MEXICO CITY, Aug 28, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday said she would ask the United States to share the $15 billion it expects to extract from convicted Mexican drug lord Ismael Zambada with her country's poor.

Sinaloa drug cartel co-founder Zambada pleaded guilty in a New York court on Monday to murder and drug trafficking, particularly of fentanyl -- a powerful narcotic responsible for tens of thousands of US overdose deaths annually.

In pleading guilty the 77-year-old avoided the possibility of the death penalty but still faces life imprisonment at a sentencing hearing due at a later date.

As part of the deal, Zambada, who had initially pleaded not guilty, agreed to forfeit $15 billion in ill-gotten gains.

Addressing her regular morning press conference, Sheinbaum said: "If the United States government were to recover resources, then we would be asking for them to be given to Mexico for the poorest people."

Zambada's fall, which follows that of fellow Sinaloa cartel founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, already serving a life sentence in the United States, has led to speculation that the cartel's days are numbered.

Mexico's Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch insisted Wednesday, however, that while some of the cartel's factions were diminished the organization was far from finished.

The cartel, which Washington has declared a terrorist group, is considered the biggest drug-trafficking organization in the world.

It operates on both sides of the US-Mexican border.