A day after pledging Sunday to keep federal security forces in Sinaloa “as long as necessary,” President Sheinbaum on Monday repeated her conviction that U.S. interference precipitated the cartel turf war plaguing the troubled state. The violence, previously centered in Culiacán and rural areas, has spread south in recent months to the resort city of Mazatlán.

While in Culiacán, the Sinaloa state capital, on Sunday, Sheinbaum said Governor Graciela Domínguez can count on the complete support of the federal government.

Domínguez has been in office for less than a month after being appointed on Aug. 25 to replace Rubén Rocha, who was indicted by U.S. federal prosecutors for alleged links to drug trafficking.

“First and foremost, all federal forces … will remain here for as long as necessary,” she said. “We will not withdraw any element of the Army, the National Guard or the Navy; they will continue to support the governor and, above all, the people of Sinaloa.”

The state has been embroiled in a civil war between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel for two years, becoming what El País newspaper has described as “the biggest political crisis of Sheinbaum’s term.”

As the turf war spread to Mazatlán this summer, the government has deployed thousands of federal troops to the resort city, including 1,000 marines and over 800 Public Security Ministry agents last week. Despite an increase in military presence, homicides in Mazatlán outpaced killings in the larger city of Culiacán in August.

Sinaloa’s economy is facing a historic downturn, driven by severe security challenges and cartel-related violence, leading to a contraction of 4.5% in this year’s first quarter.

On Sunday, Sheinbaum blamed foreign interference for the current situation and then doubled down on that claim during her daily press conference on Monday.

“We don’t want interference from any foreign government in our territory,” she said on Sunday. “Interference generates violence, whereas cooperation for development generates peace.”

Sheinbaum said that before the U.S. “extraction” of drug kingpin Ismael Zambada, the murder rate in Sinaloa was low (“less than one homicide per day,” she claimed). Since then, violence has escalated, producing significant crime rates.

Sunday’s visit was Sheinbaum’s first to the state since the indictments against Rocha and nine other government and law enforcement officials from the state were made public in April.

To address the challenges, Sheinbaum said federal officials would travel in stages to Sinaloa; Security Cabinet officials will visit this week, followed by officials from the Agriculture Ministry.

“There will be no shortage of money to support farmers,” she said, acknowledging that agriculture is the backbone of the state’s economy.

With reports from N+, La Jornada and El País