"El Chapo" sons deny U.S. fentanyl indictment accusations, claim they are "scapegoats"

Sons of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán have denied accusations made by U.S. prosecutors last month, saying in a letter that they have no involvement in the production and trafficking of the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.

The letter was provided to The Associated Press by José Refugio Rodríguez, a lawyer for the Guzmán family. Despite not being signed, Rodríguez said he could confirm that the letter was from Guzmán's sons.

The Mexican government did not explicitly confirm the letter's authenticity, but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday it had been analyzed by the country's security council.