“The Chapiza Mob is Still in Charge”: The Narco Ballad That Cemented Ovidio Guzmán’s Status as “El Ratón”

The end of the criminal career of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s son began on Friday the 11th when he formalized a plea agreement with the US Attorney’s Office.

“Guilty,” “guilty,” “guilty,” “guilty.” On four occasions, once for each charge, Ovidio Guzmán López admitted to participating in drug trafficking and organized crime activities before Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman in the Northern District of Illinois Court.

On Friday, July 11, the son of the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel formalized a plea agreement with a single objective: to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison. In exchange, according to information obtained by journalist Ángel Hernández for MILENIO, Ovidio Guzmán must cooperate substantially with the US Attorney’s Office.

After leading the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel with his brothers, the son of El Chapo and Griselda López is seeking a reduced sentence, marking the beginning of the end of his criminal career, the same one that cemented his reputation years ago under the alias El Ratón and that he immortalized in one of the most famous narco corridos of recent years.

Ovidio Guzmán: the docile protagonist

Unlike other bosses who have led and formed criminal organizations in Mexico, Ovidio Guzmán did not have a visceral or violent profile. On the contrary, he was considered the calmest of the four brothers who assumed leadership of part of the Sinaloa Cartel after their father’s arrest and extradition.

Information gathered by journalists such as Óscar Balderas and Anabel Hernández describe the former leader of Los Chapitos as a shy, obedient young man with a friendly personality who enjoyed drinking milkshakes and eating chocolate cakes.

These qualities led his father and the rest of his family to nickname him El Ratón from an early age, with the hope that, years later, this pseudonym would carry a significant weight in the Mexican underworld.

Dámaso López Serrano, better known as Mini Lic, told Anabel Hernández in an interview for MILENIO that Ovidio was a simple young man but with great skill in illicit business dealings, a path he took after the murder of his brother Édgar Guzmán López.

His foray into international drug trafficking, coupled with his close relationship with his half-brothers Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, gradually influenced not only his lifestyle but also his character.

“Ovidio stayed home taking care of his daughters. He was the one who changed their diapers, he was a very loving father, there’s no doubt about that […] That was before, now that the ‘Culiacanazos’ and power are over, I know that Ovidio was a totally different person. He had a lot of armed men with him and many corridos, he went to parties, he followed his brother Iván a lot. He had already taken that path,” the Mini Lic told journalist Anabel Hernández.

His role as a drug trafficker led Ovidio to become part of the group of leaders and members of criminal organizations who, in an expression of power, have starred in narco ballads that narrate parts of their exploits and lives.

In January 2022, musical group Código FN released an ode to the son of El Chapo Guzmán, which quickly gained popularity in Mexico. The release of the controversial song came more than two years after the first Culiacanazo incident and one year before the final arrest of Ovidio Guzmán López.

What does El Ratón’s narco corrido say?

Three minutes and 42 seconds were enough for the popular Sinaloa group to recount Ovidio Guzmán López’s final years in freedom.

“Guzmán’s last name is Ovidio, his father nicknamed him El Ratón as a child, a boss with a lot of intelligence, he’s the son of El Chapo, that big shot. He grew up in the community of Jesús María, hot-blooded and driven by action, he brings the mob in and they’re all about that life, with their grenade launchers, they’re part of a great team,” we hear in the song’s first verses.

These verses begin by portraying Ovidio Guzmán’s origins, his closeness to his father, El Chapo, and the district where he spent his childhood, which, ironically, ended up becoming the same place where he was arrested in January 2023. From the beginning, the mention of his armed subordinates is evident.

“I appreciate operative 90, El Güerito. He’s my friend, my old buddy, I have tons of friends, I support them, and I give them backing. I am El Ratón, I am Ovidio, I am Guzmán, son of El Chapo, I am brother to Alfredito and Archivaldo, and by the way, I apologize for the Culiacanazo fiasco. I didn’t fight, because my daughters’ lives came first, and I thank the common people for their fight over my well being on Black Thursday with everyone in the government,” the narco ballad continues.

José Ángel Cannobio Inzunza is the name behind the aliases El 90 and/or El Güerito, a key collaborator of El Chapo’s sons who, due to his role as a logistics operator, was even considered a possible successor to Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar.

El Güerito has been one of the most significant casualties suffered by Los Chapitos since the start of the “narco-war” that erupted in Culiacán after the kidnapping of Ismael El Mayo Zambada. Cannobio Inzunza was arrested in Culiacán in February 2025 and days later handed over to the U.S. government, which wanted him on charges filed against him in the Northern District of Illinois, the same court where Ovidio is facing trial.

The following paragraphs of the narco corrido serve as a kind of apology for the riots that broke out in October 2019 in the Sinaloa capital during an attempt by federal forces to apprehend El Ratón. Shootings, blockades, abductions, homicides, and terror among the civilian population forced then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to order the release of El Chapo’s son.

“I respect and obey whatever my two brothers, Alfredo and Iván, order. My mother is my great teacher, Moreno, I miss you, I will never forget you. Cars are my great passion, I cruise a vast collection, I feel stronger than ever […] in ranches and in Culiacán, people watch me go by. I am El Ratón, I am Ovidio, I am Guzmán, son of El Chapo, it’s hard not to have him here by my side, and it hurts me that he’s not here, I will always respect him,” the following verses of the song read.

In addition to describing his peculiar taste in vehicles, the verses elude to Ovidio’s family, starting with his brothers—who continue to lead the Los Chapitos faction—but also El Moreno, the alias by which Édgar Guzmán López was known, his blood relative who was murdered in 2008.

His parents, Griselda López and Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also occupy space in the composition. He positions his mother as his mentor while expressing the difficulty of not being able to be close to El Chapo.

“We must continue, forward, the drug trade keeps on giving and El Ratón has once again escaped his pursuers, until next time kids, the Chapiza mob is still in charge,” concludes the narco ballad. 

As of this writing, the song Código FN dedicated to Ovidio Guzmán López has accumulated more than 14 million views on YouTube. Its success contrasted with the fate of its protagonist, as El Ratón was finally caught and now, he no longer sings narco corridos but rather divulges information about the Sinaloa Cartel and its ties to the U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of his recently formalized plea agreement.

Source: Milenio