Capture of “El Mayo” hits Mexico-United States relations

The situation could also affect the administration headed by Claudia Sheinbaum, starting October 1, especially in the exchange of information with the administration of Joe Biden.

José Andrés Sumano Rodríguez, professor at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte and member of the Laboratory for Studies on Violence in Borders, believes that the episode of the arrest of “El Mayo” Zambada will cause tension in the bilateral relationship.

“The bilateral relationship will be much more complicated and harsher than the one that the López Obrador and Biden governments have had so far,” he says.

The tension is not caused by the “goal” scored by Joe Biden’s government itself, but by the way in which the United States acted and the lack of information that has led the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in Mexico to open an investigation to find out what happened on July 25 in the north of the country.

“The government of The United States preferred not to inform the Mexican governmentpreferred to operate the situation unilaterally and simply and simply report what had happened. Three weeks later, the flow of information is still slow and that shows us the lack of confidence the United States has in Mexico to collaborate in matters of security,” adds Sumano Rodríguez.

July 25 was a day of celebration for the Biden administration when it managed to take into custody “El Mayo”, the man for whom the United States offered 15 million dollars However, in Mexico the celebration was smaller because not only did he not participate, but he was only informed about the arrest of the man who was wanted for conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to possess firearms for drug trafficking purposes, murder, kidnapping, violent crimes and other crimes.

In the early hours, President López Obrador assured that this arrest was an example of the joint work with the United States against drug trafficking.

“I think it is a sign that there is a joint effort, even though in this specific case neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Ministry of the Navy participated. But the fact that he made the decision to surrender or to go, to run the risk of going to the United States and being captured there, means an important advance in the fight against drug trafficking,” he said in his morning press conference on Friday, July 26.

However, in recent days the tone has changed. The president has accused the United States government of not cooperating because it has not provided all the information about how “El Mayo” was captured, and has also questioned whether U.S. agents operated on Mexican territory to achieve his arrest.

“We know that he did not leave Hermosillo because the Mexican Attorney General’s Office is conducting the corresponding investigation, but there is no cooperation from the United States government in this case, that is, they have not given us sufficient information… And we want to know more about the negotiation, if it was an agreement or how Mr. Zambada’s lawyer came to declare that he had been arrested,” He said on August 9th .