Mexico’s most famous drug lords said in a rare interview published Sunday that he lives in fear of getting caught and believes the military has closed in on him four times.
“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada told the Mexican news magazine, Proceso, adding that he would even contemplate suicide if he was about to be caught. “I’d like to think that yes, I would kill myself.”
Zambada and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who authorities say control the Sinaloa cartel, are Mexico’s two most-notorious fugitives, with a $2 million reward offered for information on their whereabouts.
Zambada offered to meet with Proceso founder Julio Scherer, saying he always wanted to meet the journalist. He gave specific directions on when and where the interview would take place, the publication said.
“When it comes to the capos, jailed, dead or extradited — their replacements are ready,” Zambada said.
Guzman, who escaped prison by hiding in a laundry truck nearly a decade ago, has made Forbes magazine’s lists of wealthiest and most-powerful people.
“El Chapo Guzman and I are friends and we talk on the phone a lot,” Zambada said. He even said he might try to arrange an interview between Guzman and Proceso.
Mexican Drug violence has killed more than 18,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, and has made the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where Sinaloa is fighting a turf battle against the Juarez cartel, one of the world’s most dangerous cities.
