Narco violence leaves 200 dead and 234 missing in the Mexican state in a grim month
The lack of security underlines one of the biggest challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum. | Representative
A battle between warring factions of the Sinaloa cartel has sparked a wave of violence in the Mexican state over the past month, leaving more than 200 people dead and 234 people missing, a local investigative agency said.
An analysis of hundreds of statements from the Public Prosecution Service, the Ministry of the Interior and the local press by Revista Espejo shows the deadly number of clashes between two criminal groups. The violence began in early September, following the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
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The lack of security underlines one of the biggest challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1. The president and her security minister, Omar Garcia Harfuch, announced the government’s security plan on Tuesday, which aims to create an intelligence unit to tackle major problems. crime states and reducing the nearly 200,000 murders that occurred during the previous administration.
The proposal also aims to address the root causes of crime, consolidate the role of the Mexican National Guard in public security and improve coordination between states and the national government. Sheinbaum warned on October 8 that the murders in Sinaloa “will not be solved in one day.”
Sinaloa collides
Drug traffickers loyal to Zambada are feuding with followers of the so-called Chapitos, the name given to the four sons of imprisoned King Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, according to local media.
Nearly half of the missing were found, some dead, Revista Espejo reported. According to the local report, victims, including those with signs of burns, mutilation and torture, have been found in at least nine municipalities.
Garcia Harfuch, Sheinbaum’s Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla and dozens of soldiers, army vehicles and helicopters traveled to Culiacan, the state capital, on Tuesday to try to get the crisis under control. Of the total deaths to date, 128 were reported in Culiacan, according to Revista Espejo’s investigation.
Since the clashes in Sinaloa began, several trucks and buses have been seized by criminal groups and burned in several parts of Culiacan and surrounding highways. Earlier Friday, five other people were killed in Culiacan, while robberies of businesses and vandalism against buildings such as banks were reported in several parts of the city, according to local newspaper Reforma.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First publication: October 12, 2024 | 9:45 am IST