More than 100 killed or missing as Sinaloa Cartel war rages in Mexico
Some 53 people have been killed and 51 others are missing in
Mexico's western Sinaloa state since rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel began
clashing on Sept 9, local authorities said on Friday, with gruesome violence
showing no signs of abating.
The trigger for the conflict between the two most powerful
factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, a drug gang, dates back to July, when legendary
trafficker and leader of one of those groupings, Ismael "El Mayo"
Zambada, was arrested in the United States.
Zambada, 74, alleges that a senior member of the Los
Chapitos, another faction of the cartel, kidnapped
him and then flew him to the United States against his will.
Since fighting broke out on Sept 9, shootouts have disrupted
daily life in the capital, Culiacan, where schools have had to close on some
days while restaurants and shops shuttered early.
Sinaloa governor Rubén Rocha Moya on Friday said more than
40 people have been arrested in recent days, while more than 5,000 food
packages have been handed out across Sinaloa.
Mexico's military, which has struggled to calm the violence,
on Thursday arrested the alleged head of security for Ivan Archivaldo Guzman,
the leader of Los Chapitos and son of jailed former Sinaloa kingpin, Joaquin
"El Chapo" Guzman.
Fernando Perez Medina, known as "El Piyi", was
captured in Culiacan, according to a federal security source.
Meanwhile, Mexico's Federal Attorney for Environmental
Protection (Profepa) said it was providing resources to local authorities to
feed a tigress tied to a tree. Senior Sinaloan narcos often keep tigers as pet
animals.
Profepa said in a statement that vets in Sinaloa had
declined to assist due to security fears, and it had provided military
officials with a "cage, a dart rifle and darts". But the violence had
prevented the military from rescuing it.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday
said that the United States was partly responsible for the instability because
they "carried out this operation", referencing the prior surrender
talks between U.S. officials and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the trafficker who
kidnapped Zambada.
U.S. officials have privately confirmed that they held talks
with Guzman but U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, last month said that
American officials were surprised to discover Zambada on U.S. soil.
Salazar added that no U.S. resources or personnel were
involved in the July 25 kidnapping of Zambada.
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