Just one year after the capture of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, journalist Ricardo Ravelo, a reporter specializing in drug trafficking, stated in a radio interview that the governor of the state of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, operates for Los Chapitos and that there are audio recordings that prove it.

Ravelo stated that the kingpin's surrender was agreed upon and that the state governor had received direct instructions from the cartel leaders to facilitate his capture and possible surrender to the United States.

According to Ravelo, the audio recordings obtained by journalist Jose Luis Montenegro show how Rocha Moya He consulted with Los Chapitos about whether he should attend a meeting in which the possible surrender of "El Mayo" was discussed. In one of the searches, the governor asks if he should attend, and the response is said to be "you decide."

Furthermore, Ravelo points out that Rocha Moya had traveled on a plane owned by businessman Vizcarra, a partner of "El Mayo," in an operation that, according to the journalist, was coordinated by "Los Chapitos."

Ravelo stated that the governor's participation in the handover of "El Mayo" Zambada indicates institutional protection, since one of the bodyguards who accompanied the drug lord during his capture was a state police officer.

Furthermore, he indicated that in Mexico a pact of impunity prevails, where high-ranking officials are allegedly implicated in protecting organized crime.

A governor cannot act in this manner at the level of organized crime if the powers of the Republic are not informed or have not been instructed to do so. When López Obrador said in a press conference that they didn't realize, that they didn't know anything, that it was all a story... What prevails in this government is a pact of impunity in which the prosecutor Gertz Manero himself is implicated," Ravelo accused in an interview with Enrique Hernandez Alcazar on WRadio. He also criticized the actions of the Mexican government after the arrest, pointing out that, two days later, requested the extradition of "El Mayo" to the United States, in a move that, according to the journalist, seeks to prevent the kingpin from revealing networks of political, business and military complicity that protected the Sinaloa Cartel.

The journalist stated that "El Mayo" has sent letters from prison in which he claims to have been ambushed and transferred against his will, and warns of a possible "collapse" in the bilateral relationship if he is not returned to Mexico.

Fracture in the Sinaloa Cartel and crisis of violence

Ravelo explained that, one year after the fall of "El Mayo", The crisis of violence in Sinaloa persists, and the internal fracture within the Sinaloa Cartel is making peace difficult.

He noted that the confrontation between the cartel's factions and the lack of an effective strategy keep the State in a situation of impunity and violence, since it lacks the capacity to achieve peace in Sinaloa. To do so, "it would have to sweep away the entire Sinaloa Cartel."

The facts reported by Ravelo will be part of the next publication at the 2025 Guadalajara International Book Fair, according to ADN diario. Together with José Luis Montenegro, they are preparing a book that will reconstruct the behind-the-scenes story of the capture of "El Mayo" Zambada, including details about the pacts and institutional protection.