Both have rejected the accusation, which claims that the Sinaloa Cartel paid them millions of dollars

by Mexico News Daily

A lawyer for former drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán claimed yesterday that the Sinaloa Cartel paid huge bribes to the current Mexican president and his predecessor.

In his opening statement at the New York trial of the former capo, Jeffrey Lichtman said that the “real” Sinaloa Cartel leader, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, paid millions of dollars in bribes to President Peña Nieto and ex-president Felipe Calderón to avoid capture.

Zambada has been left free because he “bribes the entire government of Mexico including up to the very top, the current president of Mexico and the former,” Lichtman said.

Presidential spokesman Eduardo Sánchez and Calderón, who left office in 2012, quickly rejected the claim.

“The government of Enrique Peña Nieto pursued, captured and extradited the criminal Joaquín Guzmán Loera. The assertions attributed to his lawyer are completely false and defamatory,” Sánchez wrote on Twitter.

Lichtman’s assertions “are absolutely false and reckless,” Calderón tweeted. “Not him [Zambada] nor the Sinaloa Cartel or any other person made payments to me.”

On the first day of Guzmán’s trial for drug smuggling, conspiracy, firearms offenses and money laundering in a Brooklyn federal court, Lichtman told the judge and jury that Zambada is the real mastermind of the cartel and that Guzmán is no more than a “scapegoat” — a “nobody” with a second-grade education.

“He’s blamed for being the leader while the real leaders are living freely and openly in Mexico. In truth, he controlled nothing. Mayo Zambada did,” he said.

“The world is focusing on this mythical El Chapo creature,” Lichtman continued. “The world is not focusing on Mayo Zambada . . . Mayo can get people arrested and get the Mexican army and police to kill who he wants.”

The lawyer said that since El Chapo’s extradition to the United States in January last year, “the flow of drugs [to the U.S.] hasn’t stopped.”

Prior to Lichtman’s opening remarks, federal attorney Adam Fels presented the United States government’s case, asserting that prosecutors would prove that Guzmán rose from a small-time marijuana trafficker in the 1970s to chief of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Guzmán, 61, established relationships with Colombian cartels that allowed him to move massive amounts of cocaine into the United States, bringing him billions of dollars in profits, Fels told jurors.

Cocaine shipments seized by authorities add up to “more than a line of cocaine for every single person in the United States,” he said.

Fels also told jurors that Guzmán was responsible for turning parts of Mexico into war zones as he fought against rival cartels to expand the Sinaloa Cartel’s influence and power.

The jury will hear about how Guzmán personally shot two members of a rival cartel and ordered that their bodies be thrown into holes and burned, he added.

“He was a hands-on leader,” Fels said, referring to Guzmán’s involvement in day-to-day cartel activities.

All told, Guzmán faces 17 criminal charges and, if convicted, a possible life sentence. He appeared in court yesterday dressed in a dark suit and remained calm as he listened to proceedings with the aid of a translator.

The notorious drug lord, who has been held in solitary confinement in a Manhattan prison for almost two years, appeared almost happy and blew a kiss to his 29-year-old wife, Emma Coronel, who was sitting in the public gallery.

Prosecutors’ witnesses are expected to include former Sinaloa Cartel members and Guzmán associates including Zambada’s brother, Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, and son Vicente Zambada.

The latter, known by the nickname El Vicentillo, last week pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in a United States federal court.

Vicente Zambada, a former logistics chief for the Sinaloa Cartel, said in a plea agreement that he will cooperate with prosecutors in the hope that in exchange he will receive a reduced sentence and protection for his family from cartel retribution.

Lichtman, an experienced criminal lawyer who previously defended New York mobster John A. Gotti, attacked the credibility of the potential witnesses.
“Why is the government going so far in this case using these gutter human beings as the evidence?” he asked.

“It’s because the conviction of Chapo Guzman is the biggest prize this prosecution could ever dream of.”

Lichtman also urged the jury “to keep an open mind” and consider that law enforcement authorities in both Mexico and the United States could be corrupt.

“They work together when it suits them, Mayo [Zambada] and the United States government,” he said.

Almost immediately after Lichtman’s opening remarks, Judge Brian M. Cogan excused the jury and cautioned the lawyer against making statements that might not be supported by evidence.

The trial is being held under extraordinarily tight security. Jurors are escorted to and from the court by armed federal marshals.

Guzmán, who twice escaped from prison in Mexico, has been accompanied by heavily armed federal officials and New York police on his journeys from his cell to the federal court.

The trial, which is expected to last between two and four months, continues today.

Source: AFP (sp), Reuters (sp), El Financiero (sp).

A first contingent has already arrived in Tijuana, where authorities are seeking aid for shelters

by Mexico News Daily

Central American migrants are now traveling through at least 12 Mexican states en route to the United States, according to authorities.

Members of the first migrant caravan began to split into smaller groups after leaving Mexico City over the weekend as they travel towards the Mexico-United States border at Tijuana.

One group, made up of around 80 women, children and members of the LGBT community, arrived in Tijuana on Monday, according to José García, who works at a migrant shelter in the northern border city.

Nine buses carrying about 350 more migrants reached Tijuana early today. A Honduran flag was seen fluttering outside a bus window.

Other members of the caravan have splintered off in different directions to reach other northern cities including Hermosillo, Sonora; Escuinapa, Sinaloa; and Monterrey, Nuevo León.

Authorities in Nayarit are continuing to provide buses to transport migrants to the state’s border with Sinaloa.

That leg of the journey is likely to come today or tomorrow for the largest contingent of the first caravan, located farther south in the country.

Most members of the group arrived in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on Monday and stayed last night in an auditorium in the neighboring municipality of Zapopan.

However, some migrants stayed in the city of La Piedad, Michoacán, around 160 kilometers southeast of Guadalajara.

Early Monday morning, a huge contingent of migrants arrived at the entry to the Irapuato-Guadalajara highway to try to hitch rides to the Jalisco capital.

Two hours after their 5:00am arrival, some 500 migrants had managed to clamber on to passing trucks but a much larger number was still waiting for rides, the newspaper Milenio reported.

One 65-year-old man identified only as Luis Enrique climbed onto a tank truck only to be ordered by Federal Police to get off.

“I know it’s dangerous to travel this way but when one is poor there is no other choice,” he told Milenio as he waited for another ride.

A 32-year-old Guatemalan man who suffered first-degree burns to his face and chest while juggling fire torches to earn money at traffic lights in Irapuato was also among the migrants traveling towards Guadalajara yesterday.

One truck driver said that it was impossible to stop the migrants from boarding.

“. . . They climb on themselves, there’s no way of telling them no and getting them off . . .” he said.

Those who reached Guadalajara yesterday endured a five-hour journey exposed to the sun, strong wind and the constant risk of falling from the fast-moving and often-overcrowded trailers.

Members of the second caravan, made up of more than 1,000 migrants, began arriving in Mexico City yesterday from Puebla.

The third caravan, made up of around 450 Salvadoran migrants who entered Mexico legally, remain in Tapachula, Chiapas, awaiting immigration documents.

Meanwhile, a fourth caravan that crossed the southern border earlier this month is currently traveling through Veracruz en route to Puebla and Mexico City.

The Federal Interior Secretariat (Segob) announced yesterday that it has agreed to a proposal by the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) to offer employment opportunities to Central American migrants in several Mexican states on the condition that they formally register with immigration authorities.

President Peña Nieto announced a program last month called “Estás en tu Casa” (You are at home), offering shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs to the migrants on the condition that they formally apply for refugee status with the National Immigration Institute (INM) and remain in Chiapas or Oaxaca.

However, most migrants rejected the offer and remain determined to reach the United States’ southern border, where they intend to apply for asylum.

In Tijuana, where most members of the first caravan are headed, migrant advocates warned that shelters in the city are already 75 percent full.

According to a report in the newspaper Reforma, there are 2,800 migrants — including Central Americans, Africans and Mexicans — who have been in Tijuana for up to a month waiting for the opportunity to lodge requests for asylum in the United States.

Baja California Interior Secretary Francisco Rueda said that state authorities are requesting 80 million pesos (US $3.9 million) from the federal government to pay for shelter, food, health care and humanitarian assistance while caravan members are in Tijuana.

While migrants have stayed in other Mexican cities for short periods, they could be in Tijuana for weeks or even months as they await the opportunity to request asylum.

“Other cities have welcomed them for two or three days, but one can foresee that a good number of them will stay in Tijuana for a long period . . .” the city’s Catholic archdiocese said in a statement Friday.

Some migrants are likely to be transferred to the state capital of Mexicali, located about 200 kilometers east of Tijuana, where shelters have capacity for 500 caravan members.

Rueda said that state and municipal authorities want the federal government to petition United States authorities to speed up the process to seek asylum.

However, United States President Trump is seeking to make it more difficult for caravan members to enter the country.

Trump has described the first caravan as an “invasion” and said that as many as 15,000 troops could be deployed to the U.S. southern border to meet the migrants.

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp), Reforma (sp), Expansión (sp), The San Diego Union Tribune (en).

The cartel is estimated to take in US $11 billion a year

by Mexico News Daily

As preparations proceed for Mexico’s most notorious drug lord to face trial in the United States, his successor continues to bring in massive profits for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Almost two years after his extradition to the United States, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is on the cusp of having his first day in court.

Selection of the jury to pass judgment on the former boss of the Sinaloa Cartel began in New York this week under tight security.

The names of all potential jurors will not be released and those selected to make up the panel will also remain anonymous and be afforded special security.

Opening statements in the trial, which is expected to last for between two and four months, are tentatively scheduled for Nov. 13.

Guzmán, who gained additional notoriety for his two prison escapes, faces the possibility of life imprisonment if convicted on charges of criminal enterprise, drug trafficking, money laundering and homicide, among other crimes.

Meanwhile, Ismael Zambada García, a 70-year-old former poppy-field worker and long-time partner of “El Chapo,” is fighting to continue the cartel’s lucrative illicit activities as other criminal organizations try to expand their influence.

During several decades, the trafficker better known as El Mayo, along with Guzmán and other Sinaloa Cartel members, built a multi-billion-dollar empire on cocaine and heroin among other drugs as well as human trafficking.

In addition to life imprisonment, authorities in the United States are seeking a US $14-billion forfeiture from Guzmán while the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that Zambada has a net worth of at least US $3 billion.

Their vast riches are fruits of the cartel’s ability to switch the products it sells in response to demand, virtually monopolize key markets in the United States and expand its export links to countries on the other side of the world, such as Australia.

“Their reach is incredible,” said Anthea McCarthy-Jones, a professor at the University of New South Wales who researches the structure of transnational crime networks from Canberra, Australia.

“Sinaloa still remains the organization with the best international connections. That’s something that they seem to be really good at.”

The cartel has allegedly laundered ill-gotten gains through some of the world’s largest banks to subsequently invest in both Mexican and foreign companies or to shift funds to offshore accounts.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel has injected cash into some 250 companies, many of which are still in business.

The network of cartel businesses, the news agency Bloomberg said, stretches from the Sinaloa capital of Culiacán to Honduras, Panama and Colombia.
A water park and a children’s daycare center allegedly run by Zambada’s daughter María Teresa are among El Mayo’s many interests.

“He has a very diversified portfolio,” said Mike Vigil, the former head of international operations for the DEA.

“Even though he’s only had maybe an elementary-school education, he’s received a Harvard-level education from some of the most prolific, knowledgeable and astute drug lords that Mexico has ever had,” he added.

A Bloomberg analysis based on seizure and pricing figures from the DEA found that the Sinaloa Cartel rakes in, on average, US $11 billion a year.

However, that figure is likely below the real dollar-amount because it doesn’t include revenue from markets outside the United States and it assumes that 50 percent of all drugs shipped to the U.S. are seized, the news agency said.

According to people with knowledge of the cartel’s activities who spoke to Bloomberg, at least 5 percent of the total revenue has gone to the criminal organization’s top leadership, meaning that since 2011 Zambada would have received US $3 billion.

But with a US $5-million reward from the United States State Department on his head and as he continues to hide out in the mountains of northern Mexico, “the last capo standing may be losing his grip on the world’s largest drug cartel,” Bloomberg said.

With Chapo’s former allies sensing a power vacuum and other criminal organizations – most notably the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) – filling or aiming to fill it, Mexico’s homicide rate is going through the roof.

With more than 30,000 murders, 2017 was the most violent year in at least two decades and this year is on track to be even bloodier.

But as the blood flows in Mexico, so too does the money.

U.S. authorities have “shut down some of the businesses [the Sinaloa Cartel is involved in], not all,” Vigil said.

Mexican “asset-forfeiture laws and seizures have a lot of loopholes,” he added.

The Sinaloa Cartel also continues to diversify not only the products it deals in but also the markets it buys and sells in.

Under Zambada’s reign, the Sinaloa Cartel has widened its supply sources for precursor chemicals used to make drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine to markets as far away as China.

However, while the Sinaloa Cartel’s continued profits appear to be assured, there is less certainty about its long-term leadership.

Zambada, who suffers from diabetes, is getting on in years while one of his sons is set to be sentenced in Chicago next month on drug trafficking charges and another pleaded guilty to the same crime in California in 2013.

El Chapo, who has allegedly continued to wield some influence in the Sinaloa Cartel despite being behind bars, is about to face trial.
His sons, one of whom is on the DEA’s 10 most wanted fugitives list, are increasingly involved in the cartel’s operations but according to Vigil, they lack the criminal expertise of their father and Zambada.

For El Mayo, death – from illness or otherwise – or a decision to step down voluntarily, rather than capture by authorities, would appear to be the most likely ways for his reign to end.

“I have been up into those mountains and it’s very difficult to capture anybody,” Vigil said.

“Mayo Zambada is one of the most astute drug traffickers that Mexico has ever spawned.”

Unlike El Chapo, he has never escaped from prison. In more than half a century in the drug trade, he’s never had to.

Source: Bloomberg (en), USA Today (en).