Washington: In an unprecedented operation, US authorities arrested Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and the son of his former partner Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on Thursday. Officials said the latest arrests could reshape the Mexican criminal landscape, as Zambada is one of the most prominent drug traffickers in Mexico's history.
'El Mayo', as he is popularly called, co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the US in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison. Both Zambada and El Chapo's son Joaquin Guzman Lopez face multiple charges in the US for trafficking huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to US streets. They were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area.
In the latest development, Zambada pleaded not guilty to US drug charges on Friday, which was accepted by US Magistrate Judge Anne Berton. He will be required to appear in person at a status conference on next Thursday before US District Judge Kathleen Cardone, who will oversee the rest of the case, as per the records. Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, is due to appear in court in Chicago next week.
US President Joe Biden on Friday heralded the arrests and vowed to continue combating drug trafficking. "Too many of our citizens have lost their lives to the scourge of fentanyl. Too many families have been broken and are suffering because of this destructive drug," he said in a statement.
Who is 'El Mayo' Zambada?
Born in 1948 in the western state of Sinaloa, Zambada has been widely known by his nickname “El Mayo”, short for Ismael. He is believed to have begun his criminal career as an enforcer in the 1970s and emerged as a major figure in the Juarez cartel till the 1989 arrest of its top leader Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, for the kidnapping and killing of US drug agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena by drug traffickers on Mexican soil.
After Gallardo's arrest, the Juarez organisation splintered and Zambada joined forces with “El Chapo” Guzmán, helping transform what was a regional smuggling syndicate into the far-reaching Sinaloa cartel. He was the cartel's strategist and deal broker for a long time, overseeing day-to-day operations and earning the loyalty of locals in Sinaloa. He was also known as the "George Washington" of dope in Mexico.
Who is Joaquín Guzmán Lopez?
The son of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was arrested with Zambada in Texas, is considered one of the lower-profile sons in the family. A more prominent son, Ovidio Guzmán López, also is in US custody and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago in September.
While Zambada, 76, is known for being an "old-school" narco, avoiding the limelight and a flashy lifestyle and operating stealthily in the shadows, El Chapo's sons, by contrast, have a reputation for being flamboyant narcos who were also known to be more violent and hot-headed than Zambada. They share a fractious relationship since El Chapo's extradition in 2017.
How were they caught?
US authorities had announced a $15 million reward for Zambada's capture, while there was a $5 million bounty on Guzman Lopez. Their arrests were a part of a joint operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations agencies, according to an official statement.
According to three US officials familiar with the operation, Guzman Lopez lured Zambada to the US, setting up a trap. "My client did not come to the US voluntarily," said Zambada's lawyer, Frank Perez. Notably, US authorities have frequently targeted drug bosses and have struck plea bargain deals in exchange for information that would lead to the arrests of high-ranking cartel figures.
Why US is targeting the Sinaloa cartel?
The Sinaloa cartel has become the biggest target for US authorities, who have accused the crime syndicate of being the biggest supplier of fentanyl to the US. The Sinaloa cartel traffics drugs to more than 50 countries around the globe and is one of the two most powerful organised crime groups in Mexico.
FBI Director Christopher Wray accused Zambada of overseeing the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence”. Much of the drugs are pressed into pills at large-scale operations south of the border involving professional chemists.
The Drug Enforcement Agency calls fentanyl the most urgent drug threat in the US and says it and other synthetic opioids were responsible for about 70 per cent of the 107,941 fatal overdoses in the country in 2022. Apart from that, the Sinaloa cartel also smuggles Mexican-produced methamphetamine, heroin made from Mexican-grown opium poppies and small amounts of lower-grade marijuana for parts of the US where pot has not been legalised.
Mexico's reaction on El Mayo's arrest
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Friday that Mexico was still awaiting details about the arrests and was not involved in the operation. "The Mexican government did not participate in this detention or surrender," said Mexican Security Minister Rosa Rodriguez.
The country's drug kingpins hold tremendous influence over all levels of Mexican government, reputedly bribing governors and even entire police forces to look the other way. Many powerful people may now think that Zambada could now cooperate with US authorities and accuse them of collaborating with the cartels for a comfortable deal.
The Texas charges to which Zambada pleaded not guilty included continuing criminal enterprise, narcotics importation conspiracy and money laundering. The indictment was filed in April 2012 and alleged that cartel members under the leadership of Zambada and El Chapo kidnapped a Texas resident in 2009 to answer for the loss of a seized marijuana shipment, and kidnapped a US citizen and two members of his family in 2010.
(with inputs from agencies)
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