Fausto Corrales Rodríguez—a witness to the July 25, 2024, murder of Héctor Melesio Cuén Ojeda and the kidnapping of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada—was negotiating with the U.S. government to provide information about events at the Huertos del Pedregal estate when the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) arrested him on August 19, 2026, in Mexico City.
The arrest came two years after the events in question, even though the FGR had possessed a YouTube video since September 2024 in which Fausto Corrales himself recounted what actually happened at the estate—contradicting his earlier statements. This was in addition to the testimony of Zambada’s son-in-law, Juan Carlos Félix Gastélum, who told federal prosecutors that Corrales had described to him how Cuén Ojeda died.
However, the factor that reportedly hastened the arrest warrant was not any of that evidence, but rather the statement given on August 10, 2026, by Gustavo Cuén Ojeda—the former university rector’s brother—to federal prosecutors; he reportedly mentioned that Corrales “had already given a statement to the United States.” Nine days later, the former rector’s aide was in custody.
The case file for criminal proceeding 300/2026, accessed by the media outlet *La Aurora de México*, reveals that over the course of more than a year, the FGR had gathered evidence contradicting the account Corrales had given to prosecutors.
On September 11, 2024, an analyst from the Attorney General’s Office downloaded a video—lasting over nine minutes—from the YouTube channel “Quemando Culiacán.” In it, Corrales himself narrates how Cuén’s death and Zambada’s kidnapping actually occurred and describes what he had been ordered to say in his official statement.
