Reputed Mexican drug lord says he constantly fears jail in rare interview with magazine

Magazine interview: Mexican drug lord admits fear

MEXICO CITY — One of Mexico’s most famous reputed 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 at least four times.

“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada told the Mexican news magazine, Proceso.

Zambada and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who control the fierce Sinaloa cartel according to Mexican law enforcement, are the country’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 — though it didn’t reveal where.

The magazine offered no other explanation of why a reputed kingpin would give an interview after a lifetime on the run. It is almost unheard for Mexican drug suspects to speak to the media while still free.

Zambada said he had felt the army closing in on him four times and that soldiers had gotten close to Guzman even more often.

“I fled into the countryside. I know the vegetation, the rivers, the rocks, everything,” Zambada said. “I’ll get caught if I get complacent, careless, just like El Chapo.”

Guzman was arrested in 1993 but escaped prison by hiding in a laundry truck in 2001. He recently made Forbes magazine’s lists of wealthiest and most-powerful people.

Mexican officials blame the Sinaloa cartel for much of the country’s staggering bloodshed. 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.

The interview comes as Zambada’s son, Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, faces trial in Chicago on charges that he conspired to import and sell large amounts of cocaine and heroin in the United States. Zambada-Niebla, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested last year in Mexico City and was extradited to the United States in February.

The offices of Calderon and the Attorney General said there would be no immediate comment on the interview.