The case of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada takes a strange turn after he is imprisoned in the US

The United States has succeeded in arresting Mexico’s most wanted drug lord, but Mexican prosecutors – and the president – now say they are considering bringing treason charges against those who extradited him.

It’s part of the long, strange saga of the leader of the Sinaloa cartel Ismael “El Mayo” Zambadawho unexpectedly appeared on a flight who landed in El Paso, Texas in July. That private flight was arranged by another drug capo who decided to turn himself in.

U.S. officials say Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of imprisoned drug cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, flew to the United States to turn himself in, but kidnapped Zambada before leaving Mexico and forced him to board the plane.

But instead of thanking the United States for capturing Zambada — whose cartel has spread violence and terror across Mexico for decades — Mexican prosecutors are considering charging Guzmán or someone else involved in the plot with treason.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said Sunday night that it had 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 strange reaction to the arrest of a drug trafficker with a $15 million bounty on his head is based on a section of Mexico’s penal code that imposes prison sentences of up to 40 years for treason.

The article includes the traditional definitions of treason – attacking Mexico on behalf of a foreign power, or serving in a foreign army – but also states that treason is committed “by those who illegally kidnap a person in Mexico for the purpose of delivering him or her to the authorities of another country.”

This clause was apparently prompted by the kidnapping of a Mexican doctor wanted for alleged involvement in the torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena in 1985.

The doctor, Humberto Machaín, was kidnapped in Mexico in 1990 and handed over to US authorities, much to the anger of Mexico.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has long considered any U.S. intervention an insult and has refused to confront Mexico’s drug cartels. He even said Monday that he questioned the U.S. policy of detaining drug cartel leaders, asking, “Why don’t they change that policy?”

Asked about the Zambada affair – and the possible involvement of a senior politician from López Obrador’s Morena party in negotiations with drug lords – the president portrayed the whole affair as a possible US plot to smear him by linking his party to drug lords.

“In the United States there are groups that do not want to understand that things have changed and that want to continue to intervene, undermine and try to dominate,” López Obrador said.

“Kidnapped and forcibly brought to the US”

Last weekend, Zambada’s lawyer published a letter from his client saying he was ambushed and kidnapped When he thought he was going to meet the governor of the northern state of Sinaloa, he was taken against his will to the United States.

In the letter obtained by CBS News, Zambada wrote that there were “many inaccurate reports” and that he would provide the “true facts” of that day. He said he wanted everyone to know from the beginning that he did not turn himself in, had an agreement, or come voluntarily.

“On the contrary, I was kidnapped and forcibly brought to the United States against my will,” he wrote.

In the two-page letter, Zambada wrote that Guzmán López had asked him to attend a July 25 meeting with local politicians, including Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, of the ruling Morena party.

However, the letter states that he was instead taken to a room, where he was beaten, a hood placed over his head, handcuffed, and then taken in a pickup truck to an airstrip. There, he was forced onto a private jet that eventually took him and Guzmán López to U.S. soil.

The letter raised questions about ties between drug traffickers and some politicians in Sinaloa, the Pacific coast state that is home to the Sinaloa cartel, but Governor Richa Moya denied ties to the criminals and said he was not in Sinaloa that day. After the arrests, he had said he was in Los Angeles.

Zambada concluded the letter by calling on the governments of the United States and Mexico to be “transparent” about his kidnapping, subsequent disappearance and death.

“I also call on the people of Sinaloa to exercise restraint and maintain peace in our state,” Zambada wrote. “Nothing can be solved by violence. We have been down that road before, and everyone loses.”

The attorney general’s office said it had taken over the case from Sinaloa state prosecutors. Regarding the governor’s possible involvement, the office said it had “contacted him to obtain all appropriate information” but apparently had not called him to testify.

In early August, the 76-year-old Zambada appeared in a federal court in Texas for the second time after being taken into U.S. custody the week before.

Guzmán López had apparently been in negotiations with U.S. authorities for a long time about a possible indictment. Guzmán López, 38, has pleaded not guilty in federal court in Chicago to drug trafficking and other charges.

U.S. officials said they had little warning when Guzmán López’s plane landed at an airport near El Paso and did not expect Zambada to be on board. Both men were arrested and remain in custody, facing multiple drug charges in the U.S.

Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said the plane had taken off from Sinaloa and had not filed a flight plan. He stressed that the pilot was not American, and neither was the plane.

It has been suggested that Guzmán López planned to turn himself in and that he took Zambada with him to receive more favorable treatment. However, his motives remain unclear.

Zambada was considered the strategist of the Sinaloa cartel and was seen as someone who was more involved in the day-to-day running of the business than his more famous and flashier boss, “El Chapo”, who was sentenced to life in prison in the US in 2019.

Zambada’s faction within the Sinaloa cartel is engaged in fierce fighting with another faction, led by Guzmán’s sons.