This is the final chapter of a three part series profiling “El Chapito,” the son of El Chapo.
Part One, on the early life of Iván, is here.
Part Two, on the narco graduation of Iván into a feared kingpin, is here.
Part III
In early June 2021, according to U.S. prosecutors, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, the son of El Chapo, and his half-brother Ovidio, met with the politician Rubén Rocha Moya to discuss the gubernatorial election in Sinaloa the following Sunday. The Chapitos, as the sons of Chapo are known, had already been supporting Rocha in the campaign, according to the allegations. But in the final meeting, a personal deal was cemented in which the gangsters would secure the vote and Rocha would return the favor once he became governor.
“At the meeting, which was protected by Cartel sicarios armed with machineguns and other weapons, Ivan and Ovidio promised that the Chapitos would ensure that ROCHA MOYA won the gubernatorial election,” it says in the indictment. “In exchange, ROCHA MOYA promised the Chapitos Leaders that, if elected, he would ensure that officials friendly to the Chapitos’ drug trafficking would be placed in positions of authority.”
Sure enough, on June 6, 2021, Rocha won with 57 percent of the ballots, according to the official count, amid accusations that gunmen intimidated voters and even held opposition politicians at gunpoint for hours. “It wasn’t participating in an election, where you win or lose, but about not losing your life,” said state lawmaker Paola Iveth Gárate.
The Sinaloa Cartel has long paid off politicians. But under Rocha, it’s alleged, the relationship got more extreme, with the governor working closely with a particular faction of the cartel, and police officers handing over their targets, including a U.S. informant and his family, to its gunmen.
With this protection, Iván established a powerful grip on state capital Culiacán, “taxing” beer distributors, opening California style marijuana dispensaries and having armed punteros throughout the city. Under his reign, murders actually went down for a period while the Chapitos enjoyed vast wealth from trafficking synthetic drugs.
Yet in 2024, the Sinaloa Cartel exploded into brutal civil war as Iván faced off the son of El Mayo alongside an alliance of gangsters pitted against him. Iván had himself been underestimated before, but now it appears he underestimated…
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