Between forced disappearances, illegal detentions, and murders, this is how hundreds of Sinaloans have been living since September 9, 2024, the day that marked the beginning of one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s longest and most violent internal wars since its emergence in the 1990s.
The dispute began with the kidnapping and extradition to the United States of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the cartel, by Joaquín Guzmán López, son of his former partner, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera. This betrayal caused a rift in the relationship between the factions each of them led within the criminal organization: Los Chapitos and Los Mayos.
Although the Sinaloa Cartel has had two previous disputes over control of criminal enterprises over the years, this war has been described as the most violent and protracted by Sinaloan journalists, human rights defenders, and mothers searching for their missing loved ones who scour the land daily.
And the numbers don’t lie: disappearances and illegal detentions reflect the violence that Sinaloans have been experiencing daily for almost two years, despite the current deployment of more than 15,000 troops by the National Defense Secretariat (Defensa) in the region.
