The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed that it has records on the arrest of Ismael Zambada García, “El Mayo”, but refused to hand them over under the argument of protecting the privacy of third parties. With this, access to the documents that would explain how the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel ended up in US custody remains closed.
Journalist Ioan Grillo published the response letter on October 19, 2026 on his
The response to the request clarified that: “While the existence of FBI records is acknowledged, the records are exempt from disclosure, as processing these third-party records would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
The official text noted that researcher Joseph Hefferon “did not sufficiently demonstrate that the public interest in disclosure, linked to government operations and activities, prevails over the personal privacy interests” of those involved.
The capture that caused the internal war of the Sinaloa Cartel
The file that the FBI keeps closed corresponds to the episode of July 25, 2024, when a private plane landed at the Santa Teresa airport, New Mexico, near El Paso, Texas.
Zambada and Guzmán López, son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, were on board. Both were detained by US authorities when they got off the aircraft.
