Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that she will press the United States to turn over money seized from convicted Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Sheinbaum has argued it should go to Mexico’s poorest citizens, reports CBS News.
“If the United States government were to recover resources, then we would be asking for them to be given to Mexico for the poorest people,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing.
Zambada, 77, pleaded guilty in a New York courtroom Monday to drug trafficking and murder, including overseeing the smuggling of fentanyl, a narcotic blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the US each year. Prosecutors said he agreed to forfeit $15 billion as part of his plea deal, which spared him the possibility of the death penalty but left him facing a life sentence.
The longtime cartel boss, sought by US authorities for more than 20 years, was arrested in July 2024 after arriving in Texas on a private plane with Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán. Zambada has claimed he was kidnapped and forced onto the plane, an allegation denied by Guzmán López’s defense.
Prosecutors described Zambada as leading a violent criminal empire backed by military-grade weapons, a private security force, and hitmen who carried out torture, kidnappings, and assassinations. They said he even ordered the killing of his own nephew months before his arrest.
The case gives more credence to the thought that the Sinaloa cartel could be nearing collapse following the imprisonment of both Zambada and El Chapo. Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch, however, cautioned that the organization remains active despite weakened factions.
The Sinaloa cartel, labeled a terrorist group by Washington, is considered the largest drug-trafficking network in the world, with deep operations on both sides of the border.
“If the United States government were to recover resources, then we would be asking for them to be given to Mexico for the poorest people,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing.
Zambada, 77, pleaded guilty in a New York courtroom Monday to drug trafficking and murder, including overseeing the smuggling of fentanyl, a narcotic blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the US each year. Prosecutors said he agreed to forfeit $15 billion as part of his plea deal, which spared him the possibility of the death penalty but left him facing a life sentence.
The longtime cartel boss, sought by US authorities for more than 20 years, was arrested in July 2024 after arriving in Texas on a private plane with Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán. Zambada has claimed he was kidnapped and forced onto the plane, an allegation denied by Guzmán López’s defense.
Prosecutors described Zambada as leading a violent criminal empire backed by military-grade weapons, a private security force, and hitmen who carried out torture, kidnappings, and assassinations. They said he even ordered the killing of his own nephew months before his arrest.
The case gives more credence to the thought that the Sinaloa cartel could be nearing collapse following the imprisonment of both Zambada and El Chapo. Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch, however, cautioned that the organization remains active despite weakened factions.
The Sinaloa cartel, labeled a terrorist group by Washington, is considered the largest drug-trafficking network in the world, with deep operations on both sides of the border.
