Everything has turned into an authentic Greek tragedy — a tragedy acted out in the very life of Sinaloa. The characters go from glory to pathetic ruin, fortune changes suddenly, and passions become disasters. In the end, Greek drama is simply about the human condition.
A chaotic week accelerated history in the middle of spring, with three events that define us completely: a multiple murder, an accusation from beyond the borders that implies the removal of Governor Rocha, and the murder of the leader of a tiny labor union. The three events appear unrelated, yet all are deeply rooted in the state itself.
Every time it seems there is no room left for astonishment, something even worse happens in a land that for 20 months has suffered everything, all the time, and everywhere.
On Monday, April 27, a lone killer murdered four women in seconds. Shara and Teresa were sitting on the porch of a shop in the Mercadito, a cluster of businesses where the number of murders over the past year and a half has become impossible to count. They were talking like two neighbors saying goodbye to the day. Karely and Itzel were waiting in a pickup truck for the driver delivering a job; they were mother and daughter. The story is so cruel that describing it feels as though it keeps happening over and over. The man shoots and shoots again. A cold-blooded atrocity.
The murders of Shara, Teresa, Karely, and Itzel at the Mercadito barely attract anyone’s attention. It is tragic that such infamy is not even considered worth telling.
From something seemingly local to something global — revealing what Sinaloa has become. On Wednesday the 29th — though everything had been prepared months earlier — the American justice system launched one of those missiles they call surgical strikes. Whoever presses the button does not even dirty their fingers. Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, formally charged ten officials from Sinaloa before a court, some currently in office, including elected officials, and others retired for months or years.
The United States, in the role of Zeus, hurled a lightning bolt and disaster struck. The unprecedented attack by the capricious god arrived with the swagger characteristic of these new times. The accusation against part of the highest ranks of political, police, and prosecutorial power shattered every diplomatic and legal protocol between two countries; at the same time, it perfectly embodied the noise, surprise, and overwhelming force so admired by those who wield power in the feared neighboring country. It bears Trump’s signature.
And worst of all, they achieved their purpose with ruthless precision. An unexpected act marks the fate of the characters, and like dominoes falling, requests for leave begin arriving from the Governor, the Mayor…
In this crucial week for Sinaloa, the April 30 attack on the elected leader of the Culiacán City Workers’ Union (STASAC), Homar Salas, was merely the culmination of a violent succession struggle. It is established that the attack against Sergio Torres — a longtime Sinaloa politician, former gubernatorial candidate, current state deputy, and leader of Movimiento Ciudadano — originated in the fierce battle for control of STASAC. It cost Homar Salas and an associate their lives. Now the union bears the tragedy of its leader’s murder and is left headless just 15 days before taking office. Everything returns to the beginning. Who cares so much about controlling STASAC that they are willing to kill anyone in the way?
The United States’ accusations against the ten officials and former officials provoked a political crisis in Sinaloa, adding to the ongoing security crisis. But it also reaches the presidency of Sheinbaum, who for months has been juggling Trump’s constant accusations.
Political campaign
Barely two days passed between the presentation of the allegations and the governor’s request for leave. The god Zeus achieved his first objective: destabilization and reinforcing his rhetoric that crime rules Mexico.
The U.S. justice system loves Hollywood-style spectacle and an offensive hypocrisy, always pointing out corruption among its neighbors because, according to them, the mafias are never inside their own borders. But one must acknowledge their persistence: they do not abandon targets once they are marked. The clearest example is Rafael Caro Quintero, whom after 30 years they finally managed to place in one of their prison cells.
Although it may seem that the Greek tragedy has ended, it may only be beginning. Governing Sinaloa has historically been a succession of events where the stench of narcotrafficking eventually splashes all the way to the top. There has not been a single case without that constant since Leopoldo Sánchez Celis. It seems that governing Sinaloa without the shadow of drug trafficking has become an impossible task.
