Emir Olivares and Angeles Cruz
The newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, August 7, 2024, p. 4
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that his government will not speculate on the reasons and the way in which the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael The May Zambada, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, because he is a delicate matter
.
He said his government will wait until there is official information from Washington to avoid an internal conflict, as this is one of the groups with the greatest illegal activity in the country. We have to take care of the lives of Mexicans
.
In yesterday’s morning press conference, in response to reporters’ insistence on knowing whether the US government had provided more information on the apparent delivery
stressed that until now he has only been informed that Washington maintained talks
with Joaquin’s son El Chapo Guzman.
And suddenly not only did Guzmán López arrive, but Mr. Zambada arrived
the president stressed.
He then asked the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez – present at the conference – to delve deeper into the issue. The official asked him: “Can I explain that…?” and the rest of the sentence was inaudible; to which López Obrador responded: No
.
And the Tabasco native took the floor again to make his position clear: Imagine if it is not delicate, we are talking about one of the most famous, traditional and long-standing groups that have been involved in illegal activities. We do not want a decision that was made in this regard, this agreement or non-agreement, to generate a greater internal conflict. But we have to protect the lives of all Mexicans. So, we do not want to speculate, but we are going to act based on the information.
.
After that, he passed the microphone to Secretary Rodriguez, who limited herself to commenting that It has already been reported that in the United States there was an agreement between the people who are, let’s say, in confinement with the people who are free, and there was an agreement between them for the respective surrender, so that they would surrender to the United States.
.
–The agreement refers to the brothers Ovidio and Joaquín?
“That’s right,” the official confirmed.
It should be noted that this agreement, which the White House has announced – and which would have led to Zambada being imprisoned – coincides with the change in the precautionary measure for Ovidio Guzmán, who was arrested in Mexico in January 2023 and extradited months later to the United States, where he was in prison and under trial.
The head of the SSPC added that U.S. authorities are expected to provide Mexico with a more complete report on what happened by the end of this week.
“They have been providing information, but it is not the total amount that we would like (…) we have been working well in collaboration with them. And we do not want so much information either, but rather what is related to the arrival of the flight, the arrival of this delivery or capture, but in an official manner, that is what we want,” he said.
In a series of preliminary questions, the federal president asked Zambada to reveal the links between the Sinaloa cartel and officials in Mexico and the United States.
In view of the imminent trial before the American justice system against the boss – former partner of The Chap–Lopez Obrador highlighted: If they are going to report on his links with Mexican authorities, it helps. Letting it be known how much support the authorities gave him, letting them know who protected him, all this will help a lot; and also the agreements with the United States agencies, like this one (on the alleged capture). Making everything transparent, that helps a lot.
.
