MEXICO CITY: Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was duped by the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and forced to board a plane bound for the United States last month, he said in a statement on Saturday.
A statement distributed by Zambada’s lawyer gives the drug lord’s version of how US authorities were able to capture both Zambada, the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who is believed to have headed another faction of the crime group outside of El. Paso, Texas.
Zambada said he was “ambushed” during a meeting with Guzman Lopez and officials from the state of Sinaloa, including Governor Ruben Rocha and Hector Cuen, who was recently elected as a federal lawmaker for the upcoming term of Congress.
The state government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zambada said he first saw Cuen at a ranch outside the state capital of Culiacan and then Guzman Lopez, “whom I’ve known since he was a little boy, and he motioned for me to follow him.”
Zambada said he followed Guzman Lopez, “trusting the nature of the meeting and the people involved” and was taken to a dark room.
Authorities say the two main factions of the Sinaloa cartel, one led by Zambada and the other led by El Chapo’s sons, have had an at-times troubled relationship since El Chapo’s capture in 2016.
Zambada said that as soon as he entered the room, he was knocked to the ground by a group of men, tied up and hooded over his head. He was taken in the back of a pick-up truck to a nearby airstrip where the plane was waiting.
Guzman Lopez strapped Zambada to the seat with zip ties and the plane took off for the United States with only the two men and the pilot, Zambada said.
A lawyer for the Guzman family has repeatedly denied that Zambada was taken by force, instead calling it a voluntary surrender after lengthy negotiations between drug traffickers and the US government.
The US, through its embassy in Mexico, said on Friday that Guzmán López surrendered voluntarily, although Zambada appeared to have been taken against his will.
In the statement, Zambada also said that Cuen was killed when the drug lord was captured and that the state police officer and bodyguard accompanying Zambada had not been seen since.
Sinaloa authorities previously said Cuen was believed to have been killed in a carjacking at a gas station in Culiacan.
