“El Mayo” tricked by Chapo’s son.
San Antonio, Texas Aug 10 (EFE).-
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, was ambushed and taken to the United States against his will by one of the sons of his associate, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, according to a statement released by his lawyer, Frank Pérez.
Zambada said that former congressman Héctor Melesio Cuén, who was assassinated on the same day in supposedly unrelated circumstances, was actually summoned to the same meeting as him, along with the governor of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha, and murdered there.
“In this statement, I will provide the true facts of what happened that day. I want to state at the outset that I did not surrender or come voluntarily to the United States, nor did I have any agreement with either government. On the contrary, I was kidnapped and taken to the US by force and against my will. The details of how this happened are as follows,” Zambada said in his first statement since his capture on Jul. 25 in El Paso, Texas, along with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of El Chapo’s sons.
El Mayo said he was summoned by Guzmán López to a meeting to “resolve the differences between the state’s political leaders,” ostensibly to settle a dispute between Rocha and Cuén over who should head the rectorate of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, which Cuén once headed.
The drug baron was also told that Iván Guzmán Salazar, another of El Chapo’s sons, known collectively as the “Chapitos,” and one of the men most wanted by Mexican and US authorities, would also be present at the meeting.
According to Zambada, the Jul. 25 meeting took place at a ranch and event center called “Huertos del Pedregal” on the outskirts of Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa, at approximately 11:00 a.m.
Zambada arrived at the meeting accompanied by four bodyguards, two of whom remained outside the ranch and two of whom went inside with him: José Rosario Heras López, commander of the Sinaloa state police, and Rodolfo Chaidez, a longtime member of his private security team.
El Mayo said he briefly greeted former congressman Cuén and that, contrary to the authorities’ account that Cuén was killed in an unrelated incident the same day while resisting the robbery of his truck at a gas station, Cuén was murdered at the ranch.
Guzmán López asked him to accompany him to a dark room, where he was attacked by a group of men who handcuffed him, put a dark hood over his head, and forced him into the back of a pickup truck.
“Throughout this ordeal, I was physically abused, resulting in significant injuries to my back, knees, and wrists,” Zambada, who is 76 years old, said.
He was then taken to an airstrip where a private plane was waiting.
“Joaquín removed the hood and tied me to the seat with straps. There was no one else on the plane except Joaquín, the pilot, and me,” he said, adding that three hours later they landed in Texas and were arrested on the tarmac.
Zambada lamented the death of Cuén, whom he called “an old friend,” and the disappearance of Heras and Chaidez, whom he said “no one has seen or heard from since.”
“I think it is important that the truth be known. This is what happened, not the false stories that are circulating. I call on the Mexican and US governments to be transparent and tell the truth about my abduction to the United States and about the deaths of Héctor Cuén, (José) Rosario Heras, Rodolfo Chaidez, and all the others who lost their lives that day,” he said.
Finally, El Mayo asked the people of Sinaloa to remain calm, reiterating that “nothing can be solved with violence.”
“We have been down this road before and everyone loses,” he concluded.
Guzmán López was transferred to Chicago after his arrest and has already pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
Zamabada has appeared twice in federal court in El Paso where he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, including drug trafficking and money laundering, and is expected to be sent to New York where he will be tried in the same federal court where El Chapo was sentenced to life in prison in 2019. EFE
jsm/ics