“El Mayo” speaks: “I was going to meet with Rocha Moya and Cuén when I was ambushed”

In a written statement released by his defense, Zambada confirmed that he did not surrender voluntarily to U.S. authorities, but that Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, participated in a trap to capture him.

“I went to a meeting to resolve differences between political leaders in Sinaloa. I was going to intervene in the disputes between Rubén Rocha Moya, the governor, and Héctor Melesio Cuén, who was rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa. Iván Guzmán Salazar was going to be present at the meeting,” Zambada said.

”On July 25, I arrived at the ranch where the meeting was to take place, in Culiacán. The meeting was scheduled for 11:00 am. I arrived a little early. I saw several armed men dressed in military green, I thought they were people from Joaquín Guzmán and his brothers. I asked part of my security team to guard the perimeter, two of them went in with me,” said the drug trafficker.

Zambada said that because of the nature of the meeting, he trusted those involved, including Joaquín Guzmán López, who asked him to accompany him to an area of ​​the ranch, where a group of men ambushed him.

“They knocked me out, then put me in a van. I suffered psychological abuse and multiple injuries to my back. Then they forced me onto a private plane,” he said.

The Sinaloa prosecutor’s office had said that Cuén was killed during a robbery at a gas station. Zambada, however, said that the businessman was killed at the place where they were summoned for the meeting.

The drug lord asked the people of Sinaloa to remain at peace, despite revealing that he was betrayed by Guzmán Loera’s sons.

Similar version to Ken Salazar’s

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said Friday that Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the sons of “El Chapo” Guzman, voluntarily surrendered to U.S. authorities in late July and that evidence suggests the powerful drug lord “El Mayo” Zambada was taken against his will to the northern country.

In a statement signed by Ambassador Ken Salazar, it was added that no U.S. resources were used in the surrender and that no flight plan was filed with U.S. authorities for the journey from Sinaloa to New Mexico.

“El May” and the son of his former partner, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, were arrested in late July at a private airfield near El Paso, Texas, in a major blow by U.S. authorities that could also reshape Mexico’s criminal landscape.

Zambada is one of the most important drug traffickers in Mexican history and co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with “El Chapo,” who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison.

Zambada and Guzman Lopez face multiple charges for funneling massive amounts of drugs onto U.S. streets, including fentanyl, which has risen to become the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45.

“The fact that Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López are in custody represents a major blow to stopping the trafficking of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl and its precursors,” Salazar said in a statement.

“This represents a great victory for both countries. It is the result of very determined work based on the principles of respect for our sovereignties and that we do this work as partners.

Appearing in a US court, Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges.

-With information from the Reuters agency.