If the FBI Took Part in the Capture of 'El Mayo,' the US Violated Mexico's Sovereignty; 'Someone Lied': Rosa Icela Rodríguez
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The Secretary of Government lays out a seven-point timeline of the El Mayo case, pointing to an FBI-donated plane in a war museum as the contradiction that exposes the lie.

This article by Alma E. Muñoz and Alonso Urrutia originally appeared in the July 7, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. Should the participation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the operation to arrest Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and transfer him to the United States be confirmed, “without informing the Mexican government, it represents a violation of the United Nations Charter, the Charter of the American States, the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, and the National Security Law,” Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez affirmed. “Someone lied,” she said as she presented a brief chronology of the case.

It must be clear that the Mexican government does not make criminal pacts with anyone, she stressed, while Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco reported that the federal government asked the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to formally request more information from the FBI about its participation in the 2024 operation to arrest the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel.

“We have also been in communication with the United States embassy in Mexico on this matter, who have already provided us with some pieces of information about how the plane (on which the kingpin was transferred to the United States) was loaned to a museum in El Paso, Texas, so we will be making these requests for information,” he said at the mañanera.

The Interior Secretary noted that the Pie de Nota report about the small plane that was used, which is part of a war-plane exhibit in which the FBI “presents it as part of an operation by that agency,” is relevant. “The versions are contradictory. Someone lied.”

In the Treasury Hall of the National Palace, the Interior Secretary presented a chronology:

  1. January 5, 2023. Ovidio N, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, is arrested in Jesús María, Culiacán, Sinaloa. In the operation, 10 members of the Secretariat of National Defense lost their lives.
  2. September 15, 2023. Ovidio N is extradited to the United States by the Mexican government.
  3. July 25, 2024, the United States embassy reports the change in Ovidio N’s precautionary measure without consulting the Mexican government, which violates the extradition treaty. That same day, an aircraft carrying Joaquín N and Ismael N arrives in Santa Teresa, United States, where they are detained by US authorities. “It should be noted that when the aircraft took off, it did not have its locator switched on, which is turned on five minutes before landing at the airport.”
  4. July 31, 2024. The Mexican government requests information from the United States embassy about the participation of US agencies in that arrest.
  5. August 9, 2024, the (then) United States ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, publicly reports that no US agency participated in the operation.
  6. May 9, 2025, 17 relatives of Ovidio N are received by the United States government.
  7. July 2, 2026, a report in the outlet Pie de Nota states that the small plane that was used is part of a war-plane exhibit in which the FBI presents it as part of an operation by that agency. The versions are contradictory. “Someone lied. Should the FBI’s participation be confirmed, without informing the Mexican government, it represents a violation of the United Nations Charter, the Charter of the American States, the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, and the National Security Law.”

The post If the FBI Took Part in the Capture of ‘El Mayo,’ the US Violated Mexico’s Sovereignty; ‘Someone Lied’: Rosa Icela Rodríguez appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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