Saturday, May 24, 2025

Head of Sinaloa state police murdered on Culiacán-Los Mochis highway

The chief of Sinaloa’s state police was shot and killed Monday morning on the Culiacán-Los Mochis highway near the city of Guamúchil.

Joel Ernesto Soto was attacked while traveling alone at around 7:30, according to security sources.

He had escaped uninjured from an attempt on May 6 in Mazatlán, when suspected members of the Sinaloa Cartel attacked a state police convoy.

The state minister for public security, Cristóbal Castañeda, denounced the act of “cowardly aggression” and expressed his condolences to Soto’s family. “In a cowardly attack this morning, unfortunately, the director of the state police … lost his life. … Our condolences to the family and the people of Sinaloa who have lost a great man,” he wrote on Twitter.

Security in the state was reinforced after the May 6 attack, with patrols increased to monitor the main cities. The National Guard began an operation alongside state police on May 15.

In 1981, Soto joined the army, studying at the Heroico Colegio Militar in Mexico City and the Military Intelligence School.

In December 2018 he was appointed as director of the state police, having previously served as police chief in Mazatlán in 2017 and 2018.

Sources: Río Doce (sp), Reforma (sp), Infobae (sp), El País (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.

The MND News Quiz of the week: May 24th

0
Film festivals, naval ships and a lucky cyclist: How much attention have you been paying to the news this week?
Clients wait in line at Western Union, a popular money transfer service.

Any remittance tax is ‘absolutely unjust,’ Sheinbaum says, after US House lowers proposed tax to 3.5%

2
Millions of Mexican families would be impacted by the tax, which officials say violates treaties prohibiting double taxation.
Mexican navy ship at dock with seized bricks of cocaine.

Mexican Navy seizes more than 1,200 kilograms of cocaine in Michoacán

3
Federal authorities have now confiscated almost 40 metric tons of cocaine at sea since Sheinbaum took office last October.