Joaquín Guzmán López, son of ‘El Chapo,’ surrendered to authorities, Mexico says, citing US authorities

By Polo Sandoval, Holmes Lybrand, Evan Perez, Ivonne Valdés and Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) — Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of Mexican drug lord “El Chapo,” surrendered to US authorities on Thursday, leading to the arrest of alleged cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Rosa Icela Rodríguez, citing information from American officials.

At a news conference Monday, Rodríguez presented a chronology of the arrest, based on an official report US authorities provided Saturday at the request of the Mexican government.

According to the report, US authorities were notified on several occasions Guzmán López was considering surrendering, but it was not until that same day his intention was confirmed without prior notice, according to the report.

“US law enforcement authorities were informed at approximately 2:40 p.m., once the plane was in the air, that Ismael Zambada García might also be on board the aircraft,” Rodríguez said.

The comments offer further details about the stunning arrests of two central figures in the infamous Sinaloa cartel last week in a case which featured dramatic allegations of a high-level power struggle, the betrayal of one co-founder by another co-founder’s son and a secret flight ending in American law enforcement’s custody.

Zambada, the cartel’s alleged co-founder, and Guzmán López, one of the “Chapitos,” or sons of “El Chapo,” were arrested Thursday by US authorities in El Paso, Texas. They face several charges for allegedly leading the criminal operations of what is considered to be one of the world’s most powerful and deadly drug trafficking operations.

US law enforcement officials told CNN the arrest came after Guzmán López duped Zambada and orchestrated their arrest. Zambada thought the two were flying to northern Mexico to look at real estate, but instead, their small private plane landed north of the border near El Paso, where US authorities were waiting on the tarmac, officials said.

Rodríguez had said Friday the Mexican government was not part of any operation to detain the alleged drug lords, and the country’s president called on the US to explain what happened.

“The government of the United States has to give a complete report. It can’t be just general statements,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday. “There has to be transparency.”

A law enforcement source familiar with the situation told CNN US officials were hesitant to brief Mexican counterparts in advance due to fears the operation could have been compromised. Details on the operation were also highly restricted within the US government until Zambada and Guzmán López were taken into custody, the source said.

In a phone conversation and a statement sent to CNN, Zambada’s attorney Frank Pérez said Zambada was kidnapped.

“Joaquín Guzmán López forcibly kidnapped my client. He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin. His legs 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 a landing strip. There, he was forced onto a plane, his legs tied to the seat by Joaquin, and brought to the US against his will. The only people on the plane were the pilot, Joaquín and my client.”

The cartel, one of the world’s most powerful narcotics trafficking organizations, is thought to be responsible for the trafficking of vast amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States. US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram said the arrests strike “at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast.”

Zambada, 76, entered a not guilty plea to all charges in US District Court in El Paso on Friday and is scheduled to appear in-person in the same court for a status conference August 1 at 11 a.m. local time, according to Perez and filed court documents.

Guzmán López, 38, is expected to appear in federal court Tuesday in Chicago, his attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, told CNN. He was previously indicted by a federal grand jury in Illinois on narcotics, money laundering and firearms charges, according to a statement last year from the US Justice Department.

A short history of the cartel and its leadership

The Sinaloa cartel was founded in the late 1980s and led by El Chapo, who twice escaped from Mexican prisons before being detained by Mexican authorities in 2016.

The cartel has been blamed for having a key role in the drug war that plagued Mexico for years, leaving tens of thousands of people dead, as well as contributing to the ongoing high levels of violence across the country.

In the early 2010s, estimates indicated the cartel controlled roughly 40% to 60% of Mexico’s drug trade, earning as much as $3 billion annually, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

El Chapo was extradited to the US in 2017 and convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder. He is serving a life sentence in US federal prison.

Since then, experts believe the cartel has faced several challenges after breaking into factions – including some led by Zambada and Guzman’s sons – and with the rise of rival cartels.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said both Zambada and Guzmán López had “eluded law enforcement for decades.”

Zambada was indicted by a northern Illinois grand jury in 2009, according to the US State Department, and faces various criminal charges. In 2021, the US raised the reward for information leading to his arrest to $15 million.

“Ismael Mario Zambada Garcia is the long-time leader of the Zambada Garcia faction of the Sinaloa Cartel,” according to the US State Department. “Zambada Garcia is unique in that he has spent his entire adult life as a major international drug trafficker, yet he has never spent a day in jail.”

Meanwhile, Guzmán López is one of the “Chapitos,” a term for the powerful sons of former cartel boss El Chapo.

“The Chapitos are alleged to have repeatedly and consistently transported lethal amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl,” the Justice Department said last year.

Zambada’s son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, admitted during testimony at Guzman’s 2018 trial to passing along orders for murders and kidnappings. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2019 by a federal judge in Chicago. He began cooperating with the US government in 2011, prosecutors said in a May 2019 filing.

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CNN’s Nicole Chavez, Rafael Romo, Emma Tucker, Catherine E. Shoichet and Josh Campbell contributed to this report.