“Champion,” brother of drug lord Otto Herrera, agrees to be extradited to the U.S.

Guillermo Vinicio Herrera García, alias “Champion” or “the Godfather,” brother of drug trafficker Otto Herrera, agreed to be extradited to the U.S., where a court is seeking him to face drug trafficking charges, judicial sources reported on Friday, August 9.

On July 23, Herrera García was arrested by security forces as he was subject to an arrest warrant for extradition to the United States, where he is required to appear in court in the Southern District Court of Florida for the crime of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine.

Initially, the suspect refused to be extradited, so his situation was to be resolved by the judges of the Fifth Criminal Sentencing Court at the hearing scheduled for this Friday, but he came forward and through a document submitted by his lawyer agreed to be extradited.

Herrera García’s appearance this Friday was to be by videoconference.

According to authorities, an investigation identified a group of Guatemalan drug traffickers who developed supply sources in Colombia and acted as transportation coordinators, investors and intermediaries between supply sources and large cocaine buyers.

He also revealed that, from 2018 to September 2021, the detainee operated as a receiver of cocaine shipments that were sent from Colombia to Central America and Mexico and were finally imported into the United States.

Link with Otto Herrera

The MP added at the hearing on July 24 that the accused began his drug trafficking activities in the 1990s with his brother Otto Herrera García.

Both received shipments of cocaine by plane in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico at clandestine landing strips.

The investigative body recalled that both were extradited to the United States, where they pleaded guilty and served sentences.

Guillermo Vinicio Herrera García then returned to Guatemala and reportedly became involved in drug trafficking again in 2018. To do so, he established contacts with supply sources in Colombia to obtain large shipments of drugs that arrived in Belize and Guatemala, before being sold to Mexican buyers.