EGN NEWS DESK
It’s a part of the lengthy, unusual saga of Sinaloa cartel chief Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who unexpectedly appeared on a flight that landed close to El Paso, Texas, in July. That non-public airplane flight was organized by one other drug capo who determined to show himself in.
U.S. officers say Joaquín Guzmán López — a son of imprisoned cartel chief Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán — flew to the United States to show himself in, however kidnapped Zambada earlier than leaving Mexico and compelled him onto the airplane.
But slightly than thanking the United States for nabbing Zambada — whose cartel has unfold violence and terror throughout Mexico for many years — Mexican prosecutors are contemplating bringing treason costs in opposition to Guzmán or anybody else concerned within the plot.
U.S. Department of State through AP
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office stated late Sunday it had opened a prison investigation “for the doable crimes of unlawful flight, illicit use of airports, immigration and customs violations, kidnapping, treason, and some other crimes that will apply.”
The odd response to the seize of a drug trafficker who had a $15 million U.S. reward on his head is predicated on an article in Mexico’s penal code that lays out jail sentences of as much as 40 years in jail for treason.
The article consists of the normal definitions of treason — attacking Mexico on behalf of a international energy, or serving a international military — but additionally states treason is dedicated “by those that illegally abduct an individual in Mexico so as to hand them over to authorities of one other nation.”
That clause was apparently motivated by the kidnapping of a Mexican physician needed for allegedly collaborating within the 1985 torture and killing of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena.
The physician, Humberto Machaín, was kidnapped in Mexico in 1990 and handed over to U.S. authorities, angering Mexico.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has lengthy seen any U.S. intervention as an affront, and has refused to confront Mexico’s drug cartels. In truth, he stated Monday he questioned the U.S. coverage of detaining drug cartel leaders, asking “why do not they alter that coverage?”
Asked in regards to the Zambada case — and the doable involvement of a senior politician from López Obrador’s Morena party in negotiations with the drug lords — the president depicted the entire situation as a doable U.S. plot to smear him by tying his party to drug lords.
“In the United States, there are some teams that do not wish to perceive that issues have modified, and who wish to proceed intervening, undermining, making an attempt to dominate,” López Obrador stated.
“Kidnapped and delivered to the U.S. forcibly”
Over the weekend, Zambada’s lawyer launched a letter from his consumer saying he was ambushed and kidnapped when he thought he was going to satisfy the governor of the northern state of Sinaloa, then was taken in opposition to his will to the United States.
In the letter obtained by CBS News, Zambada wrote there have been “many inaccurate stories” and he’ll present the “true info” from that day. He stated he needed everybody to know from the outset he didn’t flip himself in, have an settlement or come voluntarily.
“To the opposite, I used to be kidnapped and delivered to the U.S. forcibly and in opposition to my will,” he wrote.
In the two-page letter, Zambada stated Guzmán López requested him to attend a gathering July 25 with native politicians, together with Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, from the ruling Morena party.
But the letter stated he was as a substitute led right into a room the place he was knocked down, a hood was positioned over his head, he was handcuffed, after which taken in a pickup truck to a touchdown strip the place he was pressured into a non-public airplane that lastly took him and Guzmán López to U.S. soil.
The letter raised questions on hyperlinks between drug traffickers and a few politicians in Sinaloa, the Pacific coast state that’s the dwelling base of the Sinaloa cartel, however Gov. Richa Moya denied any hyperlinks to the criminals and stated he was not in Sinaloa that day. After the arrests, he had stated he was in Los Angeles.
Zambada ended the letter calling on the governments of the United States and Mexico to be “clear” about his abduction, subsequent disappearances and loss of life.
“I additionally name on the individuals of Sinaloa to make use of restraint and preserve peace in our State,” Zambada wrote. “Nothing will be solved by violence. We have been down that highway earlier than, and everybody loses.”
The Attorney General’s Office stated it had taken over the case from Sinaloa state prosecutors. Regarding the governor’s doable involvement, the workplace stated it had “contacted him, to acquire all relevant info,” however apparently had not referred to as him to testify.
In early August, Zambada, 76, made his second look in U.S. federal court docket in Texas after being taken into U.S. custody the week earlier than.
Guzmán López apparently had been in negotiations with U.S. authorities for a very long time about presumably turning himself in. Guzmán López, 38, has pleaded not responsible to drug trafficking and different costs in federal court docket in Chicago.
Provided to CBS
U.S. officers stated that they had nearly no warning when Guzmán López’s airplane landed at an airport close to El Paso and weren’t anticipating Zambada to be aboard the craft. Both males have been arrested and stay jailed. They are charged within the U.S. with varied drug crimes.
Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, stated the airplane took off from Sinaloa and filed no flight plan. He harassed the pilot wasn’t American, nor was the airplane.
The implication is that Guzmán López meant to show himself in, and introduced Zambada with him to obtain extra favorable therapy, however his motives stay unclear.
Zambada was thought of the Sinaloa cartel’s strategist and was considered extra concerned in its day-to-day operations than his better-known and flashier boss, “El Chapo,” who was sentenced to life in jail within the U.S. in 2019.
Zambada’s faction of the Sinaloa cartel has been engaged in fierce combating with one other faction led by the sons of Guzmán.
