Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of the Mexican drug cartel, claims he was kidnapped and extradited to the United States

Leader of a Mexican drug cartel Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada has claimed that he is raid And kidnapped under Feigning false facts and subsequently brought to the United States, according to a letter released Saturday by his lawyer, AP reported. The two-page letter details Zambada's account of an incident on July 25 in which he was allegedly invited to a meeting with local politicians, including Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya.
According to Zambada, drug lord Joaquín Guzmán López had arranged the meeting but was ambushed instead. He was reportedly knocked down, hooded, handcuffed and then taken in a pickup truck to a private airstrip. There he was forcibly put on a plane that took him and Guzmán López to the United States.
The U.S. ambassador to Mexico confirmed Friday that Zambada was indeed brought to the United States against his will and arrived in Texas in July along with Guzmán López, a revelation that has heightened the investigation into possible links between local politicians and drug traffickers in Sinaloa.
Governor Rocha denied any connection to criminal activity and stated that he was not in Sinaloa on the day of the alleged ambush, but in Los Angeles. At an event in Culiacán, Rocha assured: “There is no complicity in crime” and stressed his confidence in the governor's integrity. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum were present and showed their support for Rocha.
Zambada's letter also mentioned Héctor Melesio Cuén, a former local congressman and mayor of Culiacán who was reportedly assassinated at the rally site the same day. The letter did not mention Rocha's presence, but claimed that Cuén had been a longtime friend of Zambada's.
Zambada, 76, appeared in a US federal court in Texas for the second time in early August after his extradition. Guzmán López, 38, had been negotiating with US authorities about a possible extradition. He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in a federal court in Chicago. Both men remain in prison and face various drug-related charges in the US.
Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, pointed out that the plane used for the extradition was unregistered and flown by a non-American, suggesting that these may have been covert operations by Guzmán López trying to secure more favorable treatment.
Zambada is considered a key strategist of the Sinaloa cartel, is involved in extensive corruption networks and remains a central figure in the cartel's internal conflicts. He has been indicted several times in the US, including recently in New York, where he is described as a “major leader” responsible for significant drug imports into the US.