in the United States. In July 2024, authorities in El Paso, Texas, suddenly arrested Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, longtime leader of the Sinaloa cartel, along with two sons of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the co-cartel boss who has been in prison in the United States for almost a decade. In a letter published from US prison days later, El Mayo said he was "kidnapped" and betrayed by Guzman's sons, alleging that they had called for a meeting with Sinaloa Governor Rocha Moya to smooth over political problems in the northwestern state. But the plane carrying El Mayo landed in El Paso in the United States, instead of Sinaloa. His capture unleashed a war between factions of the notorious cartel that left thousands dead or disappeared. Rocha Moya quickly rejected any ties to the drug trade, arguing he was in the United States on the day of the supposed meeting. "We are not complicit with anyone," he said. Then-president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an ally of current leader Claudia Sheinbaum, defended Rocha Moya and channeled his wrath towards the United States, whose capture of El Mayo he blamed for the subsequent war in Sinaloa between rival factions. "You can't act that way," Lopez Obrador said in a press conference at the time, attacking El Mayo's controversial capture. Rocha Moya "is really close to Lopez Obrador, he's been friends with him for decades, he campaigned with him," David Mora, analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank, told AFP. (Bssnews)