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Mexican media reported at least 10 new deaths this weekend — including corpses found wearing sombreros or with pizza slices pegged onto them with knives — in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, where rival cartel factions have been in open conflict with each other and authorities in recent days.
The uptick in violence comes after the surprise arrest on U.S. soil of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in late July, which is believed to have unleashed an internal power struggle within the group.
Around 70 people have been killed in the state since September 9, mostly in the capital city Culiacan, according to official and press tallies.
Three incidents occurred on Saturday in the central Tres Rios area of Culiacan.
The first was a shootout between police and alleged hitmen, after which unknown individuals blockaded a road with cars and motorcycles about 650 feet from the prosecutor’s office.
Separately, security agents were attacked by gunmen who then fled into an apartment building. An ensuing shootout left three alleged criminals dead, one arrested and two soldiers injured, Governor Ruben Rocha Moya wrote on social media.
“The security forces managed to evacuate six adults and a minor from the property where the aggressors were taking refuge,” said Rocha, who traveled on Saturday to Mexico City to meet with president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum.
The federal government also sent 600 soldiers on Saturday to reinforce security in Sinaloa.
Local media also reported seven other deaths. The bodies of five people were left in the street, half-naked and wearing hats, in what is presumed to be a message of intimidation between the warring factions.
Bodies have appeared across the city, often left slung out on the streets or in cars with either sombreros on their heads or pizza slices or boxes pegged onto them with knives. The pizzas and sombreros have become informal symbols for the warring cartel factions, underscoring the brutality of their warfare.
IVAN MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images
Zambada, 76, was arrested on July 25 after flying across the US border. He claims he was kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will.
He was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offenses. Last year, El Chapo sent an “SOS” message to Mexico’s president, alleging that he has been subjected to “psychological torment” in prison.
The wave of violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada.
Zambada pleaded not guilty last week in New York in a drug trafficking case that accuses him of engaging in murder plots and ordering torture.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leaves office at the end of the month, has placed partial blame on the United States, saying it unilaterally planned Zambada’s capture.
The claim was rejected by U.S. ambassador Ken Salazar on Saturday.
“It is incomprehensible how the United States can be responsible for the massacres we see in different places,” Salazar said in a news conference in Chihuahua on Saturday. “What is being seen in Sinaloa is not the fault of the United States.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
