Books reopen El Mayo capture dispute
Original reporting: El País México
What happened
El País México contrasts López Obrador’s and Ken Salazar’s accounts of the July 2024 capture of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the extent of U.S. knowledge.
Reporting and context
Books reopen dispute over Washington's role in El Mayo Zambada capture
El País México reports that former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and former U.S. ambassador Ken Salazar offer sharply different accounts of the July 25, 2024 capture of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Washington has said it learned Zambada was aboard a private plane only after it left Culiacán, while López Obrador argues that U.S. authorities had prior knowledge of negotiations involving Los Chapitos, the faction led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
According to El País México, Salazar writes in his memoir Borderlands that Zambada’s delivery was a complete surprise and that the United States did not authorize an operation on Mexican soil. His account says agents found Zambada heavily sedated and restrained aboard a Beechcraft King Air after the aircraft reached Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Joaquín Guzmán López, who was also on the plane and intended to surrender, left the aircraft on his own, while pilot Mauro Alberto Núñez Ojeda, known as “Jando,” was allowed to return to Mexico.
López Obrador’s book Pueblo cites a July 27 letter from Salazar to Mexican prosecutor Alejandro Gertz. The former president says the letter acknowledged that U.S. authorities had been told several times that Guzmán López was considering surrendering and were informed at 2:40 p.m. that Zambada might also be aboard. El País México reported that the competing accounts leave unresolved when Mexican authorities learned about the plan and how much Washington knew.
The article says the conflict has unfolded amid a factional war in Sinaloa between Los Chapitos and La Mayiza, the faction associated with Zambada’s heirs. The violence has lasted more than two years and left hundreds dead, missing or displaced, according to the source. It also reports that 17 relatives of Ovidio Guzmán, including his mother, later went to the United States after Ovidio agreed to cooperate as a witness.