“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
The Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations operating in more than 40 countries, has split. It has fragmented into three groups according to a US Congressional Research Service report. According to the US congressional document dated 2020, one of the three factions into which the cartel was divided is led by Aureliano Guzman aka El Guano, brother of El Chapo Guzman. Another faction is led by Los Chapitos, El Chapo’s sons. And the third is led by Ismael Zambada Garcia aka El Mayo Zambada.
In respect to the latter two and acording to several specialists and media experts on the subject. El Mayo and Los Chapitos had severed ties due to different circumstances. When El Chapo Guzmán was arrested for the third time, control of the Sinaloa Cartel was completely in the hands of El Mayo Zambada, his most important partner. However, over the years, El Chapo’s sons Iván Archivaldo, Jesús Alfredo, Ovidio, and Joaquín became key players in the criminal organization.
And now they share leadership with El Mayo Zambada, leading their own faction of the cartel, although according to several media outlets their relationship has been fractured for years. According to the Sinaloa news weekly Rio Doce, the friction between El Mayo Zambada and Los Chapitos began during the trial of El Chapo Guzman in New York in 2018. When El Mayo Zambada’s brother and son Jesus and Vicente Zambada testified for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Following their statements against El Chapo they achieved a benefit in their sentences. Today, both are free. By 2019, the Sinaloa news weekly was already reporting a rift between El Mayo and Los Chapitos. The dispute, according to Rio Doce, would have arisen after the so-called Culiacanazo that led to the capture and subsequent capture of Ovidio Guzmán. That Thursday, when Ovidio was in the hands of the military, Los Chapitos asked Mayo Zambada for help.
However, the response was negative and his men, according to the Sinaloa weekly newspaper, did not help rescue Ovidio Guzmán. El Mayo had not agreed to Ovidio’s release but also refused to participate in the operation that pressured the government to free him, reported Rio Doce. Prior to the Culiacanozo, El Mayo Zambada was already looking to break away from Los Chapitos because of their impulsiveness, inexperience and tactical errors that put not only El Mayo Zambada but the organization in general at risk, reported Rio Doce.
The bone of contention began in November 2019 when an armed criminal cell of eight cloned Sinaloa police trucks stormed the Agua Caliente district north of Culiacan. The area was then controlled by Juan José Ponce Félix aka El Ruso, El Mayo Zambada’s chief operative. At the head of the armed criminal cell was Los Chapitos security chief Néstor Isidro Pérez aka El Nini who, according to Rio Doce, came to claim the territory. Various versions collected by Rio Doce state that during the discussion one of the hitmen said that they were an absolute mob for Ivan. And that they didn’t give a fuck about Lord Mayo.
This was an unforgivable blow. Hours or days later Los Mayos asked for the culprit but they refused to give him up. Within days a person turned up dead on one side and then a dead man from the other reported Rio Doce. After the incident, Chapo Guzman’s sons demanded that the Mayos hand over El Ruso. But the response was a negative. The confrontation between Los Nini’s and Los Rusos escalated with several armed attacks between the two criminal groups in the Agua Caliente and Tepuche areas.
According to information disseminated by Infobae citing the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) after the extradition of El Chapo to the United States in 2017 along with El Mayo Zambada Jr. and Damasco Lopez Nunez aka El Licenciado. Los Chapitos continued with the tasks they were already carrying out before their father was arrested, the production and trafficking of methamphetamine and marijuana. But the subsequent focus on fentanyl made the differences between Los Chapitos and El Mayo increasingly evident.
Finally, according to Infobae, the last opinion that would have caused Los Chapitos to no longer maintain a relationship with El Mayo Zambada, according to journalist Antonio Nieto, is that El Mayo Zambada was responsible for Ovidio Guzman’s re-arrest on January 5, 2023. It is said that he decided to hand over El Raton as a warning to the other members of Los Chapitos. “Either they calm down or we’ll calm them down,” reported Infobae. Los Chapitos and El Mayo Zambada are currently disputing control of several areas of Baja California and Sonora, key drug trafficking states.
