The capture of two Mexican leaders Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopezwas carried out by means of “an operation between cartels” of drugs and There was no intervention by either the Mexican or the American government.the US ambassador to Mexico revealed on Friday. Ken Salazar.
Ken Salazar confirmed this Friday that the Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada He was brought to the United States against his will when he arrived in Texas in July on a plane with drug trafficker Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
The U.S. ambassador said at a press conference that Joaquín Guzmán López voluntarily surrendered to authorities and that “El Mayo” Zambada was apparently taken to the United States “against his will.”
“The evidence that we saw, when he (Mayo) arrived in Santa Teresa, in New Mexico, at the airport (last July 25), is that Mayo had been taken like that against his will,” said Salazar.
Furthermore, while he maintained that it was an operation between drug cartels in Mexico, where one handed over the other, He highlighted the collaboration and pressure exerted jointly by the governments of Mexico and the United States. against criminal organizations that operate on both sides of the border.
“These two things are historic (both captures), but what happened would not have happened if it had not been for the joint effort we made with Mexico,” he emphasized.
He also thanked the Mexican government “for what it has done to create the conditions that we are experiencing in these successes.”
This Friday, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, stated in his daily press conference that The US government “has not cooperated with information” on the arrests of these Mexican drug lords for more than two weeks.
But Salazar clarified that Reports of their arrests have been shared with Mexico and specifically mentioned that “they have also been presented to the Mexican Prosecutor’s Office.”
The US ambassador insisted that No financial or human resources were allocated by the United States government to this operation.
“There were no U.S. resources in that operation, it was not a U.S. plane, it was not a U.S. pilot, it was not our agents or our people in Mexico,” he explained.
He also said that the flight was not planned and that the plane that carried the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel departed from the state of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, the base of this criminal organization in the north of the country.
Salazar said that this action surprised the US authorities, who, he said, immediately contacted “colleagues” and “friends” in the Mexican government to carry out the process before the US courts.
Following his arrest, “El Mayo” Zambada pleaded not guilty through his lawyer to the 14 crimes he is accused of, which include drug trafficking and money laundering charges, and stem from an indictment filed in 2012 in the United States.
The co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel was arrested after getting off a plane that took him to the United States without the drug trafficker knowing about it, accompanied by one of Chapo Guzmán’s sons, a former partner of Zambada.
Last Thursday, he appeared for a procedural hearing in El Paso, Texas, where he spoke only once and that was to say “yes” in response to a question from the judge about possible “conflicts of interest” of his legal representation.
According to his lawyer, Zambada will be transferred from Texas to New York to face trial there.
Although the date on which the drug lord will be sent to New York has not yet been set, it is known that there is already a pending charge against Zambada in the Eastern District of New York, the same district where his partner Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was sentenced to life in prison.
Continue reading:
• What are the historical rivalries within the Sinaloa Cartel and how does the capture of “El Mayo” affect them?
• Judge rules out releasing “El Mayo” Zambada and blocks right to bail
• The capture of “El Mayo” was also a secret in the United States