He is perhaps the most wanted man in Mexico after his father: Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, the eldest son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, continues to evade justice using the same underground tactics that once made his father both feared and legendary — reinforced doors, escape tunnels, and loyal informants.
Once led by El Chapo, the powerful Sinaloa cartel has splintered into four factions since his arrest in 2016 and life sentence in the U.S. in 2019. The strongest faction is now controlled by “Los Chapitos” — El Chapo’s sons. Iván Archivaldo is the most influential among them.
Despite a $10 million bounty placed by U.S. authorities and numerous military operations, Iván remains free. The latest operation — launched in February 2025 after two key associates were captured — led to a dramatic scene in Culiacán, the cartel’s home turf. Soldiers stormed a heavily fortified house, smashing through walls, only to find a hidden tunnel behind a bathroom wall.
The tunnel, lit and large enough for a person to walk through comfortably, likely allowed Iván to escape. The pursuit ended in an empty house three blocks away — a ghost trail reminiscent of El Chapo’s famous prison escape in 2015 through a tunnel with a motorcycle on rails.
Authorities in Mexico say the network protecting Iván is vast. Cartel members benefit from a loyal civilian base in northwestern Mexico, where people — from street vendors to airport staff — act as lookouts. Add to this a web of corrupted police and military, and the manhunt becomes a chase through shadows.
The Sinaloa cartel’s influence runs deep. In 2024, Mexico’s former Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, was convicted in the U.S. for accepting bribes to protect cartel activities — the highest-ranking official to be sentenced for cartel ties.
Today, the Sinaloa cartel is less a monolithic group and more a fractured empire at war with itself, with the Chapitos vying for territory against other factions led by El Chapo’s brother “El Guano” and remnants of Rafael Caro Quintero’s network. The battlefront lies near the U.S. border, where drug labs and trafficking routes are the true goldmines.
Despite militarization, drones, intelligence, and millions in rewards, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán remains one step ahead — a fugitive raised in the shadows of tunnels, taught by a father who once ruled Mexico’s underworld from underground.
And once again, the earth swallowed its secrets.
