CNN
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A lawyer for alleged Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada said his client was kidnapped “without surrendering or negotiating terms with the U.S. government.”
Zambada’s lawyers have strongly denied suggestions earlier raised by Mexican authorities that his client may have turned himself in of his own accord or come to the United States voluntarily as part of a deal.
In a phone conversation and statement to CNN on Sunday, Frank Perez said the 76-year-old Zambada was kidnapped by Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, another co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel. Guzman was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.
“Joaquin Guzman Lopez forcibly kidnapped my client. He was ambushed by six men in military uniform and by Joaquin, who threw him to the ground and handcuffed him. His feet were tied and a black bag was placed over his head,” Pérez said in a statement.
“He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to the tarmac, where Joaquin tied his legs to the seat and forced him onto an airplane and brought against his will to the United States. The only people on the plane were the pilot, Joaquin and my client,” Perez added.
US law enforcement officials previously told CNN that Joaquin Guzman Lopez orchestrated the arrest by tricking Zambada into thinking they were flying to northern Mexico to investigate a real estate deal when in fact their small private plane landed north of the border near El Paso, Texas, and US authorities were waiting on the tarmac.
Zambada is one of the most elusive figures in the criminal world. He led the Sinaloa cartel for decades but has never served time in prison. Mike Vigil, a former DEA agent who served 31 years there, described the alleged Mexican drug lord as “smart.”
“Mayo Zambada was involved in the drug trade for more than 50 years until Thursday, but he was never arrested or served any prison time, which is why he is highly respected by his rivals,” Vigil said.
Mexico’s Secretary of Security Rosa Isela Rodriguez said Friday that her government was not taking part in any operation to capture suspected Mexican drug lords, but made it clear that Mexico would “continue to cooperate with the U.S. government as always.”
“They ask us: did they surrender or were they captured? That is part of the investigation, that is part of the information we are waiting for from the US government,” Rodriguez told Mexican media, accompanied by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
President Lopez Obrador said the fact that Zambada and Guzman Lopez are now in custody is an important step forward in the fight against drug trafficking, whether they turned themselves in or were arrested.
“Although the Mexican Army and Navy were not involved in this case, I believe the fact that Zambada decided to either surrender or to go to the United States and risk capture there is evidence that we are working together and it represents an important step forward in the fight against drug trafficking,” the Mexican president said.
CNN learned on Saturday that whatever action the US takes in arresting Zambada and Guzman Lopez, Mexican government officials are furious behind the scenes and demanding that senior US law enforcement officials explain exactly what happened, according to a US official familiar with the operation.
The Mexican government is “totally outraged,” the source said, noting that Mexican authorities had not been briefed on the planned capture in advance.
A law enforcement source told CNN that US authorities were hesitant to brief Mexican authorities in advance for fear of compromising the operation, noting that details of the highly sensitive operation were tightly restricted even within the US government until Zambada and Guzman Lopez were captured.
The Mexican government has not responded to CNN’s request for comment about the diplomatic dispute between the two countries following the arrests.
CNN has also reached out to Mexican authorities for comment on the kidnapping claims made by Zambada’s lawyers.
CNN also reached out to Guzman Lopez’s lawyer about the allegations on Sunday but did not receive a response.
Zambada pleaded not guilty to all charges in U.S. District Court in El Paso on Friday and is scheduled to appear in a briefing conference at 11 a.m. local time on Aug. 1 at the same court, according to Perez and court filings.
The arrests of Zambada and Guzman Lopez mark a major breakthrough in a decades-long effort to capture and prosecute alleged drug cartel bosses, and the details that have emerged so far that led to their arrests offer a glimpse inside what authorities describe as one of the world’s most notorious and nefarious crime organizations.
CNN’s Josh Campbell and Fidel Gutierrez contributed to this report.
