Sheinbaum: ‘Everything Seems to Indicate That Ken Salazar Lied’ About the Capture of ‘El Mayo’

ByAlma E. Muñoz and Alonso Urrutia

This article by Alma E. Muñoz and Alonso Urrutia originally appeared in the July 7, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

Mexico City. On the participation of US agencies, in particular the FBI, in the operation to arrest Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, did Ambassador Ken Salazar lie? “So far it seems they did tell lies to the Mexican government,” President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo affirmed. Who makes deals with organized crime? she stressed.

“What deals did that agency, or whoever participated, have with the criminal group?” she insisted, in reference to the Sinaloa Cartel. “In this case, everything seems to indicate that the ambassador (Salazar) lied.” She underscored the relevance of learning this information because “international treaties and the Constitution of the United Mexican States would be being violated.”

At her press conference, she stated that “when an ambassador lies, if he does lie, he not only lies to the Mexican government, but also to whoever he represents. That is why the information is relevant, we want to know, now that it is on display,” the FBI aircraft that was used for the kingpin’s transfer.

—Would all the responsibility fall on the former US ambassador?

—Well, according to what appears in a news report and the display of the (FBI) plane (used), there was falsehood in what he said since the previous administration, that there was no intervention by US agencies in the operation.

—If confirmed, would there be any international lawsuit?

—We are looking at what possibilities there are based on the information the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) gives us.

She said they requested information from the current US ambassador, Ronald Johnson, about the aircraft’s display, and “he is requesting it. Let’s see what he responds.”

When asked what would follow, in the event that Ken Salazar lied, she recalled that he has diplomatic immunity, “but a book of his is going to be published where it seems that, from what has come out in the media, he again says the same thing. So, it is very relevant whether a US ambassador lied to the government in Mexico.”

Former US ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar speaking at a State Department podium
Photo: Cuartoscuro / Archive

The president also asked who makes deals with members of organized crime, “because we don’t. We will never make deals with any member, nor with any organized crime organization, ever,” and she highlighted what the Security Cabinet has done since the previous administration in Sinaloa. Nevertheless, she commented that “there was indeed a relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel, it was with (Vicente) Fox and with (Felipe) Calderón and it is proven by the arrest of (Genaro) García Luna. So much so that in 2001, the leader of this cartel (Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán) escapes from prison and is not arrested until 2014. And meanwhile, Calderón’s Security Secretary is detained in the United States for his link with this criminal group and has publicly acknowledged that this criminal group was favored over others in a so-called war on drugs. If there was a deal, it was there. In those governments.”

“We fulfill our duty. Always what the Constitution establishes, what the laws establish, and what by our conviction we consider relevant for the people of Mexico to know. The US government is asked why it is an obligation and, at the same time, when these contradictory reports come out, to inform the people of Mexico of this situation and also for the people of the United States to know.”

She insisted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the FGR to “see whether there is any crime in this whole process, and also to request information directly from the FBI.”

She asked the FGR to report today or tomorrow on the investigations that its former head, Alejandro Gertz Manero, then carried out on this case, and on those that are still open.

Salazar’s Contradictory Version

The President recalled that from the beginning former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requested from the United States embassy —and it has continued to do so— information on how El Mayo and Joaquín Guzmán López left Mexico, and Ambassador Ken Salazar “publicly and directly said that there had been no participation of any US agency.”

“However, in recent days, recently, we learned through a news report that the plane on which these members of organized crime arrive is on display at a fair where the FBI takes credit for this operation.” They have it “on display —at a fair— as a triumph of theirs.” The president stressed that “the most relevant thing is that there is a contradictory version.”

Nevertheless, the president highlighted the cooperation on security matters that exists with the United States, but “this is a matter of Mexico’s dignity, we relate to each other as equals and we always ask for respect.”

“We always seek a good relationship with the US government for the good of both peoples, of both nations, but that does not mean that we bow our heads, that we are going to subordinate ourselves, nor that we are going to accept anything they say,” President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo affirmed.

She maintained that in a relationship “there can be differences, but it is very relevant for Mexico, indispensable, that it be known that there are two versions of an event that had to do, in Mexico, with one or several US agencies, because moreover a very serious episode of violence occurs in Sinaloa from there.”

No one is saying that criminals should not be arrested, she remarked, but “always within the law, not as (Felipe) Calderón did outside the law, and that is why the prosecutors’ offices build their investigation files and arrests are always made, but there has to be a relationship of correspondence, of reciprocity.”

She mentioned that in Mexico’s history “there have been many cases in Mexico’s history where there is a before and after in relations,” and recalled that Ambassador John Gavin, as stated in the memoirs of former President Miguel de la Madrid, “had permanent interference in Mexico’s politics and how in the end he even had to leave Mexico.” She insisted on a “relationship of respect from all ambassadors and from the US government toward Mexico.”

There have to be proofs “because you cannot just accept what the Department says, because we comply with the law and at the same time work for the peace and security of Mexicans.” In the relationship with the United States there has to be a “relationship of reciprocity and mutual trust,” she stressed.

“What there cannot be is saying one thing and doing another, neither from the US government nor from any government, and that is why we ask for respect in Mexico and that is why it is relevant that the truth be told” in the case of the operation to arrest Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.