Everything We Know About El Mayo Zambada’s Arrest in New Mexico
For now, the Sinaloa Cartel appears to be facing its greatest challenge in its more than 80 years of existence and could mark the end of Mexico's largest criminal organization.
EL PASO, Texas.— Mexico has begun an investigation and has asked the United States to share more information about what really lies behind the detention of the legendary drug trafficker Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, son of the infamous associate of ‘El Mayo’, ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán.
"Everything needs to be transparent, how they have acted all this time. Not lying, not pointing fingers without evidence, and no one should be untouchable," said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about alleged accusations against Mexican authorities by the drug trafficker.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed its involvement in the detention of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, son of “El Chapo Guzmán”.
“Today, the FBI and the DEA arrested two alleged leaders who have eluded security forces for decades,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray on the night of July 25.
The Mysterious King Air
Around noon on July 25, a mysterious King Air jet with registration N287KA landed with its instruments still off at a small private airport in the suburban community of Santa Teresa in New Mexico, bordering El Paso, Texas.
Inside the aircraft were Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López. At least a dozen officers from different agencies were already waiting for the “VIPs” on the ground, who they received calmly, shook hands with, and placed under custody, according to Bill Provance, general manager of the airport.
In some photographs of the interior of the King Air obtained by the El Paso Times in El Paso, Texas, details can be seen that suggest what that journey from Mexico to the United States might have been like: corn chips, Oxxo cookies, and plastic ties with which Zambada was allegedly bound to be taken by force.
However, the plane traveled using a fake registration that was stuck on with adhesive vinyl instead of painted on the chassis, according to a recent investigation by journalist Peniley Ramírez.
“Less than 15 minutes after takeoff, Guzmán contacted his contact in the United States. He said he was on his way to Doña Ana Airport in New Mexico and that he was bringing ‘El Mayo’ with him. ‘El Chapo’s’ son paid for the flight expenses on the Beechcraft King Air plane, ‘Guzmán’s property’, including the pilot,” wrote the reporter.
The plane had reportedly departed from Culiacán, from a small airstrip called El Brilloso, in the town of Campo Lazareto, according to sources close to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Conflicting Versions
Zambada's lawyer in Texas, Frank Perez, was the first to disclose the kidnapping version, which today gains more strength among the different accounts of the events.
Perez said his client, Ismael Zambada García, was tricked into attending a meeting, beaten, kidnapped, and tied up by Joaquín Guzmán López and forced onto a plane against his will to be handed over to U.S. authorities.
“My client did not surrender nor negotiate any terms with the U.S. government. Joaquín Guzmán López kidnapped my client by force,” Perez said in a statement first published by SAGA and the Los Angeles Times. “He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquín. They tied his legs and put a black bag over his head. Then they threw him into the back of a truck and took him to an airstrip. There, they forced him onto a plane, Joaquín tied his legs to the seat, and they brought him to the United States against his will,” Perez said.
However, a few days after Perez's statements, José Luis González Meza, who claimed to be the lawyer for Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s family, assured that Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López voluntarily surrendered to U.S. authorities.
The lawyer said that discussions with U.S. authorities about the possibility of voluntary surrender by the group began four years ago. Although he did not explain who participated in these conversations, he indicated that this led ‘El Mayo’ and Joaquín Guzmán López to move to U.S. territory.
Both versions seem to clash in the name of the different legacies of the Sinaloa Cartel, while to this day, there is no definitive official version of what happened.
The Judicial Process