Thank you for reading LatinNews' chosen article from the LatinNews Daily - 26 July 2024
On 25 July the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced the arrests of two alleged leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug trafficking organisation (DTO), Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López.
The arrests are a major feat. El Mayo is one of the world’s most notorious drug traffickers, having co-founded the Sinaloa DTO alongside Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera in the 1980s. El Mayo headed up the DTO following El Chapo’s arrest and extradition to the US in 2017, allegedly vying for control with Los Chapitos, the faction run by four of El Chapo’s sons. One of these sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, was arrested alongside El Mayo yesterday. The arrest of El Mayo in particular is arguably the biggest blow to the DTO since El Chapo himself was taken down in 2016
. However, it remains to be seen whether the arrests will have an impact on the DTO’s operations, given the availability of other figures, such as the remaining members of Los Chapitos, to take up leadership of the DTO.
- The DoJ, US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department for Homeland Security (DHS), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) all released statements confirming the arrests. According to the DoJ, both men are facing multiple charges in the US for leading the DTO’s criminal operations, including its fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.
- The pair were arrested in El Paso, Texas, after landing in a private plane. It is unclear whether they voluntarily handed themselves in, as a Mexican official indicated to the Associated Press, or were “tricked” into getting on the plane, as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported, citing Mexican and US officials.
- El Mayo, whom DEA Administrator Anne Milgram describes as “one of DEA’s most wanted fugitives”, has been a target of US law enforcement agencies for decades. He is known for keeping a low profile and focusing on the business side of the DTO rather than engaging in ostentatious acts of violence. He is the subject of five US indictments accusing him of running a continuing criminal enterprise, murder conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and other drug-related crimes. The most recent indictment against him was unsealed in February, charging him with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl and offering up to US$15m for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
- Guzmán López is one of four of El Chapo’s sons that the US has indicted
for heading up Los Chapitos, the faction of the DTO that it claims is the main supplier of the fentanyl flooding into the country. He is believed to be the least influential of the four, with the US Department of State offering US$5m for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction, compared to US$10m each for his three brothers.
- Nevertheless, Guzmán López’s arrest represents another setback for Los Chapitos, following the arrest of his brother and fellow faction leader, Ovidio Guzmán López, in January 2023
and of Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas ‘El Nini’, an alleged top security enforcer for the faction in November 2023
. Both have since been extradited
to the US.
- The US federal bureau of prisons (BOP)’s online register of inmates shows that Ovidio was released on 23 July, sparking speculation of a possible exchange for his brother and El Mayo. However, Ovidio’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, confirmed to Spanish newspaper El País that he had just been transferred to a different prison under another authority.
Looking Ahead: Mexico’s government led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has yet to comment on the arrests, suggesting the US may have operated without its neighbour’s knowledge, which will likely irk López Obrador.
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