2024-09-18 12:40:50
Mexican security forces intervene after a crime during clashes between armed gangs, in Culiacan, Sinaloa, September 14, 2024. JESUS BUSTAMANTE / REUTERS
For more than a week, two factions of the Sinaloa cartel have been violently clashing in the capital of the Mexican state of the same name, Culiacan. Hundreds of heavily armed civilians patrol the streets of the city and around the hamlets on the outskirts, where they engage in battles. The authorities count at least 39 people killed, including two soldiers, 37 forced disappearances, 13 clashes with the army, blocked highways, burned trucks and dozens of stolen cars, while hackers have taken control of the websites of two local government institutions to spread belligerent propaganda.
“People are very scared, shopping malls are empty, delivery services are suspended, schools are closed and public transport is only just starting to run again”says Ismael Bohorquez, the director of the weekly Riodocebased in Culiacan. “There is an increase in clashes. Both groups are kidnapping a lot of people, there are a lot of missing people, but they are still sizing each other up and we can fear more ferocious battles in the future; for the moment, there has not been a massive assault like in 2008.”adds this seasoned journalist, in reference to the fratricidal war that broke out sixteen years ago during a split in the Sinaloa cartel, which caused more than 5,000 deaths.
At the root of this new outbreak of violence is the void left by Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias “El Mayo”, the historic leader of the Sinaloa cartel, after his capture by the United States authorities, which occurred on July 25 in circumstances that are still unclear. In a letter distributed to the press by his lawyers on August 6, the 76-year-old criminal stated that Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the sons of the famous drug trafficker Joaquin « El Chapo » Guzman, kidnapped him and forced him onto a plane to hand him over to U.S. justice himself. Another version says that the drug trafficker negotiated his surrender with U.S. authorities.
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Taken by surprise by the arrest of “El Mayo”, the Mexican government had urgently deployed, on July 28, an additional contingent of 200 soldiers to Culiacan, in the hope of dissuading the branch of the organization run by the sons of« El Chapo »nicknamed “los Chapitos”, and the one now headed by the son of« El Mayo,” to start a war to seize the remains of the criminal empire built by the drug trafficker over more than four decades.
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