Overview
- At a Dec. 1 hearing, U.S. prosecutors said Joaquín Guzmán López lured Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada to a meeting in Sinaloa on July 25, 2024, where he was abducted, sedated and flown by small plane to the United States.
- Prosecutor Andrew Erskine said Guzmán López sought credit in the U.S. for delivering Zambada but will receive none, and referred to Zambada in court as “Individual A.”
- Zambada later wrote that politician Héctor Melesio Cuén was killed at the capture site; Mexico’s FGR reported finding Cuén’s blood traces at the ranch, and two Zambada escorts were reported missing.
- In Peru on Dec. 2, presidential precandidate Rafael Belaunde Llosa survived gunfire on a rural road in Cerro Azul; two attackers on a motorcycle fired multiple shots, he returned fire, police activated a search cordon, and no arrests were reported.
- Peruvian investigators are examining possible links to land‑trafficking mafias or nearby real‑estate activity as the attack follows the killing of precandidate Percy Ipanaqué in Piura and a Lima homicide police connect to the Pulpos–Jauría feud, with 2025 homicides climbing.