Mexican Navy aircraft flew at low altitude over the mountain community of El Zapote de los Cázares, in the municipality of Mocorito, Sinaloa, on Saturday, July 11. The air-and-ground operation blocked access to the village starting at 8:00 a.m. and—according to unofficial reports—targeted the ranch of Fredy Angulo Soto, alias “El Yuko.” Angulo Soto is the commander of the “Yuko Special Forces” and a former ally of Los Chapitos who has since become an operative for the Guasave Cartel.
Videos circulated on social media showed what appeared to be a Texan T6C aircraft and a Mexican Navy Black Hawk helicopter flying over the rooftops and streets of a community with fewer than 100 inhabitants. The village is located 40 kilometers south of Badiraguato—the hometown of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán—and 70 kilometers north of Culiacán.
Local media and social media users posted images of pickup trucks—apparently mounted with weapons—near the houses. *El Sol de Sinaloa* also reported a shootout and a chase that resulted in vehicles being damaged by tire-puncturing devices later that same Saturday.
“All that flying over our rooftops—over us and our homes—is intimidating. It is the children who always suffer and get scared,” a resident told the local outlet *Noroeste*.
