Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada is one of the most famous names in the history of the war on drugs, synonymous with the fearsome power and corrosive influence of the world’s largest drug cartel.
The last of an original generation of drug cartel leaders, he created the Sinaloa Cartel with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán from what remained of the Guadalajara Cartel after its collapse in 1989.
But unlike his partner, who was jailed and escaped twice, El Mayo was able to evade capture for some 35 years. Until now.
US authorities arrested him in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday. has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges before a federal court in Texas.
He was tricked into traveling to the United States as part of an elaborate sting operation masterminded by the son of his former partner, El Chapo.
Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the heirs of El Chapo’s operation, was arrested along with Zambada after make him believe that he was traveling to northern Mexico to inspect possible sites for clandestine landing strips.
“Are you worried about being captured?” the late Mexican journalist Julio Scherer García asked Zambada in 2010, after he had gone into the mountains to conduct an unprecedented interview with the drug lord.
“The thought of being imprisoned terrifies me,” he replied. “I’m not sure I have what it takes to commit suicide. I’d like to think I do and that I would take my own life.”
However, when the time came, He had neither the means nor the opportunity.
For someone who was so cautious for so many years, it seems incredible that Zambada was fooled at age 76. Perhaps Something extraordinary was needed to stop him..
“I’m not surprised that Zambada didn’t go down willingly,” said Mike Vigil, a former agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “He’s over 70, in poor health, and has already said that prison was his greatest fear.”
How will the posters react?
The arrests — and a possible plea deal between El Chapo’s sons, known as Los Chapitos, and the U.S. government in exchange for guilty pleas — raise the question of who will take control of the Sinaloa cartel.
Following the arrest of El Chapo Guzmán and his extradition to the US in 2016, a wave of bloodshed as rival factions vied for control of territory and faced off against rival drug gangs that perceived weakness.
Even more shocking and violent was the reaction of the Sinaloa cartel’s henchmen when their leader, Ovidio Guzmán López, was captured in October 2019.
After his arrest, Hundreds of armed men attacked the city of Culiacán and opened fire on civilian, police and military targets with high-caliber weapons and rocket launchers. Finally, the authorities returned Ovidio Guzmán to his men to end the fighting.
He was later arrested again, extradited and is currently awaiting trial in a US prison.
Mike Vigil believes that a similar explosion of violence, which became known as the “Culiacanazo”:
“The Sinaloa cartel has a very strong reserve of potential leaders who could take control, including El Chapo’s brother,” he said.
In fact, Vigil believes that what he calls the “boss strategy”“That is, focusing on eliminating cartel leaders is rarely successful.
“Under the government of (Felipe) Calderón (president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012), there was only a tendency to foment internal conflicts within the cartels that later generated a bloodbath.”
If that happens this time, says the former DEA agent, “the only winner would be their rival, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).”
That said, moments of uncertainty and potential power vacuums like this are deeply unpredictable. Mexican authorities have already sent additional forces to Sinaloa state in anticipation of any potential outbreak of violence.
The other obvious question about Zambada’s arrest is: why now?
The operation was planned for months. However, some reports claim that there was also an opportunistic element.
When the various elements behind the deception seemed to be taking shape, despite some skepticism among the American authorities, they They finally decided that there was nothing to lose by trying..
However, the main reason for doing so at the time was revealed in the words of the US Attorney General, Merrick Garlandin a video message in which he confirmed the arrests:
“Fentanyl is the deadliest threat our country has ever faced,” he said, vowing that the U.S. Department of Justice “will not rest until all cartel leaders, members, and associates responsible for poisoning our communities are held accountable.”
Fentanyl overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45It’s a staggering statistic that may have motivated officials in Joe Biden’s administration, especially in an election year.
Both Los Chapitos and El Mayo have amassed billions from fentanyl, which is easy to produce and transport without the need for large coca plantations in the Andes, as is the case with cocaine production.
Experts point out that It is virtually impossible to stop fentanyl smugglingIt is too profitable for the cartels and is deeply embedded in Mexico’s modern drug war landscape.
But US law enforcement agencies want to crack down on the cartels that produce it, reduce their influence and, wherever possible, dismantle their leadership.
The capture of El Mayo Zambada – although aged, in poor health and captured through deception – was always going to be a key piece of that strategy.
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