President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that the wave of violence that has erupted since last week in the state of Sinaloa, in northwestern Mexico, has left 40 dead.
During his morning press conference, López Obrador indicated that 40 murders have been reported in Sinaloa from September 9 to 17, although he did not clarify whether the deaths are related to the armed clashes that two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have engaged in in recent days in the city of Culiacán, the state capital, and in the surrounding areas.
Since last week, the gang led by “Los Chapitos,” which includes the sons of the organization’s detained former leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, has clashed with followers of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, unleashing a wave of violence and death that has terrorized the population in Culiacán.
López Obrador attributed the spread of the crisis in Sinaloa, one of the 24 states with a majority pro-government political representation, to “sensationalism” and “propaganda of lies.” He said it was all part of a “campaign” promoted by his opponents to “discredit” his administration two weeks before the end of his term.
The president said that the murder rate in Sinaloa is lower than that of the central state of Guanajuato, which is one of the eight states governed by the opposition.
López Obrador’s announcement comes one day after the outgoing Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, reported that since September 9 to date, 30 civilians and two military personnel – an officer and a soldier – have died in the midst of armed clashes between the two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Local media reported that four bodies, some of them decapitated and without hands, were found on two roads in Culiacán on Wednesday, but authorities have not provided any information about the cases.
The wave of violence in Sinaloa has not been contained despite the federal government sending 2,200 members of the army and the National Guard to protect the population.
The clashes between the two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel occur several weeks after the arrest of Zambada, which occurred in late July in the United States, along with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of “El Chapo,” who allegedly set a trap for Zambada, kidnapped him and took him to Texas, in an operation with many questions that uncovered some links between Sinaloa politicians and the cartel.
Businesses and companies in Culiacan, home to nearly a million people, decided Tuesday to restart their activities after a week of partial shutdown, Sergio Alvarez, president of the delegation of the National Chamber of the Manufacturing Industry in the capital of Sinaloa, told AP.
Sinaloa’s education authorities ordered classes to resume on Tuesday after a week of suspension, but the measure was not heeded by the population. During a tour of a deserted secondary school, Sinaloa’s Education Secretary, Catalina Esparza Navarrete, complained about school absenteeism. “I don’t see any danger,” she said in a video posted on social media. “I’m alone, I don’t have a driver, I don’t have bodyguards, because then they say it’s dangerous to move,” she added.
The Sinaloa government launched a security operation in schools on Wednesday to reassure the population and get educational activities to resume.
Despite the actions of the authorities, fear remains among the inhabitants of Culiacán, especially after the commander of the third military region and highest authority of the Sinaloa Army, General Jesús Leana Ojeda, admitted on Monday that the possibility of the situation calming down in Sinaloa “does not depend on us, it depends on the antagonistic groups to stop their confrontations with each other.”
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