Mexican Governor Asks Warring Sinaloa Cartel Factions for Peace

Sinaloa Patrol (1)
Sinaloa State Police
Ildefonso Ortiz

The governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa asked the various factions of the drug cartel that controls his state for peace. The request followed a series of killings tied to infighting within the criminal organization. The killings emerged after the apparent kidnapping and surrendering to U.S. authorities of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada by the Chapitos faction of the organization.

During a news conference this week, Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya revealed that his state was increasing its military and police forces and asked the public to remain calm.

“Myself, just like the president, what I want is peace,” Rocha Moya said. “We have to ask it to whomever, to the violence generators (Sinaloa Cartel) themselves I ask: don’t impact the tranquility of the citizens, the people, the boys and girls.”

Rocha Moya revealed that in recent days, there had been ten murders related to infighting within “violence generators” — a phrase the politician used to avoid calling the Sinaloa Cartel by name. Breitbart Texas reported this week that one of those ten killings was Martin Garcia Corrales, a top associate of El Mayo for whom the U.S. Department of Justice was offering a $4 million reward.

That killing and nine others that took place in a span of days are believed to be linked to the mysterious turn of events that led to El Mayo’s arrest. Details as to what exactly happened remain unclear; however, the current theory points to El Mayo meeting a local politician and others. After arriving at that meeting, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Mayo’s former partner Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, allegedly had his gunmen overpower El Mayo and his security detail.

The gunmen then forced El Mayo onto an airplane and flew to a private airport in New Mexico, just west of El Paso, Texas, where Joaquin turned himself in and surrendered El Mayo to U.S. authorities. It is widely speculated that Los Chapitos sought a deal with U.S. prosecutors.

The perceived betrayal by Los Chapitos led to much speculation about a brewing war within the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful cartels in the world. The U.S. State Department blamed Los Chapitos and the Sinaloa Cartel as the ones largely responsible for the current fentanyl crisis, Breitbart Texas reported.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.     

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