Mexico’s request for the extradition of alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada from the United States and the Mexican government’s quest for a deal that staves off U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports were among the issues discussed at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference.
Security officials also presented the government’s fortnightly security update. (See Mexico News Daily’s report here).
Attorney General: US hasn’t responded to Mexico’s extradition request
Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero responded to reporters’ questions about Zambada, who is currently in U.S. federal custody in New York on drug trafficking charges and is reportedly seeking a plea deal that would allow him to avoid the death penalty.
Gertz Manero said that his office requested Zambada’s extradition shortly after he was arrested by U.S. authorities upon arriving at a New Mexico airport on a private plane last July.
Given that there are three current warrants for Zambada’s arrest in Mexico, the Mexican government had an “obligation” to seek his extradition, Gertz said.
He said that the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) “insisted” on Zambada’s extradition on four occasions but received no response from the administration of former U.S. president Joe Biden.
Gertz’s remarks came four days after Sheinbaum confirmed that the Mexican Consulate in New York had received Zambada’s request for repatriation.
El Mayo alleges he was kidnapped in Culiacán last July and forced onto a plane by another alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, who also traveled to the United States and was arrested in New Mexico at the same time.
On Tuesday, Gertz noted that the FGR had opened an investigation into the crime of kidnapping in connection with Zambada’s departure from Mexico. He said Zambada left the country “against his will.”
No ‘direct proof’ of US involvement in Zambada’s removal from Mexico
Sheinbaum, like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has asserted that the arrest of Zambada in the United States was the result of a U.S. “operation” in Mexico.
On Tuesday, a reporter asked Gertz whether there was any evidence of the involvement of U.S. agents in Mexico.
“The inquiry is open like any other inquiry … but with regard to what you refer, there is no direct proof,” the attorney general said.
Mexico continues to seek deal to avoid US tariffs
A reporter asked Sheinbaum about U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration on Monday that his planned 25% tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian exports to the U.S. “are going ahead on time, on schedule,” meaning that the tariffs would take effect on March 4 — the conclusion of a one-month suspension Sheinbaum negotiated with the U.S.
“You have to review everything that President Trump says. … I always say you have to keep a cool head and not take isolated phrases [as gospel],” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum noted that Trump also spoke about tariff “reciprocity” on Monday.
“What he states is that … if United States products upon entering Europe face a tax, a tariff, then, he says, ‘in reciprocity, the United States is going to impose a tariff’ [on goods from Europe],” she said, offering one example of Trump’s “Fair and Reciprocal Plan.”
“We don’t have any tariffs between the United States and Mexico. So if we go on the reciprocity issue, we’ll remain as we are now,” she said.
At a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, Trump said that “all we want is reciprocal.”
“We want reciprocity, we want to have the same. So, if somebody charges us, we charge them. It’s very simple,” he said.
However, Trump also said that the tariffs on Mexico and Canada “will go forward.”
Sheinbaum acknowledged that her government still needs to reach an agreement with its U.S. counterpart to avoid the blanket tariffs taking effect next week, as she did directly with Trump at the start of February.
“We are continuing to talk to them about the issue of security and on the issue of trade we have to close the agreement,” she said, adding that she hoped to speak directly with Trump to seal the deal, possibly later in the week.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
