The Pacific coast state of Sinaloa experienced another outburst of violence overnight Wednesday as an eight-month long civil war between rival cartel factions spilled onto the highways around the state capital, Culiacán.
Police and National Guard units responded to reports of highway blockades and shoot-outs between civilians that left the region on edge through Thursday morning.
8 months of a Sinaloa Cartel Civil War and the state has some of it’s worst fighting yet. The toll of death and disappearances has reached the thousands. Economic damage is huge. Shame the world doesn’t care much. https://t.co/Ev6wUqnHsB
— Ioan Grillo (@ioangrillo) May 8, 2025
The focus of the narco-blockades was Highway 15, which connects Culiacán with Los Mochis to the north and Mazatlán to the south.
The Sinaloa Security Ministry (SSP) said that federal, state and local authorities had removed seven separate roadblocks consisting of vehicles, several of which had been set ablaze. There were no reports of arrests or injuries.
Blockades were initially reported north of Culiacán within a four-kilometer stretch of Highway 15 near a cluster of motels. A tractor-trailer, a cargo truck and a pick-up truck were set on fire in a high-traffic area on the northern outskirts of the capital.
National Guard units responded, working from 1 a.m. through 5 a.m. to restore order and clear the roads.
Local residents reported hearing gunfire and videos circulating on social media appeared to show armed men departing the scene in pick-up trucks. State officials also confirmed that drones were sighted near at least one of the blockades, though it was not clear if they belonged to security personnel or the crime gangs involved.
The blockades were preceded by violent confrontations late Wednesday in nine municipalities, including in Novolato, west of Culiacán. There were also shootouts reported in Pericos — 49 km north of Culiacán on Highway 15 — and Mocorito, 65 km further north.
On Tuesday morning, a blockade near Elota — about halfway between Culiacán and Mazatlán — snarled traffic on Highway 15 for several hours.
Saturday night saw multiple blockades in and around Mazatlán. Armed men forced truckers to abandon their vehicles, used them to block several highways and then set them on fire. Dozens of vehicles were also used to block the highway to Culiacán.
The recent surge in violence comes amid ongoing efforts by authorities to combat crime and restore order in the region.
Sinaloa has been wracked by violence since early September, when clashes between armed civilians and the Army occurred in the La Campiña neighborhood of Culiacán.
The infighting was stirred up by a long-running feud that intensified after the arrest in the U.S. of two rival drug kingpins, one of whom claimed he was kidnapped and flown to New Mexico by the other, who turned himself in to U.S. authorities.
With reports from El Sol de Sinaloa, El Sol de Mazatlán and Infobae
