MEXICO CITY (AP) — The United States has achieved arrest Mexico’s most wanted drug lordBut Mexican prosecutors – and the president – now say they are considering bringing treason charges against those who turned him in.
It’s part of the long and strange trail of Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who appeared unexpectedly in a flight that landed near El Paso, Texas, in July. That private plane flight was arranged by another drug lord who decided to turn himself in.
US authorities say Joaquín Guzmán López – son of jailed cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – flew to the United States to turn himself in, but kidnapped Zambada before leaving Mexico and forced him onto the plane.
But instead of thanking the United States for arresting Zambada — whose cartel has spread violence and terror across Mexico for decades — Mexican prosecutors are considering bringing treason charges against Guzmán or anyone else involved in the conspiracy.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said on Sunday night that it had opened a criminal investigation “for the possible crimes of illegal flight, illicit use of airports, immigration and customs violations, kidnapping, treason and any other crimes that may apply.”
The strange response to the capture of a drug trafficker who had a reward of 15 million US dollars on his head is based on an article in Mexico’s penal code that establishes prison sentences of up to 40 years in prison for treason.
The article includes the traditional definitions of treason – attacking Mexico on behalf of a foreign power or serving a foreign army – but also states that treason is committed “by those who illegally kidnap a person in Mexico in order to deliver him to the authorities of another country.” country.”
This clause was apparently prompted by the kidnapping of a Mexican doctor wanted for allegedly participating in the torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena in 1985.
Doctor Humberto Machaín was kidnapped in Mexico in 1990 and handed over to US authorities, angering Mexico.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has long seen any US intervention as an affront and refused to confront Mexico’s drug cartels. In fact, he said Monday that he questioned the U.S. policy of detaining drug cartel leaders, asking “why don’t they change that policy?”
Asked about the Zambada case – and the possible involvement of an important politician from López Obrador’s Morena party in negotiations with drug traffickers – the president described the entire issue as a possible US conspiracy to defame him, linking his party to drug traffickers.
“In the United States, there are some groups that do not want to understand that things have changed and that want to continue intervening, undermining, trying to dominate,” said López Obrador.
Over the weekend, Zambada’s lawyer released a letter from his client saying he was ambushed and kidnapped when he thought he was going to meet the governor of the northern state of Sinaloa, and was then taken against his will to the United States.
In the two-page letter, Zambada said Guzmán López invited him to attend a July 25 meeting with local politicians, including Sinaloa governor Rubén Rocha Moya of the ruling Morena party.
But the letter said that instead he was taken to a room where he was knocked down, a hood was placed over his head, he was handcuffed and then taken in a pickup truck to an airstrip where he was forced into a private plane that finally took him and Guzmán López to American soil.
The letter raised questions about links between drug traffickers and some politicians in Sinaloa, the Pacific coast state that is the base of the Sinaloa cartel, but Governor Richa Moya denied any links to the criminals and said he was not in Sinaloa at that time. day. After the arrests, he said he was in Los Angeles.
The Attorney General’s Office said it took over the case from Sinaloa state prosecutors. As for the governor’s possible involvement, the office said it “contacted him to obtain all applicable information” but apparently did not call him to testify.
In early August, Zambada, 76, appeared for a second time in U.S. federal court in Texas after being taken into U.S. custody the week before.
Apparently, Guzmán López has been in negotiations with US authorities for a long time about the possibility of turning himself in. Guzmán López, 38, pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in Chicago federal court.
American officials said they had almost no warning when Guzmán López’s plane landed at an airport near El Paso and did not expect Zambada to be aboard the aircraft. Both men were arrested and remain in prison. They are accused in the US of several drug-related crimes.
Ken Salazar, the US ambassador to Mexico, said the plane took off from Sinaloa and did not file any flight plan. He emphasized that the pilot was not American, nor was the plane.
The implication is that Guzmán López intended to turn himself in and brought Zambada with him to obtain more favorable treatment, but his motives remain unclear.
Zambada was considered the strategist of the Sinaloa cartel and considered more involved in its day-to-day operations than his better-known and flashier boss, “El Chapo,” who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the US in 2019.
The Zambada faction of the Sinaloa cartel has been involved in fierce fighting with another faction led by the sons of Guzman.
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