Mexico wasn’t advised of cartel arrests till kingpins had been in U.S. custody

Safety Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez advised reporters Friday {that a} small Cessna airplane carrying Zambada, 76, and Guzmán, about 37, took off from Hermosillo airport in northern Sonora state simply earlier than 8 a.m. Thursday and landed at round 10 a.m. on the worldwide airport in Santa Teresa, N.M, close to El Paso, Texas. The males had been promptly arrested by DEA and FBI brokers.

The U.S. Embassy didn’t notify Rodríguez till 3:30 p.m. native time, she stated. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wasn’t knowledgeable till 4:14 p.m.

U.S. authorities haven’t stated why they saved the plan from their Mexican counterparts. However U.S. anti-drug operations have been foiled in recent times by leaks from Mexican officers, leaving Washington cautious.

“We’re awaiting official communication on whether or not what occurred yesterday was a seize or give up,” Rodríguez stated throughout López Obrador’s every day information convention. “That is a part of what the U.S. authorities should inform us.”

There have been conflicting accounts of whether or not Zambada, a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was fooled into boarding the U.S.-bound aircraft, or whether or not he supposed to offer himself up. An official from the Division of Homeland Safety, in addition to a former Justice Division official, stated he was tricked.

Zambada was advised he was being taken to have a look at funding properties, stated the previous official. U.S. brokers needed to scramble to get to the Santa Teresa airport airport as a result of they didn’t count on the ruse to work, the ex-official stated. Each officers spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate case.

Guzmán cooperated within the operation, the previous official stated. Guzmán is among the “Chapitos,” the 4 sons who took over their father’s enterprise after El Chapo was arrested in 2016. His brother, Ovidio Guzmán, was captured by the Mexican military in 2023 and extradited to the USA.

Zambada and “El Chapo” Guzmán, who’s serving a sentence of life plus 30 years within the federal supermax jail in Florence, Colo., collectively led one of many world’s most prolific drug cartels. The Sinaloa federation was a multibillion-dollar enterprise that exported heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and different medication and is credited with constructing the fentanyl enterprise. The Biden administration has focused the cartel because it tries to fight essentially the most lethal drug epidemic in historical past.

U.S. authorities from President Biden on down described the operation as a convincing success. However analysts stated the arrests had been unlikely to cripple the narcotics enterprise and will escalate violence in Mexico.

“Once we take a look at organized crime from the skin, we like to speak in regards to the large cartels,” stated Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst on the Worldwide Disaster Group. “However behind that there’s a very massive variety of different operators that by no means give themselves a reputation, that by no means pop up in media reporting, that aren’t publicly recognized.”

They embrace logistical operators, cooks and others who bribe state and native officers, he stated. “And that’s the actual spine of this economic system.”

With the Sinaloa cartel weakened, its rival, the Jalisco New Era Cartel, is prone to fill any voids within the fentanyl enterprise, analysts stated. That group will more and more problem Sinaloa for dominance, stated Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow on the Brookings Establishment who research Mexican legal organizations.

“The entire of Mexico could be infected,” she stated. The Jalisco cartel is seen as extra violent than Sinaloa, which sought pacts with Mexican authorities and safety officers. “The legal market run by Jalisco is way worse than a legal market run by El Mayo,” she stated.

Zambada was much less well-known than El Chapo Guzmán, a larger-than-life determine who impressed films and books along with his flashy way of life and uncanny skill to tunnel out of prisons. But the low-key Zambada was equally vital; some Mexican safety officers believed he had lengthy been an even bigger participant within the cartel than his accomplice. (His nickname, “El Mayo,” refers to his center identify, Mario, in response to Mexican media reviews).

Zambada appeared in federal court docket in El Paso on Friday morning, and pleaded not responsible, in response to court docket data. His legal professional, Frank Perez, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Zambada and the elder Guzmán had been indicted in El Paso with 22 different high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel members in 2012. Zambada was charged with being a part of a conspiracy to site visitors cocaine and marijuana into the USA, launder cash and homicide perceived enemies.

The youthful Guzmán was en path to Chicago, the place he was set to make his first court docket look on Tuesday, U.S. officers stated. He’s to be represented by one of many attorneys who defended his father, at El Chapo’s narcotics trial in Brooklyn in 2019. “I’ve received no remark aside from to verify I symbolize Joaquin and will likely be in court docket for him at his preliminary look,” legal professional Jeffrey Lichtman stated.

The “Chapitos” had been among the many U.S. authorities’s most-sought drug-trafficking targets; Washington has supplied a reward of as much as $10 million for info resulting in the arrest or conviction of the 2 oldest brothers, Iván and Jesús Alfredo, and a $5 million award for the youthful brother, Joaquín. But Joaquin was the least concerned in drug trafficking of all of the brothers and will safe a deal for leniency for himself and his brother Ovidio.

Ivan is now thought of the undisputed chief of the Sinaloa cartel, stated the previous U.S. Justice Division official.

The operation to convey the traffickers to the USA was so secret that their names had been saved off the flight manifest filed shortly earlier than the aircraft took off, Rodríguez stated. The plan named solely the pilot, Larry Curtis Parker, she stated. He was listed in migration data as a customer to the nation, and wasn’t registered as a U.S. Embassy worker or U.S. authorities agent.

Rodríguez was peppered by reporters Friday on why Mexico wasn’t advised prematurely about such a important operation. Zambada additionally faces arrest warrants in Mexico.

Rodríguez insisted that cooperation with Washington in opposition to the unlawful drug commerce is robust.

“We’re going to proceed cooperating with the U.S. authorities, as we have now executed up till this occasion,” she stated.

Zambada was seen as a complicated operator who had cultivated in depth political ties over time. Even when his arrest unleashes violence amongst Mexican legal teams, the USA might finally profit if he cooperates in naming corrupt present and former Mexican officers, stated Felbab-Brown.

“I’m certain quite a lot of political actors and authorities officers didn’t sleep a wink final night time,” she stated. “He is aware of the place all of the our bodies are buried over many administrations.”

Miroff and Ovalle reported from Washington. Spencer S. Hsu in Miami, Lorena Rios in Monterrey, Mexico, and Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul in Mexico Metropolis contributed to this report.