Alleged Sinaloa Cartel gunmen opened fire on an army convoy and set fire to vehicles to create blazing “narco-blockades” in Culiacán on Thursday, but no deaths or injuries were reported.
The chaos unfolded in a rural area north of the Sinaloa state capital where accused drug trafficker Ovidio Guzmán López — one of the sons of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera — was arrested in January 2023.
🚨 #AHORA | Se registran bloqueos en la salida norte de #Culiacán, #Sinaloa, luego de un enfrentamiento entre grupos armados y elementos del Ejército mexicano en la localidad de Jesús María.
📹 @noticieristas / Redes sociales pic.twitter.com/S76Suefcaj
— Luis Alberto Medina (@elalbertomedina) August 29, 2024
There was speculation on Thursday afternoon that the violence was unleashed in response to the capture of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, another of El Chapo’s sons.
However, Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya said that no arrests were made in the area, and also reported that no deaths or injuries occurred.
The flare-up of violence came exactly five weeks after alleged Sinaloa Cartel leaders Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López — another son of El Chapo — were arrested in the United States after flying into an airport near El Paso, Texas, on a private plane.
The Sinaloa Public Security Ministry (SSP) said late Thursday afternoon that it was aware that military personnel were attacked in Ejido Peñasco, a community north of the city of Culiacán.
In another post to X, the SSP said that blockades had been set up on Federal Highway 15 near the community of El Limón de los Ramos, Sinaloa.
Buses, trucks and other vehicles were seized and set alight by alleged cartel members, who also laid spike strips on various roads. Their objective was to prevent additional security forces from reaching an area that the newspaper El Universal called the “land of Los Chapitos,” as the sons of El Chapo are collectively known.
Videos posted to social media showed various vehicles on fire, and gunfire could be heard in some other clips. The footage fueled speculation that the state capital was facing another culiacanazo, as each of the deadly cartel responses to separate captures of Ovidio Guzmán in 2019 and 2023 is known.
The Sinaloa Security Ministry and Governor Rocha called on citizens to “remain calm.”
“The situation that has emerged is being attended to and is concentrated outside the city,” Rocha said on X.
He said that security forces of all three levels of government responded to the attack on the army and that “civilians” consequently set vehicles alight. Rocha said that just two vehicles were set on fire, whereas some media outlets reported “dozens” of burning buses and trucks.
Firefighters were eventually able to extinguish the fiery narco-blockades. The burnt-out vehicles were removed and Highway 15 reopened north of Culiacán.
The events of Thursday afternoon disrupted public transport services and caused traffic chaos. The Autonomous University of Sinaloa suspended classes, but some students were reportedly unable to return to their homes due to the narco-blockades and public transport disruptions.
The attack on the army came less than two weeks after the federal government dispatched additional troops to Sinaloa in the wake of a wave of homicides linked to organized crime.
Ten homicides on Aug. 16 and 17 were linked to organized crime, and appeared to be the result of Sinaloa Cartel infighting following the arrests of Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López. Zambada alleges that he was kidnapped by Guzmán López, forced onto a private plane and taken to the United States against his will.
Two of “Los Chapitos” are now in United States custody as Ovidio Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. last September. He was first captured in October 2019, but released by federal forces after cartel gunmen carried out a wave of attacks that terrorized Culiacán residents.
At least 10 soldiers and 19 alleged criminals were killed after the second capture of Ovidio Guzmán on Jan. 5, 2023.
His brothers Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, both of whom are wanted in the United States on drug charges, remain at large.
The U.S. government is offering rewards of up to US $10 million for information that leads to their capture.
With reports from Reforma, El Universal, El País and El Financiero
