MEXICO CITY — A brand new memoir by an ex-U.S. ambassador in Mexico — who wrote that former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador feared {that a} drug kingpin arrested by the FBI would “spill the beans” on corrupt Mexican officials — has ignited a media firestorm within the nation.
In his e-book, Ken Salazar, the former U.S. envoy to Mexico Metropolis, mentioned that the July 2024 arrest outdoors El Paso of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada — a co-founder of the infamous Sinaloa cartel — prompted López Obrador to fret that the mob boss would inform U.S. prosecutors about Mexican authorities in cahoots with organized crime.
“It was well-known that Mexico’s highly effective transnational prison cartels had compromised many authorities officials,” the ex-ambassador wrote in “Borderlands: My Combat for an Inclusive America,” scheduled for launch subsequent month by BenBella Books.
The account prompted pushback Monday from President Claudia Sheinbaum. At her common morning information convention, Sheinbaum mentioned that her predecessor and mentor was involved about U.S. “meddling” in Mexico — not about any inside info on corruption that the jailed capo may present to U.S. authorities.
“There was no fear about” what Zambada would inform U.S. prosecutors, Sheinbaum mentioned.
There was no direct response to the e-book from López Obrador, who’s retired however lengthy denied unconfirmed stories linking him to organized crime.
In a phone interview, Salazar mentioned he had by no means seen any proof tying López Obrador, president from 2018 to 2024, to Mexico’s cartels.
“I by no means noticed any proof of it,” Salazar mentioned. “So far as I do know, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a president who strongly believed in Mexico and the sovereignty of Mexico.”
In his e-book, Salazar acknowledged that the purported concern about Zambada turning snitch didn’t come instantly from the president. Reasonably, the data got here from an unidentified supply labeled “the AMLO whisperer, somebody who was a pal and confidant to the Mexican president,” Salazar wrote, utilizing López Obrador’s nickname.
In line with Salazar, “the Whisperer” advised him that López Obrador “could be very involved in regards to the info the US will get from El Mayo.”
Salazar, a Biden administration appointee who lengthy loved shut entry to López Obrador, was frozen out after the arrest of Zambada and by no means spoke to the president once more, he wrote.
Salazar, a longtime Democrat and former U.S. senator and secretary of the Inside beneath President Obama, turned a “persona non grata” in Mexico Metropolis following Zambada’s arrest and resigned after the election of Donald Trump.
Salazar’s account, initially reported by the Mexican every day Reforma, has triggered a stir within the Mexican press and in social media. Many commentators have cited the timing — simply as Mexican, U.S. and Canadian officials are negotiating a free-trade settlement, a pact that’s essential to the export-dependent Mexican financial system.
Salazar’s account, initially reported by the Mexican every day Reforma, has triggered a stir within the Mexican press and in social media. Many commentators have cited the timing — simply as Mexican, U.S. and Canadian officials are negotiating revisions to the regional free-trade settlement, a pact that’s essential to the export-dependent Mexican financial system.
Many commentators have cited the timing — simply as Mexican, U.S. and Canadian officials are negotiating revisions to the regional a brand new free-trade-agreement, a pact that’s essential to the export-dependent Mexican financial system.
Within the interview, Salazar mentioned the timing of the e-book’s launch had nothing to do with the free-trade negotiatons. “It takes time to write down a e-book,” he mentioned.
Behind the controversy in regards to the e-book are lingering questions on Zambada’s 2024 abduction in Mexico and his arrival and subsequent arrest outdoors El Paso.
Mexican authorities have lengthy voiced the suspicion that U.S. officials had been behind the kidnapping of Zambada in Mexico and his transport to U.S. territory. U.S. authorities have denied any involvement.
In line with the official U.S. model, the septuagenarian capo was taken into custody after an insider betrayal: Joaquín Guzmán López — a son of the legendary Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada’s former companion main the Sinaloa cartel — engineered Zambada’s kidnapping and transport through personal airplane to the US.
Guzmán López was additionally aboard the plane and surrendered to U.S. authorities when the airplane landed close to El Paso, in keeping with U.S. authorities.
In December 2025, Guzmán López entered a responsible plea to federal drug fees and is awaiting sentencing. Guzmán López obtained no “cooperation credit score” for “coordinating and committing the kidnapping” of Zambada, the Justice Division mentioned in a press release on the time of his responsible plea.
However Mexican authorities stay satisfied that U.S. officials outsourced the kidnapping and rendition of Zambada, who has pleaded responsible to smuggling-related fees and awaits sentencing in the US.
Whether or not Zambada has knowledgeable U.S. prosecutors about corrupt Mexican officials stays publicly unknown.
However the Trump administration — extensively believed to be using info from jailed Mexican narco-traffickers — has stepped up prosecutions of Mexican officials allegedly on cartel payrolls.
Probably the most high-profile goal up to now is Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of Sinaloa state, who was indicted in U.S. District Courtroom in April.
Rocha Moya, who went on depart following his indictment to combat the costs, has denied any wrongdoing.
Washington is searching for his extradition to the US, however Mexican authorities say they haven’t seen sufficient proof but to advantage extradition.
Additionally indicted in the identical case had been different high-raking officials in Sinaloa, the northwestern state that gave start to Mexico’s most infamous organized crime syndicate.
The kidnapping and arrest of Zambada occurred through the presidency of Joe Biden. However Mexican issues about U.S. interference have solely accelerated through the administration of Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to behave unilaterally in opposition to Mexican cartels.
Particular correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
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