In the heartland of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, violence rages as the old ways change. Cellphone chats have become death sentences in the ongoing factional war inside Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel. Cartel gunmen stop youths on the street or in their cars and demand their phones. If they find a contact who’s a member of a rival faction, a chat with a wrong word or a photo with the wrong person is enough to condemn the phone owner to death.
Next, they’ll go after everyone on that person’s contact list, forming a potential chain of kidnapping, torture, and death. This has left residents of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, too afraid to even leave home at night, much less visit towns just a few miles away where many have weekend retreats.
Ismael Bojórquez, a veteran journalist in Culiacan, said, “You can’t go five minutes out of the city…not even in daylight. Why? Because the narcos have set up roadblocks and they stop you and search through your cellphone.”
And it’s not just your own chats: If a person is traveling in a car with others, one bad contact or chat can get the whole group kidnapped. This happened to the son of a local news photographer who was stopped with two other youths and something was found on one of their phones; all three disappeared.
Calls were made, and the photographer’s son was eventually released, but the other two were never seen again. Residents of Culiacan had long been accustomed to a day or two of violence now and then. The presence of the Sinaloa cartel is woven into everyday life there, and people knew to stay indoors when they saw the convoys of double-cab pickups racing through the streets.
However, they have never seen the month-long fighting that broke out between factions of the Sinaloa cartel after drug lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were arrested in the United States on July 25. The arrest led to a violent battle between Zambada’s faction and the “Chapitos” group led by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Andrés Manuel López Obrador had little problem with the existence and local dominance of drug cartels as long as they didn’t make headlines.
Now that the violence has boiled over, the government has sent in hundreds of army troops to try and regain control. But irregular urban combat in the heart of a city of 1 million inhabitants — against a cartel that has lots of .50-caliber sniper rifles and machine guns — is not the army’s specialty.
Squads of soldiers went into a luxury apartment complex in the city’s center to detain a suspect and they wound up shooting to death a young lawyer who was merely a bystander. López, the peace activist, has been asking for soldiers and police to be posted outside schools, so children can return to classes — most are currently taking online classes because their parents judge it too dangerous to take them to school.
The local army commander recently acknowledged that it’s up to the cartel factions — not authorities — when the violence will stop. “In Culiacan, there is not even faith anymore that we will be safe, with police or soldiers,” López said, noting that this has had a clear effect on daily life and the economy.
Local businesses tried to organize evening “tardeadas” for residents who were afraid to go out after dark, but they didn’t draw enough customers. Young people are not interested in going out right now. For those looking to get away from the violence temporarily, the seaside resort of Mazatlan was once a popular escape route — just 2½ hours away by car.
But that’s no longer an option since last month when cartel gunmen hijacked passenger buses, forced the tourists off, and burned the vehicles to block the road to Mazatlan. Those who have the economic resources are left with one option: they can get out of the city by airplane to take a break. The rest are stuck in Culiacan, living in fear of the cartel’s violence and unable to escape.
This is a story of how the Sinaloa cartel has taken over the city of Culiacan, Mexico, and how the government’s inability to stop the violence has left residents trapped in a cycle of fear. The old ways have changed, and the new reality is one of violence and terror, with cellphone chats becoming death sentences for those who dare to cross the cartel’s path.
The government’s response has been inadequate, and the people are paying the price. The army has been deployed, but it’s not equipped to handle urban combat against a well-armed cartel. The police are too afraid to patrol the streets, and the citizens are left to fend for themselves.
The situation is dire, and it seems like there’s no end in sight. The people of Culiacan live in constant fear, unsure when or if the violence will stop. They’re trapped in a nightmare from which they can’t wake up, and it’s up to the government to take action and restore order to their city.
The future is uncertain, but one thing is clear: the Sinaloa cartel has taken over Culiacan, and it’s up to the authorities to do something about it. The people are waiting for a solution, but so far, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. The violence continues, and the city remains in a state of lockdown.
It’s time for the government to take action and restore order to Culiacan. The people deserve better than living in fear of the cartel’s violence. They deserve peace, safety, and security. It’s up to the authorities to provide it to them. The situation is dire, but there’s still hope for a better future.
The Sinaloa cartel has been a thorn in the side of the Mexican government for years, and it’s high time they took action to stop its violence. The people of Culiacan are suffering, and it’s up to the authorities to do something about it.
Source: Yahoo News
