More than 551 dead (7 murders per day); 18 billion pesos in economic losses and 25 thousand jobs at risk of being lost is the tragic result of the war between drug traffickers that Sinaloa has been experiencing for almost three months. The day after tomorrow it will be 90 days since the armed conflict broke out between the two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel that are fighting for control of this criminal organization, the Mayitos and the Chapitos, whose armed confrontations have terrorized the population, paralyzed the economy and the activities of Culiacán and its inhabitants, and have altered the normality and security of the people of Sinaloa.
All this occurs amid the ineptitude and complacency of the state and federal authorities who, far from using the armed force of the State to neutralize and put in order the two groups of drug traffickers, have dedicated themselves to looking for all kinds of pretexts to justify their lack of courage and capacity to pacify Sinaloa. From blaming the United States “for having taken Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada,” to saying that the violence will only end “until the two groups come to an agreement”; arguing that “the violence is exaggerated and only isolated incidents”; or the latest, justifying that they will stop the drug war, but “it will not happen overnight.”
And while the federal and state authorities only manage to stammer pretexts and justifications, life in Sinaloa and mainly in its capital Culiacán has become tense, uncertain and completely abnormal for its inhabitants. Shops and establishments that barely open a few hours during the day due to the absence of customers; children who stopped attending school; a nightlife that ceased to exist because the culichis lock themselves in their houses between 5 and 7 at night for fear of being caught in crossfire, an explosion or a shootout, is the new reality that is lived in the capital of Sinaloa.
A good example of how abandoned the people of Sinaloa are in this armed struggle between drug traffickers is what happened yesterday when the inhabitants of Culiacán woke up in the early morning amid a loud bang from an explosion on the outskirts of the city. The explosion that shook several neighborhoods was immediately reported on social media with videos and images of a column of fire and smoke that kept families awake.
Hours later, the version of what happened differed according to the authority that reported it: the Secretary of State Security, Gerardo Mérida, said that it was the explosion of a car tank that caused the bang; the Secretary of Federal Security, Omar García Harfuch, denied from the National Palace that it was a “car bomb” and attributed the explosion to “a drone with explosives”; while the governor of the state, Rubén Rocha Moya, said that it was a “firecracker with a fuse operated by a drone.” If they don’t even have a clear idea of what is happening in this war between drug traffickers, how are they expected to control it?
Because until now no military operation has worked to prevent the clashes between Los Mayos and Los Chapos. Neither the first contingents of the Army and the National Guard, which were between 200 and 300 soldiers sent to reinforce security in the state, nor the 2,500 military personnel counted on October 23 in Culiacán and its surroundings, nor the 100 “elite” soldiers who arrived in the state on November 25, have been sufficient or efficient to end the clashes and attacks between the two sides of drug traffickers, which has entered into a kind of “guerrilla war” with which they evade and neutralize the military presence and continue to terrorize the civilian population.
Another graphic and forceful example that the federal government has not known how or has not wanted to end the confrontation between Los Mayos and Los Chapos was the visit of the entire security cabinet, which occurred on October 8, when the secretaries of Defense, Ricardo Trevilla, of the Navy, Raymundo Pedro Morales, and the “super secretary” of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, went to Culiacán to review the military operations underway, and boasted, with a video of them walking through the streets (heavily guarded, though) a supposed “normality and tranquility” in the state capital.
Yesterday, faced with the overwhelming official data revealing no progress in his strategy to pacify Sinaloa (45 dead in August when the war broke out; 144 in September; 188 in October, and 175 in November for a total of 551 violent murders in the 3 months) Secretary García Harfuch acknowledged in the morning press conference that neither the previous nor this government have been able to stop the confrontation between drug traffickers that is having very high human, economic and psychological costs for the Sinaloa population: “This will be resolved, it is not overnight, it is a constant job,” said the “super secretary” yesterday.
And while Governor Rocha Moya insists on minimizing the seriousness of the situation, and maintains that the murders “are exaggerated by a political perspective” which he blames “on the right,” the reality is that the people of Sinaloa are desperate and fed up with living in a state of war, where normal life has been altered, economic activity has declined, to the point of threatening the closure of businesses and sources of employment, and social mood is seriously affected by a state of psychological tension, fear and uncertainty.
So here is the question that local journalists asked General Francisco Jesús Leana Ojeda, commander of the Third Military Region in Sinaloa, on September 16: When will the violence in Sinaloa end and will tranquility and normality return to the life of the productive state? That time the Mexican Army general responded that “it does not depend on us, but on them (the drug traffickers) who fight and take lives, who come to an agreement.” Now the last answer we have from García Harfuch is that “it will be resolved, but it will not happen overnight.” Could it be that the secretary thinks that 3 months, 551 human lives, 18 billion pesos in economic losses and the risk of losing up to 25 thousand jobs are not enough?
INDISCRETE NOTES… To document the severe economic effects that businesses and shops are suffering in Sinaloa, a delegation from Coparmex in the state, headed by its president, Martha Reyes, arrived yesterday at the Senate of the Republic to present an “Emergency Plan for Economic Recovery,” with which they seek the support of the federal government to defer the payment of taxes and thus be able to save the payment of bonuses and salaries to their employees. A commission of senators listened to the aid plan requested by companies and businesses in Sinaloa and promised to support them and to manage assistance from the Ministry of Finance for their requests for tax deferral without surcharges in the next two or three months. “Given the insensitivity and lack of response from state authorities, we have come desperately to seek federal support because most businesses can barely open a few hours and we have difficulty achieving sales and income due to the lack of clients because the population is not going out in a normal way,” the leader of Coparmex Sinaloa told us yesterday, who today will be received, along with the businessmen who accompany her, by the Undersecretary of Economy, Vidal Llerenas, to present her Emergency Economic Recovery Plan for the state. Let us hope that the heads of the Treasury and the Economy, Rogelio Ramírez and Marcelo Ebrard, show sensitivity in helping small and medium-sized businesses in Sinaloa, not only for the entrepreneurs, but rather for the workers whose jobs and income depend on these businesses and who, given the drop in sales and income, might not even receive their Christmas bonus. If the federal government has not been able to come up with the package to stop the drug war in Sinaloa, let us hope that they at least support merchants and entrepreneurs to avoid the closing of establishments and job losses… Yesterday, in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, an event occurred that clearly documents how divided and fractured the relationship is between the ministers who comprise it. It turns out that the reporters of the source received an invitation to a “year-end get-together with the ministers,” but when they arrived at the meeting they found that only 6 of the 10 ministers who currently comprise the plenary were present. The year-end meeting was headed by the Chief Justice, Norma Piña, who organized and invited it, and with her were only the ministers who make up her bloc: Juan Luis González, Margarita Ríos Farjat, Jorge Mario Pardo Rebolledo, Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena and Javier Laynez Potisek. When one of the reporters asked why the other four ministers Loretta Ortiz, Alberto Pérez Dayan, Yasmín Esquivel Mossa and Lenia Batres were not present, Minister Piña’s response was that they were not invited to the meeting. So what? Was it a year-end meeting with the ministers of the Court or with one of the blocs of the Court?It seems that even in the agony of the condemned, the lawsuits can be more than the institutionality and between the blocks of ministers they apply that discriminatory practice of NRDA… The dice are rolled. Another Snake fell. Bad luck.
Source: eluniversal
