A Cold War Is Raging Inside the Sinaloa Cartel Following El Mayo's Capture

by Victoria Dittmar and Mike LaSusa
20 Aug 2024

On a deserted, unpaved street in the rural community of La Loma, a young man in his twenties stands on a street corner in the early hours of a cloudy morning. On his hip he holds several walkie-talkies and at least one pistol.

His eyes scan his surroundings, registering who is walking down the street, who is heading for the cornfields on the outskirts of town, and anyone behaving suspiciously. If unknown cars pass by, the young man radios his colleagues, and two people on motorcycles immediately appear to chase the vehicle down and make sure they are not intruders.

La Loma has eyes like this everywhere. With just over a thousand inhabitants, the town lies next to Federal Highway 15D, which, according to several sources consulted by InSight Crime, is one of the invisible borders that carve up the areas controlled by either the Mayiza or the Chapitos here in Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa.

Both groups are factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. The first is linked to Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias “El Mayo,” who was arrested on July 25 at a private airport in New Mexico in the United States, and will be tried in federal court on various drug trafficking charges. The second group includes four of the sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo,” who has been behind bars in the United States since 2017.

More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/cold-war-raging-inside-sinaloa-cartel-following-el-mayo-capture/