Mexican prosecutors consider treason charges after drug lord ‘El Mayo’ Zambada is arrested in the US

Mexican authorities are considering filing charges against those who last month handed over the country’s most wanted drug lord and co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, to the U.S.

On July 25, U.S. officials announced that Zambada Garcia had been taken into custody in El Paso, Texas, along with Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of the cartel’s other co-founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Guzmán López flew to the U.S. to turn himself in to U.S. authorities, but kidnapped Zambada Garcia before he left Mexico and forced him to board the plane, officials said.

Rather than thank the U.S. for the arrest of Zambada Garcia, who is responsible for leading a cartel that has terrorized Mexico and spread violence for decades, Mexican prosecutors are considering charging Guzmán López and all others involved in the kidnapping with treason.

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This combination of images provided by the U.S. State Department shows Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel (left), and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another notorious cartel leader, after they were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday, July 25, 2024. (U.S. State Department via AP)

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office announced Sunday that it has opened a criminal investigation “into the possible crimes of illegal flight, illegal use of airports, immigration and customs violations, kidnapping, treason and any other crimes that may apply.”

The U.S. offered a $15 million reward for Zambada Garcia’s capture. Mexico is basing its response to the arrest on the country’s penal code, which imposes prison sentences of up to 40 years for high treason, the Associated Press reported.

The article in the penal code not only contains the traditional definitions of treason, such as attacking Mexico on behalf of a foreign power or serving in a foreign army, but also states that treason is committed by anyone who illegally “kidnaps a person in Mexico for the purpose of delivering him to the authorities of another country.”

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Undated photo from police broadcast showing Ismael Zambada. (Procuraduria General de la Republica/Handout via Reuters)

The clause was added in response to the kidnapping of Mexican doctor Humberto Machaín, who was abducted in Mexico in 1990 and handed over to the U.S. Machaín was wanted for alleged involvement in the 1985 torture and murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday he had doubts about the U.S. policy of jailing drug cartel leaders, asking: “Why don’t they change that policy?”

Zambada Garcia’s lawyer released a letter from his client over the weekend, in which he claims he was ambushed and kidnapped when he thought he was going to meet with the governor of Sinaloa. Instead, Zambada Garcia claimed, he was taken to the U.S. against his will.

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his regular morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP photo/Marco Ugarte)

Zambada Garcia also alleged in the letter that Guzmán López asked him to attend a meeting with local politicians on July 25, but instead he was led into a room and beaten before a hood was placed over his head. Zambada Garcia said he was handcuffed, driven in a pickup truck to an airstrip and forced onto a private jet that took him to U.S. soil.

In the letter, he raised questions about ties between Sinaloa politicians and drug traffickers, although Governor Richa Moya denies any ties to criminals and claims he was not in Sinaloa on the day of the kidnapping. Instead, Moya reportedly said he was in Los Angeles.

The Attorney General’s Office has taken over the case from Sinaloa state prosecutors.

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Zambada Garcia has been charged in numerous U.S. cases, including one filed in February in the Eastern District of New York, in which he was accused of conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl. Prosecutors said he led “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”

Now that Zambada Garcia is in custody, experts fear that many powerful people in Mexico are concerned that he will cooperate with U.S. authorities and accuse them of collaborating with the cartels in an attempt to get a more comfortable deal.

Adam Shaw of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.