Juan Carlos Cruz Ovalle and three other Guatemalan defendants were brought to North Texas and pleaded not guilty in federal court.
PLANO, TX — Juan Carlos Cruz Ovalle, a Guatemalan national known as “The Iceman” or “El Hielero,” has been extradited to Texas to face federal drug trafficking charges after U.S. authorities said they had sought his transfer for years. He and three other defendants pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court in Plano.
Cruz Ovalle was among four indicted men transferred from Guatemala to the United States on Thursday, Sept. 24, according to U.S. and Guatemalan authorities. The Justice Department said Cruz Ovalle was indicted in 2018 and is accused of trafficking multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Guatemala for distribution in the United States. A federal indictment is an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The other men extradited were Rudy Leonel Grijalva García, also known as “Caballo”; Ronald Alexys Morales Guerra; and Manuel Ignacio de Jesús Velasco Gómez, also known as “Nacho,” according to Guatemala’s Ministry of the Interior. Guatemalan authorities said the four had been held in detention facilities before they were turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration following completion of the country’s legal extradition process.
The defendants arrived at McKinney National Airport aboard a DEA aircraft before their court appearances in Plano. CBS News Texas reported that all four pleaded not guilty Friday and were ordered held without bond. Each was appointed a public defender, and their attorneys did not comment to reporters after the hearing.
Cruz Ovalle’s case dates back years. Guatemala’s Interior Ministry said he was arrested April 7, 2020, during an operation in Tecún Umán, Ayutla, in the department of San Marcos near the Mexican border. He was wanted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on drug trafficking charges. Guatemalan authorities allege that he was part of a trafficking organization operating across South, Central and North America and that he coordinated the receipt of suspected cocaine shipments in Guatemala for movement into Mexico.
U.S. authorities had publicly identified Cruz Ovalle before his 2020 arrest. In December 2019, the Treasury Department designated him under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, identifying him as a key associate of Erik Salvador Suñiga Rodriguez and the Suñiga Rodriguez drug trafficking organization. Suñiga Rodriguez, a former mayor of Ayutla known as “El Pocho,” was accused by U.S. authorities of controlling narcotics trafficking activities along the Guatemala-Mexico border.
The Treasury Department said in 2019 that the organization focused on smuggling cocaine into the United States and that Suñiga Rodriguez supplied cocaine to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. Cruz Ovalle was one of four Guatemalan nationals designated at the time for providing material support to Suñiga Rodriguez and his organization. Treasury also said Cruz Ovalle had previously been arrested in Guatemala in 2013 on murder, attempted murder and charges related to association with a drug trafficking group. Those earlier accusations are separate from the federal drug case now pending in Texas.
The U.S. government continued targeting the organization after Suñiga Rodriguez died in prison in 2020. In a 2024 sanctions action, the Treasury Department said the Los Pochos drug trafficking organization remained active under new leadership. Treasury alleged that the organization, based in Guatemala and Mexico, supplied large quantities of cocaine to trafficking figures with connections to the Sinaloa Cartel and relied on corrupt officials to facilitate its operations.
The latest extraditions followed a U.S. Justice Department delegation’s visit to Guatemala. Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs and other federal prosecutors met with senior Guatemalan officials as part of efforts to strengthen cooperation against drug trafficking, money laundering, human smuggling and other transnational crimes. The Justice Department said Combs then accompanied the four indicted defendants on the flight from Guatemala to the United States.
The Justice Department credited Guatemalan law enforcement and prosecutors, its Office of International Affairs, the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala with helping secure the arrests and extraditions. The transfer also underscores continuing cooperation between the two countries in cases involving suspected trafficking routes through Central America and Mexico into the United States.
Cruz Ovalle and his three co-defendants now face their cases in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas. Their not-guilty pleas leave the allegations to be tested through the federal court process, and prosecutors must prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt to obtain convictions.
Author note: Last updated September 26, 2026.