He implicates the governor of Sinaloa and disputes the official version of the murder of the former mayor of Culiacán
The leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, has broken his silence with the publication of a letter in which he claims he was “kidnapped” by Joaquín Guzmán, son of the boss of bosses Joaquín ‘Chapo’ Guzmán, who handed him over against his will to the US authorities on July 25.
In the letter, published by his lawyer, Frank Perez, Zambada explains that the kidnapping began when he was tricked into attending a meeting where he was supposedly going to settle differences between the governor of the state of Sinaloa, Ruben Rocha Moya, and the former mayor of Culiacan, Hector Cuen Ojeda, who was found murdered that same day after being shot several times, according to the state police, by a pair of alleged robbers while he was at a gas station.
Zambada says he arrived at the meeting place — a ranch called Huertos del Pedregal, on the outskirts of Culiacan — at about 11:00 a.m. on July 25, accompanied by the commander of the Judicial Police of Sinaloa, Jose Rosario Heras Lopez, and his bodyguard Rodolfo Chaidez.
After being received in person by the son of ‘El Chapo’, Zambada explains that they made him enter a “dark room” where he was immediately “ambushed” by a group of men who beat him all over his body, put a hood over his head and handcuffed him on the plane where, accompanied by Joaquín Guzmán, he ended up being handed over to the US authorities in El Paso (Texas).
“I came to the United States,” he concludes, “by force, without my consent and against my will.”
Zambada, it should be noted, takes the opportunity to deny the official version of the murder of the former mayor of Culiacán, Héctor Cuen, and says on the contrary that the politician was murdered by the same men who kidnapped him “in that place and at that time.” “He was a lifelong friend and I deeply regret his death, as well as the disappearance of Heras López and Chaidez, of whom no one has heard anything since then,” he said.
“I call on the governments of Mexico and the United States to be transparent and provide the truth about my kidnapping in the United States,” concludes Zambada, who finally asks “the people of Sinaloa to exercise restraint and maintain peace in the state” because “violence does not solve anything”: “We have all been down that road before, and everyone loses.”
After learning of the publication of the letter, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has asked for a few hours of time to verify the information and hopes to give his opinion on the matter at the ‘mañanera’ (his usual public appearance) next Monday. “I believe that by then we will be able to speak well, but we have to wait for Governor Rocha Moya to give his version and for us to have all the elements,” he said.
The governor of Sinaloa has already completely denied the version of ‘El Mayo’ during a public event accompanied precisely by López Obrador. “I have no reason, nor would I have any, to attend a meeting with someone from organized crime. Problems that are the responsibility of the government are resolved within the institutions,” said the governor.
