Mexico investigates FBI role in El Mayo Zambada capture

The FBI displayed the plane used to bring Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada into the United States at the War Eagles Air Museum, and Mexico is investigating whether U.S. agencies violated its sovereignty in his 2024 capture. President Claudia Sheinbaum said any U.S. agency role would breach international treaties and Mexico’s constitution.

On July 25, 2024, Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, were arrested after arriving in a private plane at the Doña Ana County International Jetport near El Paso, New Mexico. Guzmán López later admitted in a U.S. court that he kidnapped Zambada and brought him into the United States. The plea details said Zambada was ambushed, drugged and flown across the border. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said no U.S. agency participated.

Sheinbaum said Mexico had asked Washington several times for information about possible agency involvement, and said former U.S. ambassador Ken Salazar denied it. Mexican Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said the accounts did not line up and declared, “Someone lied.” The FBI displayed the plane at the War Eagles Air Museum, and Mexican officials said the move raised new questions about who authorized the operation and who knew about it.

Mexico has insisted that its relationship with Washington rest on four principles: respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared responsibility, mutual respect and trust, and cooperation without subordination. Sheinbaum has also tied the case to Donald Trump’s repeated claims that Mexico is controlled by drug traffickers.

The dispute comes after a separate incident in April 2026, when Mexico said CIA agents died in an accident during an anti-drug operation in Chihuahua. It also follows a surge of violence in Sinaloa after Zambada’s arrest, with thousands dead or missing as rival factions of the cartel fought for control.

Zambada pleaded guilty in August 2025 in New York to federal drug charges. Prosecutors said he helped build the Sinaloa cartel into a major network for heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl, and his plea agreement ordered him to forfeit $15 billion. A federal judge said he would receive a life sentence.