The Latin American Report # 582

The veteran Mexican drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founder alongside his former "compadre" Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, has finally pleaded guilty to some charges against him in the United States, in a deal that avoids a trial but confirms he will never leave the U.S. prison system. "El Mayo"—who, unlike El Chapo, never spent a single day in prison in his homeland—fell into the hands of U.S. authorities last year in a way that is still somewhat murky, apparently betrayed by one of the so-called "Chapitos," an event that later generated a protracted and still active wave of crimes in Sinaloa involving the two main factions of the cartel: "La Mayiza", represented by the hat of El Mayo, and "La Chapiza", which rhymes with "pizza".

"I recognize the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people of the United States, of Mexico, and elsewhere," Zambada, 75, said in a Brooklyn courtroom through an interpreter, as quoted by AP. "I take responsibility for my role in all of it, and I apologize to everyone who has suffered or been affected by my actions." According to his plea, the Sinaloa Cartel forged strong ties with cocaine producers and dealers in the world capital of that drug, Colombia, establishing a logistics network that allows for moving significant volumes by sea and air to Mexican soil, from where it is transported into the United States. All thanks to a system of bribes, extortion, and perks directed at Mexican police and military commanders.

Here I wonder why this issue of corruption is, perhaps conveniently, only placed on the Mexican side. Isn't a certain level of it necessary on the other side of the border for drug trafficking to work? Where are the American dealers and drug lords in this picture? Or do the cartels just throw the drugs over the wall and then someone, anybody, comes to pick it up? In other words, I perceive an intention to establish a narrative that is not entirely incorrect—there is a lot of corruption south of the border—but that seems quite inaccurate or incomplete to me.

“This foreign terrorist committed horrific crimes against the American people — he will now pay for those crimes by spending the rest of his life behind bars in an American prison,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi, a Trump's favorite. The native of the small town of El Álamo, in Sinaloa, who is attributed a role more focused on negotiation and building alliances than on violence, also agreed to the entry at sentencing—scheduled for January 2026—of a humongous, $15 billion forfeiture money judgment.

According to his lawyer, once the prosecutors in the case stated they would not seek the death penalty—this is very related to agreements with Mexico—, Zambada's focus, "shifted to accepting responsibility and moving forward." The specific charges he accepted are continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy, which ultimately lead him, according to Bondi, from living like a king to "living like he's on death row." He first planted marijuana in the now distant year of 1969.

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