Mexico authorities link Ovidio Guzmán to the kidnapping of ‘El Mayo’ Zambada

The Mexico Attorney General’s Office (FGR) announced Thursday it is investigating the possible involvement of Ovidio Guzmán, alias “El Ratón,” in the kidnapping of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Guzmán, one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and a leader of the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, was extradited to the United States in September 2023 but has been listed as “released” by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons as of July 23, two days before the arrest of his brother, Joaquín “El Güero” Guzmán López, and Zambada at a rural airport in New Mexico. The FGR said it has evidence that El Ratón left a maximum-security prison that day, but acknowledged that it does not know his whereabouts or whether he is still in custody. The Attorney General’s Office said it is seeking to determine if he was involved in the capture of El Mayo, as well as his brother Joaquín, who remains the main suspect of having kidnapped Zambada, his godfather, to hand him over to the U.S. authorities.

“The link between the situation and location of Ovidio ‘G’, the participation of his brother Joaquín in the alleged kidnapping of Ismael ‘N’ [El Mayo], the violence with which it was carried out, as well as the evident irregularities of the airplane that conducted the kidnapping flight, are fundamental matters in the investigation of this institution, for the crimes committed in Mexico,” said the FGR in a statement. The letter published on August 11 by El Mayo, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and one of the world’s most-wanted drug traffickers, is already part of the investigation opened in Mexico and has become the main line of inquiry in the case.

The Attorney General’s Office is looking into the chronological sequence of El Mayo’s arrest and the reasons why Ovidio Guzmán was apparently released from prison a couple of days earlier. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating whether Ovidio’s release was connected in any way with the negotiations that his brother Joaquín Guzmán had been holding for several years with the U.S. authorities to negotiate his surrender. “The Attorney General of the United States, on August 16, 2024, stated to this institution that Ismael ‘N’ arrived in that country against his will and that he had been informed of several proposals from Joaquín ‘N’ [Guzmán]’ to surrender to the U.S. authorities,” states the FGR. Despite the accusations, there is still no formal accusation against Ovidio Guzmán. Jeffrey Lichtman, a lawyer for the Guzmán family, stated at the end of July that “there was no agreement” between his clients and the authorities.

The controversy over the alleged release of El Ratón and its relation to the arrest of El Mayo emerged just hours after the capture of Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López was confirmed. U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar stated a day after the arrests that El Chapo’s son was still in the U.S. prison system. “I can confirm that Ovidio Guzmán López remains in custody in the United States,” he said in a statement, without elaborating on the details.

“The U.S. embassy informed us that he [Ovidio Guzmán] has definitely not been released, there has been a change in the precautionary measures,” said Secretary of Security Rosa Icela Rodríguez at the first press conference held by the Mexican government, a day after the arrests. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has not updated any information on the whereabouts of Ovidio Guzmán for a month and he continues to be listed as “released” on its database. The doubts surrounding El Ratón have opened a new front in the tension between the governments of both countries, with the Attorney General’s Office openly questioning the failure to clarify the legal status of El Chapo’s son.

Mexican authorities have again accused their U.S. counterparts of failing to provide key information in the case. The FGR said it has made two legal requests for information on the identity of the pilot of the plane that carried El Mayo and Joaquín Guzmán to the U.S., and the official authorizations for its landing on American soil. Another request was made through Interpol, but the Attorney General’s Office has not received a response.

The FGR also presented new findings about the plane that landed at the Doña Ana airport, in the border town of Santa Teresa (New Mexico), on July 25. It was a Beechcraft 200 aircraft, which has already been inspected by Mexican authorities. It had a “false and overlapping” registration and serial number, and the original registrations were identified. “The legal registration of that aircraft was N44JN and the original legal series BB191,″ noted the authorities. The aircraft was first registered in the United States in 2019 and then in Colombia, where it obtained a U.S. registration. In 2021, the fake registration was made in U.S. territory.

Regarding the murder of prominent Sinaloa politician Héctor Cuén, the Attorney General’s Office announced that it will summon “public servants from all levels of the local Prosecutor’s Office, including police and experts, who have intervened in the proceedings” in light of the irregularities in the version of events provided by the Sinaloa authorities surrounding his death. Claudia Sánchez Kondo on Wednesday took over as the new head of the State Prosecutor’s Office following the resignation of Sara Bruna Quiñonez two weeks ago. Cuén was killed on July 25, in events apparently related to the kidnapping and capture of El Mayo, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

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