Although he Sinaloa Cartel has managed to maintain its position as one of the most powerful and dangerous groups in the world for decades, friction between its main members has been constantly present. Currently, its leaders, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Los Chapitosface a “war”, a consequence of the production of fentanyl and several events that, little by little, broke the relationship of the founders of the criminal organization.
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According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Ismael Zambada García’s relationship with the children of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, began to fracture immediately after his father’s arrest and extradition. However, everything seems to indicate that the relationship between ‘El Mayo’ and ‘El Chapo’ had already faced damage that would be difficult to forget, even for his children.
During the first decade of the 2000s – the golden era of the Sinaloa Cartel – the relationship between both partners passed relatively calmly. It was in 2008 when the first crack became present within the organization.
Edgar Guzman Lopez, fruit of the marriage of ‘El Chapo’ and Griselda Guadalupe López, his second wife, was murdered on May 8 of that year. The 22-year-old young man lost his life after being shot along with other people in the shopping center of Tres Ríos Urban Developmentlocated in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
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At first, ‘El Chapo’ and other members believed that it had been an attack perpetrated by his main rivals at that time, lBeltrán Leyva. However, shortly after it was revealed that the person responsible had been Vicente Zambada Nieblaalias The Vicentillowho ordered the attack due to a confusion.
In accordance with Damaso López Serranoalias ‘Mini Lic‘, after learning that the person responsible had been a Zambada, ‘El Chapo’, clouded by the pain represented by the loss of his most faithful son, ordered his people to murder his partner’s entire family.
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“The first reaction of ‘El Chapo’ when he learned that the attack had been ordered by the Zambada family, was to give the order to attack and put an end to everything that had to do with the Zambadas. He told my dad. He told her: ‘Hey, everything that has to do with my friend, Mayo, kill him! Let everyone and anyone who knows him come out: houses, offices, everything!’. “My dad was the one who made him change his mind,” said the ‘Mini Lic’ to the journalist Anabel Hernández.
After having a talk with Dámaso López Núñez, ‘Graduate’Guzmán Loera decided to cancel the order, but with the intention of taking revenge on ‘The Vicentillo sometime.
According to ‘Mini Lic’, ‘El Chapo’ planned for years to kill ‘El Mayo”s eldest son; even when he was detained in the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation (CEFERESO) No. 1, ‘El Altiplano’, and after he was extradited to the United States ―February 2010―.
“He wanted to kill Vicente, since Vicente was in the United States. They told him that ‘Vicente is going to come out, he’s going to come out’ and ‘El Chapo’ had a house of his (Vicente) located in Los Angeles and said: ‘As soon as he comes out, I’m going to kill him there! I’m going to charge two, my son’s and he’s cooperating by talking about me’”, story.
However, the plans never came to fruition. Years later, during the trial of Guzmán Loera in the US, Vicente Zambada Niebla was presented by the Department of Justice to testify against the former Sinaloan; fact that It was not well received by Los Chapitos.
The DEA points out that when Los Chapitos – a group made up of Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar / Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán López – assumed their father’s role as leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, ‘El Mayo’ shared the leadership without problem. However, ‘Mini Lic’ told Hernández that this He never had the respect of ‘El Chapo’s’ children.
“In the meetings where I was, Iván and Alfredo referred to ‘El Mayo’ as fucking old guynow it is the old asshole”, he assured.
The incursion of Los Chapitos in the fentanyl production and trafficking It allowed them to accumulate greater control within the criminal organization. The US maintains that ‘Los Chapitos’ allegedly began to threaten and order violent acts against the other leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, including ‘Graduate’, his father’s trusted man.
In 2019, another event marked the differences between ‘El Mayo’ and ‘Los Chapitos’ and further exacerbated the problem between both factions.
It is said that on October 19 of that year, the day in which Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested briefly by the authorities, the leader of Los Chapitos, Iván Archivaldo, asked his father’s compadre for help to obtain his brother’s release. However, Zambada García did not agree.
On those same dates, a cell related to ‘El Mayo’ already ordered the massive purchase of weapons to kill the children of ‘El Chapo’; but they didn’t succeed.
To date, Los Chapitos are considered by the US to be the most powerful faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. The northern neighbor has already achieved the extradition of the youngest of them – Ovidio – and is seeking the arrest of the other three.
