Guatemala’s ‘The Iceman’ Flown to McKinney, Texas, After 8-Year U.S. Hunt — Accused Associate of Ex-Mayor Who Allegedly Supplied Sinaloa Cartel Cocaine
A Drug Enforcement Administration jet landed at McKinney National Airport in North Texas on Thursday night carrying Juan Carlos Cruz Ovalle, a Guatemalan man known as “The Iceman” or “El Hielero,” CBS Texas reported on Sept. 24, 2026. According to the station, he was one of four alleged drug traffickers extradited from Guatemala to face charges in the Eastern District of Texas. U.S. Attorney Jay Combs said prosecutors had been trying to get him for about eight years.
The alleged Sinaloa cartel link
CBS Texas reported that in December 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department identified Cruz Ovalle as a key drug trafficking associate of Erik Salvador Suñiga Rodriguez, a former Guatemalan mayor known as “El Pocho.” Federal authorities said Suñiga Rodriguez’s organization focused on smuggling cocaine into the United States and that he supplied cocaine to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. Treasury sanctioned Cruz Ovalle and three other Guatemalans under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act for supporting Suñiga Rodriguez and his organization.
According to the Guatemalan government, as cited by CBS Texas, Cruz Ovalle was allegedly a coordinator who arranged for cocaine shipments to be received in Guatemala and then moved into Mexico. The U.S. also said he had been arrested in Guatemala in 2013 on murder, attempted murder and drug-trafficking-group charges. CBS Texas did not report the outcome of that case.
Arrested near the Mexican border in 2020
Guatemalan anti-narcotics authorities arrested Cruz Ovalle on April 7, 2020, in Tecún Umán, near the border with Mexico, on a U.S. extradition request, CBS Texas reported. The four extradited men are accused of running a major drug network that included corrupt mayors and politicians in Guatemala. CBS Texas did not name the other three.
“We’ve been trying to get Mr. Ovalle for about eight years. So today we got him and we’re bringing him to justice,” Combs told the station. He added: “Individuals who ship cocaine into the United States have to do it through Guatemala.”
What happens next
Combs was on the extradition flight, according to CBS Texas. The four defendants have already been indicted in the U.S. and face drug charges that could carry life in prison. They were expected to make a first appearance before a judge on Friday morning in a federal courtroom in Plano. These are allegations; none of the four has been convicted in this case.
Sources
Reported Sept. 25, 2026, from CBS Texas’s account. The Narco Blog did not review the indictment or court records directly, and the specific charges were not detailed in the source. Cruz Ovalle and his co-defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.