Mexico City has been buzzing with the strange saga of how two high-profile drug lords were detained after landing in a plane in the United States in July. But the plot has taken an even more bizarre turn with the recent announcement by the Mexican government that it is bringing charges against Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of infamous drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
However, the charges against the younger Guzmán are not for his involvement in the Sinaloa drug cartel, which was founded by his father. Instead, Mexican prosecutors are bringing charges against him for allegedly kidnapping Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, an older drug boss from a rival faction of the cartel. The younger Guzmán reportedly forced Zambada onto the plane and flew to an airport near El Paso, Texas, with the intention of turning himself in to U.S. authorities.
The federal prosecutors have issued a statement saying that an arrest warrant has been prepared against the younger Guzmán for kidnapping. But they have also cited another charge under an article of Mexico’s criminal code, which defines his actions as treason. This section of the law states that treason is committed by those who illegally abduct a person in Mexico and hand them over to authorities of another country.
This clause in the law appears to have been motivated by the abduction of a Mexican doctor who was wanted for allegedly participating in the 1985 torture and killing of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena. However, it is interesting to note that the statement does not mention the younger Guzmán’s involvement in the “little Chapos” faction of the Sinaloa cartel, which is known for smuggling millions of doses of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States and causing about 70,000 overdose deaths each year.
The federal prosecutors’ statement also included an unusually harsh and revealing description of false evidence presented by prosecutors in the northern state of Sinaloa. This false evidence was apparently an attempt to distance the state’s governor, Rubén Rocha, from the killing of a local political rival, Hector Cuén. Cuén was at a meeting that was used as a pretext for luring Zambada to the abduction site. Zambada has since stated that he expected the governor to be at that meeting, but Rocha has denied any knowledge or involvement.
To downplay reports of the meeting, state prosecutors published a video of an apparent shooting at a local gas station, claiming that Cuén was killed there instead of at the meeting site. However, federal prosecutors have noted that the number of gunshots heard on the video does not match the number of gunshot wounds on Cuén’s body. In fact, on Wednesday, the federal prosecutors went even further, stating that the video is unacceptable and does not hold enough value to be considered as evidence.
According to Zambada, Guzmán had invited him to the meeting to help resolve the fierce political rivalry between Cuén and Rocha, a testament to the trust Zambada had in Guzmán. Zambada is known for his tight, loyal, and sophisticated personal security apparatus, which has helped him elude capture for decades. The fact that he was willing to leave all of that behind and meet with Rocha shows that he saw the meeting as credible and feasible. This also speaks to Zambada’s belief that he, as the leader of the oldest wing of the Sinaloa cartel, could act as an arbiter in the state’s political disputes.
As for the governor, he has vehemently denied any involvement or knowledge of the meeting where Zambada was abducted. This adds another layer of complexity to the already convoluted plot.
The strange saga of how two Mexican drug lords were detained after landing in the United States has taken a series of unexpected turns. The latest being the charges brought against Joaquín Guzmán López for kidnapping and treason, which has shed light on false evidence presented by state prosecutors in an attempt to distance the governor from a political rival’s killing. As the story continues to unfold, one thing is clear – the world of drug cartels is full of unexpected twists and turns, and the truth is often stranger than fiction.
