This was the last interview that El Mayo Zambada gave days after being arrested and taken to the United States
The drug dealer Ismael Zambada Garcíabetter known as Mayone of the former leaders of the Sinaloa Cartelgave one last interview before being transferred against his will to the USA on July 25, 2024.
Before the kidnapping and delivery to the US authorities of one of the last drug traffickers who were part of the Guadalajara Cartel, El Mayo Zambada contacted Maria Scherer Ibarraone of the daughters of the prominent journalist Julio Scherer Garcíawho, among other things, was the first to interview the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in 2010.
May He used the same technique with which he contacted the founder of the magazine Process 14 years ago: he sent the book, “The power: family stories“, text written by Julio Scherer.
Zambada He wanted the founder of the magazine to sign the book and dedicate it to him. This same thing happened but with Maria Schererwho recounted how he received the news and how he lived the moments prior to meeting the drug trafficker who had been immersed in the criminal world for more than four decades.
Although the first contact with María Scherer was made in the first weeks of December 2023, it was months later that she received the formal invitation to interview Zambada Garcíaa visit in which she was accompanied by the same contact who years ago took her father to a mountain area of Sinaloa.
The journalist reported that one of the reasons that motivated her to go to the meeting with Zambada García was that she wanted to know the other part of the story of the interview that her father gave to the leader of the Pacific Cartel, a story that was captured in the report. “Julio Scherer García in Mayo Zambada’s lair, chronicle of an unusual encounter”, from the April issue of the magazine Process.
Scherer Ibarra He gave details of the meeting with the criminal leader whom he saw thinner and dragging one leg. El Mayo Zambada He confessed that he had undergone surgery after breaking his femur twice, so he was in a rehabilitation process.
The Lord of the Hatas is also known, said that he sleeps little and gets ahead of the sun to walk from four in the morning through the mountains.
After having breakfast with the journalist, El Mayo Zambada took Scherer Ibarra to another part of his ranch where he showed him several portraits and other landscape paintings that his son made of him. Vicente Zambada Nieblaalias The Vicentillowhom “I miss every day,” he said.
The Vicentillo He was held in a prison in the United States, but after a cooperation agreement with the authorities of that country in 2012, his sentence was reduced and although he was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute drugs, he obtained a Early release in 2021.
To the place where she was taken Scherer Ibarra There was also a photograph of Zambada’s parents and one of his friend who was not Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán.
Maydressed in a polo shirt, pants and sports shoes, avoided talking about his criminal activities, although the journalist obtained information about some of the boss’s thoughts or ideas.
As reported in the report published on January 15, the criminal leader supported the former president’s security policy. Andrés Manuel López Obradorwhich was known as “hugs and not bullets.”
“The president is right. The gunshots are dangerous,” said the head of the cartel, although he did not elaborate on details.
Zambada responded to a question from Scherer and said that he knew many people in the government, from municipal, state and federal police who were involved in drug trafficking.
He assured that the fentanyl laboratories seized by the authorities were not his, while he considered this synthetic drug very dangerous: “Fentanyl… not that. You won’t find a single store here that is mine. “Fentanyl is very dangerous.”
The capo, who confessed to being a pacifist, showed the journalist the Zambada family cemetery and the place where he met with Julio Scherer.
In the report of Scherer Ibarratitled as “El Mayo Zambada days after his capture”, it is mentioned that the interview took place two weeks and days before the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was betrayed by his godson Joaquín Guzmán López, The Güerowho according to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), kidnapped him from the Santa Julia ranch in the Huertos del Pedregal region, in Culiacán, and then put him on a plane and took him to an airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, USA.
There, May was delivered to the North American authorities as part of an agreement for the benefit of The Güero and his brother Ovid, The Mousewho has been held in a federal prison in Chicago, Illinois, USA, since September 2023.
A month after the capture of the Mayo Zambada, the city of Culiacán and surrounding areas became a “war field” that has been experiencing violent events for months due to the dispute over the territory of the factions of Los Chapitos and the one who leads now Ismael Zambada Sicairos, El Mayito Flacoson of Ishmael.
