Mexico City — Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has reiterated that the United States did not participate in the 2024 capture of drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, pushing back against accusations from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Attorney General Ernestina Godoy that he lied about U.S. involvement.
In a brief statement posted on social media Wednesday, Salazar wrote: “It was not our plane, it was not our pilot, and it was not our operation.”
The statement comes after recent revelations by journalist Luis Chaparro and previously unpublished photographs showing Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, arriving in Texas and being received by FBI agents. The plane used in the operation is now reportedly displayed in a museum, prompting Mexican officials to accuse Salazar of misleading the public during the administration of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Salazar, who served as Interior Secretary under President Barack Obama, addressed the controversy directly: “President Claudia Sheinbaum has asked a question: who told the truth? Let me answer it plainly: Attorney General Merrick Garland and I communicated to the Mexican government in our public statements and to the Mexican government on July 25 and 26, 2024, about the detentions of Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán. We communicated to the Mexican government that it was not our plane, not our pilot, and not our operation. The truth is the truth.”
Earlier Wednesday, Attorney General Godoy accused Salazar and the FBI of violating international treaties by participating in the operation. She also revealed that Mexico had custody of the pilot, who committed various crimes in Mexico, but extradited him to the United States anyway.
Salazar used the opportunity to promote his upcoming book, “Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America,” which includes a chapter titled “The Door Closes” covering the Zambada episode. He described the book as addressing the need for a new North American alliance to tackle economic, security, and climate challenges.
