What seemed impossible happened: Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada He was arrested in El Paso, Texas, along with Joaquin Guzman Lopezone of the sons of “El Chapo” and brother of Ovid Guzman. After the news was released, the media recalled an interview with the leader of the Sinaloa Cartelin which he spoke of his fear of being arrested.
It was in 2010 when the journalist Julio Scherer Garcia He interviewed the boss, who always had a low profile. The report and photograph of that meeting were published in the weekly Proceso, which at that time was the most important political magazine in Mexico. The image of “El Mayo” went around the worldbeing one of the few that exist of the drug trafficker.
The years passed and everything changed. Zambada’s health declined, his partner and godfather, “El Chapo”, was imprisoned in the United States and sentenced to two life sentences. Things also changed in the Sinaloa Cartel, fractures became confrontations even between those who were so close.
The interview
Scherer said that he received a message in which “El Mayo” told him that he wanted to meet with him. He received a paper with the date and time, thus undertaking one of the most important challenges of his career. When the boss arrived, he shook his hand and expressed his desire to meet him.
“I have my wife, five women, fifteen grandchildren and one great-grandson.. They, the six of them, are here, on the ranches, daughters of the forest, like me. The forest is my home, my family, my protection, my land, the water I drink. The land is always good, the sky is not,” he said about himself.
He didn’t want to talk about his son. Vicente Zambada Fog (arrested at the time in the US), only said that he was crying, he also did not tell the details of how he got started in drug trafficking, but he did say that he was “terrified” of being locked up and responded that he did not know for sure if he would have the courage to take his own life if he was arrested, but it was a probability.
The mountain is something he knows like the back of his hand, the place where he met the journalist and from where he was ready to flee if necessary, The boss never enjoyed a party or anything similar, he lived in hidingwhich allowed him to remain unidentifiable, even though he was close to the Army four times.
“I am afraid,” he said, adding that he did not approve of the actions, which he described as barbaric, of the military in the then War on Drugs, which he considered to be late, since something that had been built over years could not be fixed in a few days.
The reality of drug trafficking
He also gave a clue about the criminal group he leads and drug trafficking itself, which he said is rooted in society, “like corruption.”
“One day I decided to turn myself in to the government so they could shoot me. My case should be exemplary, a lesson for everyone. They shoot me and euphoria breaks out. But after a few days we learn that nothing has changed,” said “El Mayo.”
The journalist questioned his statement and the boss responded: “The drug problem involves millions. How to control them? As for the bosses, who are locked up, dead or extradited, their replacements are already out there.
This supports what experts currently say about organized crime, that the arrests of its leaders do not matter, because the structure does not weaken.
The interview ended abruptly when the journalist asked him several questions about “El Chapo,” he began to walk away, but turned around and said: “We took a picture?”
“I felt an inner warmth, absolutely understandable. The photo proved the truth of the meeting with the boss,” wrote Scherer when recording the interview. “Zambada called one of his bodyguards and asked him for a hat. He put it on, white, very fine.”
“How do you see it?” Zambada asked, and Scherer replied: “The hat is so striking that it takes away from your personality.” “So with the cap?” “El Mayo” asked again. “I think so,” was the journalist’s response. The bodyguard pointed the camera and shot.
Keep reading:
– The first photo of “El Mayo” after being arrested in Texas.
– Arrest of “El Mayo” Zambada is “a blow to the heart of the Sinaloa Cartel”: DEA.