Mexico investigates possible US violation of 2024 kidnapping of notorious cartel leader: “Someone lied”

Mexico said on Tuesday it was investigating whether its sovereignty was violated by the United States in the 2024 kidnapping of drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, in the latest flare-up of tensions over Washington’s war on cartels.

The investigation comes after the FBI put on display the plane used to bring the most wanted Zambada, the founder of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, to the United States.

“If any of the American agencies participate in this project, they will be violating international agreements and the (Mexican) constitution,” said President Claudia Sheinbaum in a daily press conference.

Zambada was arrested in the United States in July 2024 along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is also in custody.

When Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in the US last December, he admitted to kidnapping Zambada to bring him to the United States – a betrayal intended to curry favor with US authorities. According to details revealed in Guzman’s plea agreement, Zambada was attacked, loaded onto a plane, drugged and forced across the border into the United States.

The US ambassador to Mexico said that by 2024 no US agency would be involved in the project, Mexican government secretary Rosa Icela Rodriguez said at a morning news conference.

“Versions conflict. Someone is lying,” he said.

“What deals does that organization have, or who else is involved with the gang?” Sheinbaum said, according to La Jornada. “In this case, everything seems to indicate that the ambassador (Ken Salazar) lied.”

Last August, Zambada pleaded guilty to charges related to his role as the founder of the Sinaloa cartel, including drug trafficking, gun charges and money laundering. Federal prosecutors suspect that Zambada and other leaders of the Sinaloa cartel are responsible for a large amount of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl and other illegal drugs that are distributed in the US.

The war between Sinaloa factions that broke out after the arrest of Zambada left thousands dead and missing.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that drug cartels control Mexico, warning that he will use boots on the ground south of the border if Sheinbaum does not fight the gangs.

Sheinbaum downplayed the threats, insisting that the Mexican military is using American intelligence to track down narcotraffickers — such as the killing of cartel boss Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera during a raid in February.

In April, two CIA agents died in unclear circumstances during an anti-drug operation near the military and regional police on the border of Chihuahua – without express authorization from the federal government of Mexico.

Sheinbaum’s administration opened an investigation, which is ongoing, into whether the agents’ presence represented a breach of national security laws, creating a new diplomatic conflict.

Days later, the US Department of Justice indicted the former governor of Sinaloa, Ruben Rocha Moya, along with nine other current and former officials, on drug charges.

Rocha Moya is a member of Sheinbaum’s left-leaning ruling party in Morena – and a close friend of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Sheinbaum responded to the charges by asking the US to provide “irrefutable” evidence against Rocha Moya before extraditing him.