The capture of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada almost two months ago continues to dominate headlines, the latest one involving an anonymous lawsuit seeking to get him released from prison under the argument that he was "illegally taken" to the United States.
The document in question was filed before a court in Texas earlier this month and sought the drug lord be compensated with $30 million. The suit, which has already been rejected, repeats argument made by El Mayo following his capture.
Concretely, he has said that this was the result of a betrayal by Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of the infamous Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
According to his statement, Zambada was "invited by Joaquín Guzmán López" to a meeting at a ranch near Culiacán, Sinaloa. The purpose of the meeting, he was told, was to mediate a dispute between local political leaders—Rubén Rocha Moya, the Governor of Sinaloa, and Héctor Melesio Cuen Ojeda, a former congressman and mayor.
Believing the meeting to be a standard gathering involving high-level discussions, Zambada agreed to attend. However, upon arriving at the location, he noticed an unusual number of armed men dressed in military uniforms. Still, he continued with the meeting, trusting his long-standing relationships with those involved.
As Zambada describes it, the moment he stepped into a darkened room, he was ambushed. "A group of men assaulted me, knocked me to the ground, and placed a dark-colored hood over my head," Zambada stated.
Mexican prosecutors in fact pressed charges against Joaquín Guzmán López in late August for the apparent kidnapping of El Mayo. The country's criminal code defines what he allegedly did as treason, considering it is defined as a crime committed by "those who illegally abduct a person in Mexico in order to hand them over to authorities of another country."
Authorities from the country also said that therecent developments regarding the fate of top cartel leaders are a result of a deal with U.S. authorities. Concretely, they are suggesting that Joaquín Guzmán López turned himself in and managed to hand over Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada to American authorities in exchange for getting his brother Ovidio transferred out of prison.
The country's attorney general's office said that U.S. authorities have also not been responding to related information requests. American officials have rejected the allegations, saying they only learned about it after the aircraft taking both cartel leaders took off and went to Texas.
In the meantime, El Mayo continues to be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, his new home since he appeared in front of a judge in a New York City court and pleaded not guilty to 17 charges in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
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