MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Prosecutors in Mexico suggested Thursday that U.S. authorities made a deal with a Mexican drug lord who turned in himself and another capo, to get his brother transferred from a U.S. prison.
Mexico鈥檚 Attorney General鈥檚 Office also accused U.S. authorities of not responding to information requests on the case. The office also said that the small plane that flew them both to the United States in July had multiple registries and identification numbers, some of them false.
U.S. officials have denied they were involved in the plot or the flight, and said they got word of it only after the craft had taken off from northern Mexico.
It marked the latest chapter in the strange saga of two Mexican drug lords, one of whom allegedly kidnapped the other and flew him to an airport near El Paso, Texas.
The Mexican government has previously said it wants to bring treason charges against Joaqu铆n Guzm谩n L贸pez, but not because he was a leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel founded by his father, Joaqu铆n 鈥淓l Chapo鈥 Guzm谩n.
Instead, Mexican prosecutors are bringing charges against the younger Guzm谩n for 鈥 an older drug boss from a rival faction of the cartel 鈥 forcing him onto the plane and flying him north.
The office said that two of Zambada's bodyguards 鈥 one of them a policeman 鈥 who went missing after the kidnapping had apparently been killed.
The younger Guzm谩n apparently intended to turn himself in to U.S. authorities, but may have brought Zambada along as a prize to get , transferred out of a U.S. prison.
Mexican prosecutors suggested this was true, saying 鈥渢he link between the (custody) status of Ovidio 鈥滸," the participation of his brother Joaquin in the presumed kidnapping of Ismael (Zambada) ... are the main areas of focus of the investigation."
At the end of July, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons listed Ovidio Guzman's custody status as having changed, but didn't specify what had happened. U.S. and Mexican officials have since claimed Ovidio is still in custody, just not necessarily in the same place.
Earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said Ovidio Guzman 鈥 a high value detainee who purportedly led the Sinaloa cartel's push into manufacturing and smuggling the synthetic opioid fentanyl 鈥 鈥渋sn't out on the street.鈥
鈥淗e is in prison," Salazar said, "and we are going to judge him in the way the Department of Justice does it.鈥
Mexican prosecutors also claimed the plane the two allegedly flew on had multiple registries, some falsified, and that the plane's 鈥渁pproach and landing in that country (the U.S.) was authorized by the appropriate agencies of the U.S. government.鈥
Mexican prosecutors also claimed they had made a total of five requests to U.S. authorities for information on the flight, and that 鈥渁s of now, there has been no response.鈥
The federal prosecutors鈥 statement also said it would be interviewing prosecutors, police and forensic examiners from the northern state of Sinaloa 鈥 home to the cartel of the same name 鈥 about their inspections of the walled recreation compound where the abduction and killings occurred.
Previously, federal prosecutors had accused their Sinaloa counterparts of
Zambada has said that Guzm谩n, who he trusted, had invited him to the meeting to help iron out the fierce political rivalry between two local politicians. Zambada was known for eluding capture for decades because of his incredibly tight, loyal and sophisticated personal security apparatus.
The fact that he would knowingly leave that all behind to meet with the politicians means that Zambada viewed such a meeting as credible and feasible. The same goes for the idea that Zambada, as the leader of the oldest wing of the Sinaloa cartel, could act as an arbiter in the state鈥檚 political disputes.
The governor of Sinaloa state has denied he knew of or attended the meeting where Zambada was abducted.
The whole case has been an embarrassment for the Mexican government, which didn鈥檛 even know about the detentions of the two drug lords on U.S. soil until after the fact.
President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador has long viewed any U.S. intervention as an affront, and has . He recently questioned the U.S. policy of detaining drug cartel leaders, asking, 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 they change that policy?鈥
