Mexico only learned of the arrests of the cartels when they were already in US custody

Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez told reporters Friday that a small Cessna plane carrying Zambada, 76, and Guzmán, about 37, took off from Hermosillo airport in the northern state of Sonora shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday and landed at the international airport in Santa Teresa, NM, near El Paso, Texas, around 10 a.m. The men were promptly arrested by DEA and FBI agents.

The U.S. Embassy did not notify Rodríguez until 3:30 p.m. local time, she said. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was not informed until 4:14 p.m.

U.S. authorities have not explained why they kept the plan secret from their Mexican counterparts, but in recent years, U.S. anti-drug operations have been thwarted by leaks to Mexican authorities, making Washington suspicious.

“We are waiting for an official statement on whether what happened yesterday was a capture or a surrender,” Rodríguez said during López Obrador’s daily press conference. “That is part of what the U.S. government has to tell us.”

There are conflicting accounts about whether Zambada, a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was tricked into boarding the plane to the U.S. or whether he planned to turn himself in. A Department of Homeland Security official and a former Justice Department official said he was framed.

Zambada was told he was being taken to look at investment properties, the former official said. U.S. agents had to rush to get to Santa Teresa airport because they didn’t expect the ruse to work, the ex-official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive case.

Guzmán cooperated in the operation, the former official said. Guzmán is one of the “Chapitos,” the four sons who took over their father’s business after El Chapo was arrested in 2016. His brother, Ovidio Guzmán, was captured by the Mexican army in 2023 and extradited to the United States.

Zambada and “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is serving a life sentence plus 30 years at the maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, together ran one of the most prolific drug cartels in the world. The Sinaloa Federation was a multibillion-dollar operation that exported heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs and is credited with building the fentanyl business. The Biden administration has targeted the cartel to combat the deadliest drug epidemic in history.

U.S. authorities from President Biden on down called the operation a resounding success, but analysts said the arrests were unlikely to harm the drug trade and could escalate violence in Mexico.

“When we look at organized crime from the outside, we like to talk about the big cartels,” says Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst at the International Crisis Group. “But behind them there is a very large number of other actors who never give their names, who never appear in the media reports and whose identities are not publicly known.”

That includes logisticians, chefs and others who bribe state and local officials, he said. “And that’s the real backbone of this economy.”

With the Sinaloa cartel weakened, its rival, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, will likely fill any gaps in the fentanyl trade, analysts say. That group will increasingly challenge Sinaloa’s dominance, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies Mexican criminal organizations.

“All of Mexico can be in turmoil,” she said. The Jalisco cartel is considered more violent than the Sinaloa cartel, which has sought alliances with the Mexican government and security officials. “The criminal market controlled by Jalisco is much worse than the criminal market controlled by El Mayo,” she said.

Zambada was less well known than El Chapo Guzmán, a larger-than-life figure who inspired films and books with his flamboyant lifestyle and uncanny ability to escape from prison. But the understated Zambada was just as important; some Mexican security officials believed he had long been a bigger player in the cartel than his partner. (His nickname, “El Mayo,” refers to his middle name, Mario, according to Mexican media reports.)

Zambada appeared in federal court in El Paso on Friday morning and pleaded not guilty, according to court records. His attorney, Frank Perez, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zambada and the elder Guzmán were indicted in El Paso in 2012 along with 22 other high-ranking members of the Sinaloa cartel. Zambada was accused of participating in a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the United States, launder money and murder perceived enemies.

The younger Guzmán was on his way to Chicago, where he was scheduled to appear in court for the first time on Tuesday, US authorities said. He will be represented by one of the lawyers who defended his father at El Chapo’s drug trial in Brooklyn in 2019. “I have no comment other than to confirm that I am representing Joaquin and will be there for him at his first court appearance,” said lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman.

The “Chapitos” were among the US government’s most wanted targets in the drug trade. Washington offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the two eldest brothers, Iván and Jesús Alfredo, and a reward of $5 million for the younger brother Joaquín. But Joaquín was the least involved in drug trafficking of all the brothers and was able to negotiate a reduced sentence for himself and his brother Ovidio.

Ivan is now considered the undisputed leader of the Sinaloa cartel, said the former US Department of Justice official.

The operation to bring the traffickers to the United States was so secret that their names were not on the flight manifest submitted shortly before the plane took off, Rodríguez said. The only person listed on the manifest was the pilot, Larry Curtis Parker, she said. He was listed in immigration records as a visitor to the country, not as a U.S. embassy employee or U.S. government agent.

Rodríguez was asked by reporters on Friday why Mexico was not informed in advance about such a critical operation. Zambada also has arrest warrants in Mexico.

Rodríguez stressed that cooperation with Washington in the fight against illegal drug trafficking is close.

“We will continue to work with the U.S. government as we have done up until this event,” she said.

Zambada was considered a seasoned agent who had built extensive political relationships over the years. Even if his capture sparks violence within Mexican criminal gangs, the United States could ultimately benefit if he cooperates in naming corrupt current and former Mexican officials, Felbab-Brown said.

“I’m sure many political actors and government officials didn’t sleep a wink last night,” she said. “He knows where all the bodies from many terms in office are buried.”

Miroff and Ovalle reported from Washington. Spencer S. Hsu in Miami, Lorena Rios in Monterrey, Mexico, and Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul in Mexico City contributed to this report.