The information that Ismael El Mayo Zambada would provide, not only to Mexican and American authorities, but also to international public opinion through his lawyer Frank Pérez, would be an unprecedented bombshell, as it would reveal details related to the corruption of governors, politicians, military and police commanders, and businessmen from Sinaloa.
The information seems endless, according to intelligence sources in Mexico and the United States, and it would have started at the time of his arrest, on July 25, when he revealed details about how he had gone to Huertos del Pedregal, in Culiacán, to attend a meeting with the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, and the sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, and to mediate a dispute that the state governor had with Héctor Melesio Cuen Ojeda.
The meeting was actually a trap by Joaquín Guzmán López, as revealed by Mayo Zambada himself in a letter sent by his lawyer Frank Pérez to the media, because upon his arrival, the capo said that he was attacked, subdued, and later taken against his will to Texas, where he was handed over to agents of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, for its acronym in Spanish).
“The information that Ismael el Mayo Zambada has is a lot, and it would make the Mexican government tremble, more than that of the United States, due to his ties with politicians and officials,” said a military intelligence official, who at one time investigated cases such as that of Zambada García and Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán.
The kidnapping of the capo and his subsequent arrest has left a wave of death, because a little more than six months after the conflict between Mayos and Chapos began, the Attorney General of the State of Sinaloa has reported more than 900 deaths, and almost 1,300 missing persons.
As a new resource, Zambada García sent a letter to the Mexican embassy in New York, with a copy to the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the Attorney General's Office demanding that the Mexican government defend him, as a Mexican citizen, and demand that the United States immediately repatriate him to national territory, and at the same time, prevent the death penalty from being applied to him during the process, since his arrest and transfer to the neighboring country to the north was illegal.
"I was deprived of my freedom in national territory, through physical coercion and deception, and subsequently transferred to the United States by a Mexican individual, without authorization from the Mexican authorities, and without complying with any of the applicable legal procedures," reads the letter, sent by Frank Pérez to this weekly.
The letter adds: The Government of the United States of America has a responsibility for action by omission since it is a well-known fact that the legal requirements and international commitments that are mandatory for both countries were not met when I was received. Therefore, it can be stated clearly and precisely that the express commitments of the international treaties that I invoke in this section have been violated.
David Weinstein, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor of the United States, said that given the power of convocation that Mayo Zambada has, he could influence his repatriation, and that the death penalty not be applied to him, although everything will depend on the agreements regarding the extradition treaties that exist between both countries and taking advantage of what he knows to negotiate.
“In this case, the accused can use that information he has about the government, and reach an agreement with both countries,” said Weinstein, who is currently a trial lawyer in Miami.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said that as a government they would review the case, because beyond who Zambada García is, and the crimes he committed, it is a matter that has to do with the rights of a Mexican citizen about to be tried in the United States, but without having followed all the legal procedure that the law requires.
“No one is defending El Mayo Zambada, but the fact, and there is an issue in the letter that has to do with sovereignty and the trial,” Sheinbaum Pardo stressed.
Zambada García refers to a series of constitutional articles, human rights, migration laws and extradition agreements between Mexico and the United States, including the case of Dr. Humberto Álvarez Machain, who was kidnapped by US agents in Mexico in 1992 and taken against his will to the United States.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court then ruled that his kidnapping did not prevent U.S. courts from exercising jurisdiction over him, the case sparked international controversy and led to the signing in 1994 of the Treaty between the United Mexican States and the United States of America to prohibit cross-border kidnappings, which establishes that neither party should carry out or tolerate the capture of persons in the territory of the other party to take them to its jurisdiction.
El Mayo emphasized that while the Mexican government determines how to defend him, the United States must commit to offering sufficient guarantees so that the death penalty is not applied to him.
The former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel also mentions that he hopes that Mexico really defends him, but that if he notices a certain passivity on the part of the Mexican State, he could interpret it as a renunciation of its responsibility to protect its citizens and would set a dangerous precedent that weakens its ability to defend its nationals in similar situations.
"If that is the situation, it would lead me to denounce my own country before international bodies," said the boss.
Article published on February 23, 2025 in issue 1152 of the weekly Ríodoce.
.webp)
