Mexican authorities are insinuating that the U.S. government played a role in the alleged kidnapping of a top drug lord who was flown north of the border by his rivals and turned over to authorities. The allegations are part of an ongoing federal kidnapping and treason investigation undertaken by Mexican authorities following the arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of the supreme leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.

In a prepared statement by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, officials claim that Zambada’s kidnapping and subsequent arrest began two days prior with the release from a U.S. prison of Ovidio “El Raton” Guzman. “El Raton” is one of the sons of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The FGR claims that Ovidio’s whereabouts remain unknown.

As Breitbart Texas reported, two days later, Ovidio’s brother Joaquin Guzman Lopez is believed to have kidnapped El Mayo during a meeting. The alleged kidnappers placed him inside a small plane and flew him to a small private airport near El Paso, where U.S. federal agents arrested both of them. The case caused deep turmoil within Mexico’s government, prompting the FGR to launch a kidnapping and treason investigation against the younger Guzman and others who may have played a role in the case.

At the time of El Mayo’s arrest, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was very outspoken about his government not having played a role in the operation and claimed that U.S. officials may have been interfering with Mexican matters.

According to the FGR statement, they have requested, through various means from the U.S. government, information about the identity of the pilot and information about the airplane used as part of their kidnapping investigation. The U.S. government has not responded to the requests.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.