Sinaloa Cartel Co-Founder Claims He Was Forced to Come to US

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa drug cartel, claims he was kidnapped and is now in a federal prison cell in Texas because he trusted Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the “Los Chapitos,” the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the co-founder of his cartel.

Zambada made the claim in a statement Saturday from the U.S. federal prison, sent to VOA and other news organizations by his attorney, Frank Perez.

Zambada has pleaded not guilty to seven federal charges in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. Most of the charges involve drug trafficking, firearms and murder. Guzman Lopez, who surrendered to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI on July 25, has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago to narcotics, money laundering and firearms charges.

“The Department of Justice has arrested two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement on July 25, the evening they landed in a private jet in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on the border near El Paso, Texas.

“I did not turn myself in, and I did not come to the United States voluntarily, nor did I have any agreement with either government. On the contrary, I was abducted and brought to the United States by force and against my will,” Zambada wrote in the statement. Zambada is awaiting transfer to New York, where the Justice Department has transferred the case.

Why Guzmán López would come to the US, reportedly voluntarily, and take Zambada by force is unknown. Both men face years in prison in the United States.

According to DEA sources, Guzman Lopez had been coordinating his surrender for some time.

“I was ambushed,” Zambada wrote in his statement, in which he recounted a meeting at the Huertos del Pedregal ranch on the outskirts of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, to resolve disagreements among political leaders that he said he had been invited to. The political leaders were Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, who has denied being at the ranch and has distanced himself from Zambada, and Héctor Melesio Cuen Ojeda, a former federal deputy, mayor of Culiacán and president of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa.

“A group of men attacked me, knocked me to the ground and put a dark colored hood over my head. They tied me up and handcuffed me, then forced me into the back of a pickup truck.”

Cuen Ojeda was killed that night, reportedly in an attempted robbery, something Zambada disputes. “They killed him at the same time and in the same place they kidnapped me,” he wrote.

Zambada, untouchable until now, accuses Guzman Lopez of physical violence. He said in his statement that Guzman Lopez injured his back, knee and wrists when he forced him to board the private plane.

Guzman Lopez “took the hood off my head and tied me to the seat with zip ties,” Zambada said. “There was no one else on the plane except Joaquin, the pilot, and myself.”

According to US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, the United States has stated that no government resources were used in this operation.

“This was an operation between the cartels where one extradited the other,” he said at a news conference on August 9 at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, without giving details.

The Justice Department has made it clear that both men will face trial, as the Sinaloa cartel is considered the largest distributor of synthetic drugs in the US.

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced. The Department of Justice will not rest until every cartel leader, member and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Garland said in his statement the night of the arrests.

Zambada has asked the governments of Mexico and the United States for transparency about the events.