The hearing against Horst Overdick is suspended and the judge reschedules it for November 30

The PNC and the Public Ministry captured Horst Walter Overdick Mejía, alias "El Tigre," on the road out toward Cobán, Alta Verapaz. (PNC of Guatemala) The first statement hearing against Horst Walther Overdick Mejía, alias "El Tigre," was suspended after one of the four defendants was not transferred to the courtroom. Judge Edy de León rescheduled the proceeding for November 30, so the former Guatemalan drug lord will remain awaiting his first procedural step following his recapture on November 5. The absence of one of the accused prevented the proceeding against Overdick and the other three defendants from moving forward. The reasons why the accused did not arrive at the hearing were not explained. The case file is under judicial seal, so no details were disclosed about the procedural status of the others involved either. The Public Ministry did not provide additional information about the actions planned before the new date set by the court. Overdick, 59, faces charges of drug storage, commerce, and trafficking, as well as criminal association. The Public Ministry links him to a structure called "Los Tigres," allegedly dedicated to transporting and marketing narcotics in the departments of El Quiché and Alta Verapaz. The accused remains held in the preventive prison at the Mariscal Zavala military base while his legal situation is resolved. The investigation also allowed the identification of two other alleged members of the structure, previously arrested for criminal association, although authorities did not reveal their names. The Public Ministry states that "El Tigre" leads the criminal organization "Los Tigres," dedicated to transporting and marketing drugs in El Quiché and Alta Verapaz. (PNC of Guatemala) Overdick's recapture occurred on November 5 at kilometer 210.5, in zone 12 on the road out toward Cobán, Alta Verapaz. The operation was carried out by the General Subdirectorate of Anti-Narcotics Information Analysis, in coordination with the Public Ministry. The current process is taking place in Guatemala and does not respond to an extradition request, unlike his 2012 detention. Authorities have not specified whether "Los Tigres" maintain ties with any foreign cartel, a possibility that remains under investigation and that the court has not yet been able to prove. Alta Verapaz is part of the territory where, according to the prosecutorial investigation, the structure attributed to the former drug lord operated. The charges also include activities in El Quiché, where movements linked to drug trafficking would have been coordinated. Overdick Mejía was also known as "el Lic." and "el Canche." His record includes arrests in 2000, 2002, and 2012, before the apprehension carried out this month. His first arrest, in March 2000, was related to charges of property damage, threats, and shooting a firearm. At that time, he was already being identified as a possible coordinator of a network dedicated to drug trafficking and weapons safekeeping. In February 2002, he was detained again for illicit commerce, trafficking, and storage. Years later, his name became associated with an international investigation that led to his transfer to the United States. Overdick began trafficking cocaine in 1999, according to records cited by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, known as the DEA. The agency linked him to Jorge Mario "el Gordo" Paredes Córdova and to the family of Waldemar Lorenzana Lima, who were later arrested by U.S. justice. The DEA investigation maintained that he facilitated the construction of clandestine airstrips for the landing of Colombian planes loaded with cocaine. He would also have organized the hiding of the shipments on ranches near the border with Mexico. From 2008, he turned to Los Zetas to preserve control of his routes, after a conflict with Juan José León Ardón, alias "Juancho León." On March 25 of that year, hitmen from the Mexican cartel murdered León and ten of his bodyguards at a recreational center in the village of La Pepesca, in Zacapa. After that attack, the alliance attributed to Overdick with Los Zetas was consolidated over drug routes in Playa Grande Ixcán, Las Verapaces, Izabal, and Huehuetenango. The network would have used those territories to move shipments destined for Mexico and, later, the United States. The 2012 capture occurred on April 3 of that year at the Portland condominium in San Lucas Sacatepéquez. The order had been endorsed since January by the Southern District Court of New York, which charged him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and illegal possession of a firearm. After remaining in the Fraijanes I prison, the Third Sentencing Court authorized his extradition. Overdick was sent to the United States on December 12, 2012, and accepted the charges filed in that country. Before U.S. justice, he acknowledged having received in 2002 a shipment of 1,200 kilograms of cocaine, transported to Mexico with final destination in U.S. territory. He served a six-year prison sentence. After regaining his freedom, he was deported to Guatemala on a flight from Brownsville, Texas, and entered through the Directorate of Migration. Prosecutorial sources indicated at the time that he had no pending charges in the country, although the Prosecutor's Office against Narcoactivity warned that it would act on its own initiative at any sign that he resumed drug trafficking.