates in the elections.

Hernandez said in order for El Chapo's family to operate in the election, key meetings were held with "morenistas," or MORENA party operatives, including former interior minister Ricardo Peralta.

El Mayo and El Chapo's four sons, or the Los Chapitos, were reportedly left in command of the Sinaloa Cartel after El Chapo was arrested and extradited to the U.S.

The Los Chapitos - Ivan Guzman, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez - is reportedly looking to assume supreme control of the Sinaloa Cartel.

El Chapo Sons' Los Chapitos Made Narco-Pact With MORENA Party

Anabel Hernandez wrote in DW that the condition of Los Chapitos and his uncles to help the MORENA party was to stop any persecution and arrest warrants for extradition purposes.

Hernandez said one of the meetings headed by Ivan Guzman was held in the first months of 2021 at Culiacan with Ricardo Peralta, who was undersecretary of the Interior until 2020.

Peralta allegedly attended that meeting on behalf of the AMLO government to ask for support and offer guarantees. In another meeting in Culiacan, Ivan Guzman, also known as "El Chapito," reportedly attended with a gun at his waist and protected by a large group of armed people.

Hernandez said El Chapo's son gave instructions to record and broadcast videos through social media platforms to support Rocha Moya's candidacy.

The journalist noted that members of famous music groups known for singing "narcocorridos" or narco-ballads appeared in the videos with Rocha Moya as part of the propaganda plan.

In that meeting, Hernandez said Ivan Guzman's people had already received Rocha Moya's promotional campaign t-shirts. In April last year, the journalist noted that Rocha Moya recorded a video and thanked the musicians for supporting his campaign. The video is reportedly still circulating on Facebook.

In the Sinaloa elections, Hernandez noted that Ivan Guzman had issued instructions and ordered narco-electoral actions in agreement with the MORENA party.

Hernandez added that El Chapo's son also mobilized people to promote the vote and distribute gifts to the electorate and, with intimidation, counteracted the same operation that other opposing candidates were carrying out.

According to Hernandez, the AMLO party-narco agreements could be traced back to 2006 and were put into practice again in June 5 elections.

Mexico President AMLO Accused of Colluding With Sinaloa Cartel and Other Narco Groups

Veteran leftist politician Porfirio Muñoz Ledo has accused Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of colluding with narcos and wanting to entrust that collaboration to his successor.

Muñoz earlier said in a meeting of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean that AMLO thinks he can pass on his association with criminals to the next government, Mexico News Daily reported.

However, Muñoz noted that the president's "conspiracy or alliance with narcos is not inheritable." He said AMLO cannot pass on his collusion when he leaves office in 2024 because narco groups like Sinaloa Cartel will negotiate and make new deals with whoever succeeds him.

"They will no longer need the president. That's the issue, a moral issue, an issue of political analysis... And there will be a danger that [criminal organizations] will demand more from the new [political] actors," he added.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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