One year after drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was arrested in the United States, deaths continue to appear every day, shootings erupt when least expected, and extortion charges continue unabated, say residents and business owners in the capital of Sinaloa.
The state governed by Morena’s Rubén Rocha has reported more than 1,500 deaths since September, when the war between “Los Mayitos” and “Los Chapitos,” factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, began.
An average of nearly six deaths per day. The high number of murders caused the state to surpass Guanajuato in cases of this crime last June: 207 victims, 10.5 percent of the national total, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
Guanajuato, which always appeared in first place, reported 171 cases, 8.7 percent of the total.
“The dead keep appearing, not so much in downtown Culiacán, but on the outskirts, in the municipalities, toward Aguaruto, toward Costa Rica, those areas, there are little dead people all the time,” says a taxi driver.
“We hardly ever go there; there’s a lot of government and operations, but Sinaloa is still hurting, it’s not recovering, and that will take years,” she says.
Commerce is also suffering, says the president of the Huizaches market.
“We need an urgent revival of commerce, in all of Culiacán’s businesses. We’re here so the President can listen to us, especially with what’s happening here. There’s a drop in business, it’s affecting all of Culiacán’s merchants, sales are down 70 percent,” estimates the business leader, who prefers to remain anonymous.
In the face of the drug war, fear is pervasive among residents. “We have to go out to work. There have been staff cuts. People don’t want to leave their homes. They prefer to sell empanadas from their homes rather than go out and expose themselves, because there’s fear of moving. Before, there were 15 of us here; now there are only four of us,” laments Efraín, a waiter at a restaurant in Los Portales, downtown.
“The shooting can take you anywhere,” his colleague interrupts. On Álvaro Obregón Avenue, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, dozens of businesses have their shutters down.
“It’s not normal. The center is meant to be filled with sales and people shopping. It’s obviously not normal,” notes Fernanda, a cafe manager.
“No restaurant is open past 9 or 10 at night. You don’t see cars on the streets after 11 at night. We’re experiencing a psychosis,” adds a taxi driver.
“And they don’t shoot with pistols. In shootouts, the men (organized crime) shoot with M-16s, AK-45s, AR-15s, and they break into cars and guts,” she warns.
Yesterday, security in Culiacán concentrated around the Children’s Hospital, where President Claudia Sheinbaum inaugurated an expansion of its services.
In the midst of the security crisis in Sinaloa, the President affirmed that crime will not defeat the authorities.
“The Ministry of Defense, the Navy, and the Ministry of Security are there, in coordination with state forces, and we will move forward. Because they cannot defeat us, they will not defeat us. We will move forward. The federal government reaffirms its support for Sinaloa in matters of health and security,” she emphasized.
This came amid the controversy sparked by statements from Jeffrey Lichtman, Ovidio Guzmán’s lawyer in the US, who accused the President of acting as “the public relations arm of a drug trafficking organization.”
The war between drug trafficking factions has left more than 1,500 dead in the state.
However, the President, in an off-schedule message, highlighted the reinforcements carried out by the Armed Forces in the state.
“We will never leave the state of Sinaloa, nor the population in general, alone with our full support and solidarity. Sinaloa belongs to hardworking men and women; they have endured difficulties due to security, drought, and various other hardships. We are here to support, and today, in particular, brings us the issue of health,” she reiterated in a makeshift room at the Culiacán Children’s Hospital.
Facing a crestfallen Governor (Rubén Rocha), the President left the responses to the violence to the Security Cabinet and announced that the heads of the security forces will visit Sinaloa every two weeks.
“They will be coming constantly and talking with you. But we are doing everything necessary,” she stated.
Ovidio Guzmán made a splash during the presidential tour of Sinaloa. At the press conference at the Pediatric Hospital, the President cleared her administration of any responsibility in the judicial process related to the extradition of “El Ratón,” emphasizing that this matter falls exclusively within the jurisdiction of the Attorney General’s Office.
She described the statements made by Guzmán’s defense attorney as “disrespectful” and asserted that the federal government does not establish relations of complicity or collusion, emphasizing that the actions in this case took place within the framework of international extradition treaties in force between Mexico and the United States.
“The Attorney General’s Office is responsible for complying with the extradition order and maintaining coordination with the United States Department of Justice. This is not a political decision; it is a judicial matter based on the law,” she emphasized.
The statements were made after Ovidio Guzmán pleaded guilty in the US to several drug trafficking offenses. After the conference, the President, who entered smiling, left looking serious.
Source: vanguardia
