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The U.S. ambassador to Mexico confirmed Friday that drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was taken to the United States against his will when he arrived. Texas In July, he was on a plane with drug lord Joaquín Guzmán López.
Zambada’s lawyers had previously claimed that Sinaloa poster Officials have yet to confirm the news, and Zambada’s age and apparent health led some to speculate that he had turned himself in.
U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said Friday that “the evidence we have seen … suggests that they brought El Mayo Zambada here against his will.”
“This was an operation between drug cartels where one cartel tipped off another cartel,” Salazar said. Sinaloa The cartels have been engaged in a fierce war with another faction led by the son of jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Guzman Lopez is the half-brother of the faction leaders.
Salazar said there were no U.S. personnel, resources or aircraft involved on the flight where Guzman Lopez surrendered, and that U.S. officials were “surprised” when the two showed up at an airport outside El Paso, Texas, on July 25.
Zambada’s attorney, Frank Pérez, said in a statement in July that “my client has not surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government.”
“Joaquin Guzman López forcibly abducted my client,” Perez wrote. “He was ambushed and thrown to the ground by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin was handcuffed. His legs were tied and a black bag was placed over his head.”
Perez went on to say that Zambada, 76, was thrown into the back of a pickup truck by Guzman Lopez, forced into an airplane and strapped to a seat.
In early August, Zambada made his second appearance in federal court in Texas after being taken into U.S. custody a week earlier.
Guzman Lopez, 38, had apparently been negotiating with U.S. authorities in hopes of turning himself in. Guzman Lopez, 38, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court in Chicago.
But U.S. officials said they received little warning when Guzman Lopez’s plane landed at an airport near El Paso. Both men were arrested and jailed on multiple drug charges in the United States.
Salazar said the plane took off from the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, where drug cartels are headquartered, but did not file a flight plan. He stressed that the pilot was not American and the plane was not American.
The implication is that Guzman López intended to turn himself in and take Zambada with him to seek more favorable treatment, but his motives are unclear.
Zambada is thought to have been more involved in the day-to-day running of the group than his more famous and high-profile boss, El Chapo, who was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in 2019.
Zambada has been charged in multiple cases in the United States, including in New York and California. Prosecutors filed a new indictment against him in New York in February, describing him as “a key leader of a criminal group responsible for smuggling large quantities of narcotics into the United States.”
The arrests of Zambada and Guzman Lopez, and the idea of one cartel faction outing the leader of another, have raised concerns that already divided cartels could spiral into violent infighting.
This prompted Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took the unusual step of publicly calling on drug cartels not to fight each other.
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