Betrayal among narcos: 'El Mayo' Zambada says he was kidnapped by 'El Chapo' Guzmán's son

Mexican drug trafficker Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada arrived in the United States "kidnapped ... by force" by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's son when he was on his way to meeting with the governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The Mexican drug lord made these allegations in a statement issued in the last few hours.

"I was kidnapped and brought to the United States by force and against my will," Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, assured in his first statement since he was arrested on July 25 in U.S. territory in a document accessed by AFP.

He arrived in El Paso, Texas, in the company of the son of his cartel partner, Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the so-called "Chapitos," and the pilot on a private flight. Zambada, 76, recounts that Joaquín Guzmán López, whom he has known "since he was a child," asked him to attend a meeting to "help resolve differences between political leaders" in his state.

It was about an "ongoing dispute between Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of Sinaloa, and Héctor Melesio Cuén Ojeda, former federal deputy, mayor of Culiacán and rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS), over who should lead that institution," he says in the note. Cuén Ojeda was shot to death on July 25. According to "El Mayo" Zambada, his death occurred at the same time that the drug trafficker was ambushed in order to be transferred to the United States.

According to the testimony, in addition to Cuén Ojeda and Rocha Moya, the meeting was attended by another drug trafficker, Iván Guzmán Salazar.

"No one from a crime organization has to summon me to a meeting ... we have no complicity with anyone," Rocha Moya responded to Zambada on Saturday in a speech at a public event.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, to have "all confidence" in the governor. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum also showed her support for Rocha Moya. AMLO pointed out that "we must wait for the governor to give his version of the story and to have all the elements."

Cuén Ojeda's death and fear of foreseeable retaliation

According to the authorities, Cuén Ojeda was killed on July 25 during an attempted robbery of his truck, but Zambada assures that "they killed him at the same time and in the same place" where he was "kidnapped."

The drug lord also claims that the fate of two members of his security detail who entered the meeting place with him is unknown: "José Rosario Heras López, commander of the Sinaloa State Judicial Police, and Rodolfo Chaidez, a long-time member of my security team," he adds.

Fearing that retaliation could be unleashed, Zambada called on the people of Sinaloa to be "measured and to maintain peace" in his state. "Nothing is solved with violence. We have already been down that road, and we all lose," he said.

He also asked the Mexican and U.S. governments for "transparency" and "the truth" about his kidnapping and "about the deaths of Héctor Cuén, Rosario Heras, Rodolfo Chaidez and anyone else who lost their lives that day."