BBC News Briefing

26 July, 2024

Andy McFarlane

While Mexican drug lord El Chapo became something of a legend in popular culture, relatively little is known about his former partner, Ismael Zambada, who was arrested by US authorities on Thursday. BBC Mundo's Daniel Pardo fills you in on his background. From Ethiopia, we hear concerns about an impending famine. BBC Verify looks at evidence adding weight to those fears. Your newsletter also visits France, India and Pakistan, and features divorce, eye-popping smut and "the ick".

GET UP TO SPEED

After saboteurs caused a day of rail chaos across France - here's what we know about that - the Paris Olympics opening ceremony is under way.

A convicted mass murderer known in South Africa as the "Apartheid Killer" - who was subject of an investigation highlighted in this newsletter on Monday - has died.

A rare fire tornado has been caught on camera ripping through bushland in northern California, as the US state's largest wildfire this year doubled in size.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

How a shadowy drug lord rose to the top

Ismael Zambada is pictured wearing a blue polo shirt under a car seatbelt. His hair is dark and his moustache is greying, as he looks directly into the camera.

El Mayo - pictured on Thursday - was said to bribe officials to the tune of $1m (£780,000) a month. Credit: Image obtained by CBS

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada spent decades evading capture at the top of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, which he co-founded at the end of the 1980s, before his arrest by US agents. Despite his reputation as one of the world’s most powerful drug lords, relatively little is known about the 76-year-old "man in the hat".

Daniel Pardo, BBC Mundo, Mexico

So, how did it all begin?

Zambada's rise from common trafficker to "capo de capos" (boss of bosses) is a story of pragmatism, cunning and corruption. After a stint as a furniture deliveryman on the streets of Culiacán, in northwestern Mexico, Zambada began his underworld career as a trafficker in the 1970s. He first worked for the Guadalajara cartel, a pioneer in the industry, which traded opium, marijuana and, eventually, cocaine.

How did he become so powerful?

He then worked in the Juárez cartel, first as a middle manager and then as a leader, becoming increasingly close to Amado Carrillo, the so-called "Lord of the Skies". From there, it is believed that he created a network of contacts in Colombia, the country where he went on to make great friends and cocaine-producing partners.

And how did he stay at the top?

As other bosses died or fell, Zambada became more powerful. He rarely had a problem with betraying an ally. But if anything differentiates him from other drug lords, it is that he always kept a low profile. There are almost no images of him. It has been reported that he has had surgeries to change his appearance.

More on El Mayo

The arrest: Zambada was detained on Thursday at a Texas airfield with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of his Sinaloa cartel co-founder El Chapo, with reports suggesting he was tricked into boarding a plane by a high-ranking Sinaloa member.

Previous arrest: A man suspected of being the Sinaloa cartel's top assassin was extradited to the US from Mexico in May.

El Chapo: Read how the notorious drug kingpin fell victim to his own legend.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

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Stuff it away

Self-storage business is booming at a time of high rents and office costs. Sam Gruet explores the worldwide trend and its ramifications.

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Circle of life

A study finds unintentional decimation of scavenging birds in India allowed deadly bacteria to spread, leading to the deaths of about 500,000 people over five years.

Read the story >

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The characters of the Glassworker are sen agains the backdrop of flying war planes.

First of its kind

Musician Usman Riaz transformed a sketch into Pakistan's first hand-drawn animated feature film. He explains the inspiration behind The Glassworker.

Find out more >

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Generic image of a woman's hands seen at close range as she removes a wedding ring

Your weekend listening

Divorce rates in the West have been falling for decades. The Global Story explores the reasons behind the trend, and whether attitudes to breaking up have changed.

Listen now >

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AT THE SCENE

Tigray, Ethiopia

A hunger crisis revealed

A group of people are gathered around a collection of large plastic jerrycans. In the background, the ground looks parched and the sky is blue. In the centre of the image, a woman in a blue dress with shoulder-length dark hair sits, pouring water from a bottle into a jerrycan. Alongside her, a young woman wearing green lifts two of the jerrycans

Many of Tigray's six million people remain in camps set up during a civil war that ended in 2022. Credit: Getty Images

Drought, crop failure and insecurity in the aftermath of war has left two million people at risk of starvation in northern Ethiopia, officials say. The BBC gained access to some of the worst affected areas in the Tigray province, and analysed satellite imagery to reveal the full scale of the emergency.

Peter Mwai, Girmay Gebru & Merlyn Thomas, BBC Tigrinya & BBC Verify

The month of July is a critical period for food security, when farmers need to plant crops to take advantage of the seasonal rains. The satellite images we have identified show that reservoirs, and the farmlands they help irrigate, have dried up because the rains failed last year. They now need to be replenished by seasonal rains if farmers are to stand any hope of a successful season later in the year.

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Without adequate rainfall, the irrigation system cannot operate and farmers are unable to survive off the land. "Even though our dam has no water, our land will not go anywhere," says Demtsu Gebremedhin, who used to farm tomatoes, onions and sorghum - a grain crop. "So we don’t give up and we hope we will go back to farming."

See the evidence

In Southern Ethiopia: About 750 miles (1,200km) south of the drought-hit area, heavy rain is the problem. Kalkidan Yibeltal reports from Gofa, where men were digging with their bare hands to find victims of Sunday's landslides that killed at least 229 people.

Further listening: After visiting Tigray this year, our diplomatic correspondent James Landale told The Global Story podcast about people's fears of famine.

The background: Tigray was plunged into turmoil in 2021 by the conflict between the government and local forces. Here's a simple explainer.

Franz Winterhalter's 1837 painting The Decameron depicts the aristocratic youths from the story, wearing brightly coloured period robes and headgear in red, green and gold, and leaning against one another while telling their saucy stories

FOR YOUR DOWNTIME

Sheer eye-popping smut

The deliciously salacious tales of The Decameron have landed on Netflix.

Take a peek

And finally... on the bookshelf

"The ick" is among more than 3,200 words and phrases to have been added to the Cambridge Dictionary this year. It was popularised by the reality TV show Love Island in the UK, where it's used to describe "a sudden feeling that you... are no longer attracted to someone because of something they do". Our report has explanaions of entries including "boop", "face journey" and "side quest".

Medal Moments

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– Andy

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