Neutral! The Internal War Of The Sinaloa Cartel Is Between Mayos And Chapos Gunmen

The conflict generated a wave of violence in the south-central part of Sinaloa, affecting municipalities such as Rosario, San Ignacio and Culiacán, while in the northern zone no incidents have been recorded.

Neutrality in the conflict: Support of bosses to factions of the Sinaloa Cartel is ruled out 

Sources close to Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, alias El Chapito Isidro, and Óscar Manuel Gastélum, alias El Músico, confirmed to MILENIO that they aren’t participating in the conflict that has been going on since September 9 for control of the Sinaloa Cartel, between the factions of Los Mayos and Los Chapos.

“This is totally false. At all times they have remained neutral in the conflict between these two groups. They haven’t participated,” said one of the sources.

This conflict plunged part of the state into a cruel wave of violence that left dozens dead, missing, narco-blockades and generated a collective psychosis in society, which fears being hit as a collateral victim.

Various newspaper articles and content on social networks suggested that both bosses are providing economic and military support to El Mayito Flaco’s faction. However, another source denied this claim and reiterated that their position in the conflict is neutral.

“The claims of journalists and some content creators who don’t show their sources, or even their faces, are completely unfounded,” added the source.

However, the clashes between these two groups were concentrated in the central-southern area of ​​Sinaloa, mainly affecting the municipalities of Rosario, San Ignacio, Elota, Cósala and Culiacán, where both criminal groups maintain areas of control.

According to official figures from the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office and the state’s Public Security Secretariat, in their daily reports of concentrated criminal events, no incidents related to the current dispute have been recorded in the northern zone.

Since then, analysts, journalists and creators of content on social networks have tried to interpret the internal struggle of the Sinaloa Cartel and to organize the factions in favor of one side or the other, even adding other organizations outside the cartel.

A source from the Attorney General’s Office confirmed to MILENIO that El Chapito Isidro and El Músico currently control the municipalities of Guasave, Sinaloa, and the city of Los Mochis, in the north of Sinaloa.

In this last city, last Friday, drug flyers appeared thrown from a small plane, a smaller-scale replica of a similar action in Culiacán, where this publicity was “covered.”

On this subject, the sources agreed that “this was done with bad intentions, these leaflets were thrown in the northern zone (Mochis) to make people believe that the conflict also exists in the northern part or the supposed participation of people from the northern zone in said conflict.”

The psychosis of violence inside and outside Sinaloa led society to believe that the rivalry between these groups extends to the entire state, fearing that the escalation of violence will reach other municipalities. 

However, almost a month after the conflict, this hasn’t happened.

Source: Milenio