A day after the operation, particulars remained murky. Safety Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez advised reporters Friday {that a} small Cessna airplane piloted by an American 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 airport in Santa Teresa, N.M, close to El Paso, Texas. Zambada, 76, a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, and Guzmán, 38, a son of the infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, have been arrested by DEA and FBI brokers when the plane landed.
However A senior U.S. official mentioned the airplane was a Beechcraft King Air, and mentioned the title of the pilot given by Rodríguez was incorrect.
The U.S. Embassy didn’t notify Rodríguez of the operation till 3:30 p.m. native time, she mentioned. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wasn’t knowledgeable till 4:14 p.m.
U.S. authorities haven’t mentioned 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 mentioned throughout López Obrador’s day by day information convention.
Zambada might need been tricked into getting on the airplane
U.S. officers supplied differing accounts of how he was captured. Some mentioned he surrendered. An official from the Division of Homeland Safety and a former Justice Division official mentioned Zambada was advised he was boarding the flight with the youthful Guzmán to go have a look at funding properties.
U.S. brokers scrambled to get to the Santa Teresa airport as a result of they hadn’t anticipated the ruse to work, the officers assist. Each spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate case.
Joaquín Guzmán cooperated within the operation, the officers mentioned. He’s one of many “Chapitos,” the 4 sons who took over their father’s enterprise after El Chapo was arrested in 2016. One other of these sons, Ovidio, 34, was captured by the Mexican military in 2023 and extradited to america.
Homeland Safety Investigations brokers performed a number one position within the secret operation, persuading Ovidio Guzmán to succeed in out to his brother, after which working with Joaquín to get Zambada on the airplane, the DHS official mentioned. Joaquín Guzmán has been keen to “do loads” to assist Ovidio, who’s awaiting trial on drug and money-laundering expenses and will face a life sentence, the official mentioned. Joaquín’s cooperation might win him vital concessions, in accordance with he former Justice Division official.
Zambada and El Chapo, 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, a multibillion-dollar enterprise. The Biden administration has focused the cartel because it tries to fight essentially the most lethal drug epidemic in historical past, fueled by the rise of fentanyl.
They arrests aren’t anticipated to finish the move of fentanyl
U.S. authorities from President Biden on down described the operation as a powerful success. However analysts mentioned the arrests have been unlikely to cripple the narcotics enterprise and will escalate violence in Mexico.
“After we have a look at organized crime from the surface, we like to speak in regards to the huge cartels,” mentioned 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,” he mentioned, equivalent to logistics consultants and those that bribe state and native officers. “And that’s the actual spine of this economic system.”
Artificial substances equivalent to fentanyl are simple to fabricate in small clandestine labs. The enterprise entails so many gamers that it’ll proceed to function with little or no disruption, mentioned Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, a specialist in drug coverage and arranged crime on the College of California Institute on International Battle and Cooperation.
Even when the the Sinaloa cartel have been weakened, analysts mentioned, its chief rival, the Jalisco New Era Cartel, would probably fill any gaps within the fentanyl commerce. That group will more and more problem Sinaloa for dominance, mentioned Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow on the Brookings Establishment who research Mexican felony organizations.
“The entire of Mexico may be infected,” she mentioned.
Zambada was much less well-known than El Chapo, who impressed films and books together with his flashy way of life and uncanny capacity to tunnel out of prisons. But the low-key Zambada was equally essential or maybe much more vital in cartel operations, Mexican officers say. (His nickname, “El Mayo,” refers to his center title, Mario, in accordance with Mexican media reviews.)
Zambada pleaded not responsible to all expenses Friday in federal courtroom in El Paso, in accordance with courtroom information. His lawyer, Frank Perez, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Zambada and El Chapo have been indicted in El Paso in 2012, for his or her alleged roles in a conspiracy to site visitors cocaine and marijuana into america, launder cash and homicide perceived enemies.
The youthful Guzmán was heading Friday to Chicago, the place he was set to make his first courtroom look on Tuesday, U.S. officers mentioned. “I’ve acquired no remark aside from to verify I characterize Joaquin and might be in courtroom for him at his preliminary look,” mentioned his protection lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman.
The Chapitos have been a serious U.S. goal
The “Chapitos” have been among the many U.S. authorities’s most-sought-after drug-trafficking targets; Washington has supplied a reward of as much as $10 million for data resulting in the arrest or conviction of the 2 oldest brothers, Iván and Jesús Alfredo. Joaquin was the least concerned in drug trafficking of the brothers, authorities mentioned.
The operation to carry the traffickers to america was so secret that their names have been saved off the flight manifest filed shortly earlier than the airplane took off, Rodríguez mentioned. The plan named solely the pilot, Larry Curtis Parker, listed in migration information as a customer to the nation.
Rodríguez was peppered by reporters Friday on why Mexico wasn’t advised prematurely about such a vital operation. Zambada additionally faces arrest warrants in Mexico. Rodríguez dismissed the considerations.
“We’re going to proceed cooperating with the U.S. authorities, as we have now carried out up till this occasion,” she mentioned.
Zambada was seen as a classy operator who had cultivated intensive ties to politicians through the years, analysts mentioned. He might title corrupt Mexican officers who would possibly themselves face U.S. expenses.
“Getting the listing of corrupt officers and going after them is the true prize” in Zambada’s arrest, mentioned Peter Reuter, a criminologist on the College of Maryland who research fentanyl trafficking.
“I’m certain lots of political actors and authorities officers didn’t sleep a wink final evening,” Felbab-Brown mentioned. “He is aware of the place all of the our bodies are buried over many administrations.”
Miroff reported from Washington and Ovalle reported from Miami. Spencer S. Hsu in Washington, Lorena Rios in Monterrey, Mexico, and Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul in Mexico Metropolis contributed to this report.
