For criminal organizations, controlling El Rosario—located in southern Sinaloa—represents far more than mere dominion over a municipality; it means securing a strategic outlet toward Nayarit, the Pacific highway corridors, and the routes connecting the Sierra (mountainous highlands) to the coast.
It was in this community—part of the greater Mazatlán area—that the first fiber-optic-controlled drones (the most advanced on the market) were discovered.
Amid the fracturing of the Sinaloa Cartel, the region gained importance due to its location between Mazatlán and the Nayarit border, as well as its access to mountain communities where the rugged terrain makes constant surveillance by security forces difficult.
The municipality is part of a corridor linking the mountainous zones of Sinaloa and Durango to Federal Highway 15 and the Mazatlán-Tepic toll road—two key routes for transporting goods, passengers, and cargo to the country’s western and central regions.
This connectivity made El Rosario a crucial piece of territory for drug trafficking networks. Controlling its rural roads, junctions, and highway access points facilitates movement between the mountains and the coast while maintaining a land link to Nayarit.
How did its logistical significance grow?
The municipality’s importance was heightened by the conflict between the “Los Chapitos” and “Los Mayos” factions that erupted in September 2024, following the arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in the United States.
The dispute reshaped areas of criminal influence across Sinaloa, extending its impact beyond Culiacán to rural communities, mountain municipalities, and corridors connecting to other states.
Unlike the state capital—where the confrontation gained notoriety through killings, disappearances, roadblocks, and armed attacks—the strategic value in the south of the state lay in maintaining mobility routes and connection points with other regions.
El Rosario holds a key position on that map. To the north, it maintains connections with Mazatlán and Concordia; to the south, it links with Escuinapa and Nayarit, while its internal roads provide access to communities in the mountain region.
Furthermore, Federal Highway 15 and the Mazatlán-Tepic highway form part of the logistics corridor connecting Sinaloa with Tepic, Guadalajara, and other markets in western Mexico.
In territorial terms, controlling this strip would mean maintaining a mobility alternative amidst federal operations and confrontations occurring elsewhere in Sinaloa.
Links between El Rosario, drug trafficking, and the federal government
However, the corridor’s geographic importance does not in itself prove that a specific faction currently controls the municipality, nor does it confirm a specific drug-trafficking route.
The presence of “Los Chapitos” in this area was documented during various federal operations in 2026.
On April 16, the Security Cabinet announced the arrest of five alleged members of that faction following intelligence work that identified the operational zones, transit routes, and movement patterns of a cell active in Mazatlán and neighboring municipalities.
Firearms, magazines, ammunition, ballistic vests, and a vehicle were seized from the detainees.
On May 23, the Secretariat of the Navy reported another blow against that organization when its personnel came under attack during patrols on the Tepic-Mazatlán highway, approximately 15 kilometers from the El Rosario toll plaza.
Naval personnel detained 13 alleged members of “Los Chapitos” and seized 12 long guns, 1,940 rounds of ammunition, 96 magazines, three improvised explosive devices, 11 tactical vests, and 10 pairs of ballistic plates.
The volume of seized weaponry demonstrated the firepower of the cell, which was operating along one of the main highway routes connecting Sinaloa and Nayarit.
Another incident took place on June 16 in Las Habitas, a mountain community in El Rosario, where military troops came under attack during reconnaissance patrols. The clash resulted in the death of one armed civilian and the detention of another, according to local reports.
Violence flared up again in the municipality in early July, when a federal operation near Agua Verde and Chametla led to a confrontation with armed civilians.
Initial security reports indicated a preliminary death toll of 11, although this figure did not yet represent the authorities’ final count.
Gabriel Nicolás Martínez Larios—alias “El Gabito” or “El 80″—operated in that same region; military intelligence reports identified him as a member of the “Los Chapitos” structure in southern Sinaloa.
His arrest in June 2026 dealt a blow to the criminal organization, which maintained a presence in the mountainous areas and territories bordering Nayarit.
The clashes and arrests demonstrated that El Rosario wasn’t merely a transit point, but an area harboring armed structures capable of sustaining operations and confronting federal forces.
The dispute also had consequences for the local population.
In September 2025, residents of Santa María, Jalpa, Charco Hondo, La Rastra, Las Negras, Corral de Piedra, and Maloya blocked the road to the Santa María Dam to demand security and the establishment of a military base.
El Rosario takes a toll on its residents
Locals reported that insecurity prevented them from traveling freely to the municipal seat to buy food and that, at times, they required military escorts to leave their communities.
This situation stood in contrast to statements made by Mayor Claudia Liliana Valdez Aguilar, who maintained in July 2026 that residents were continuing their daily activities and that no new displacements were being recorded—despite federal operations in the vicinity of Agua Verde, Cajón Ojo de Agua 2, and Chametla.
This scenario was part of a broader criminal reconfiguration in Sinaloa, where the conflict between “Los Chapitos” and “Los Mayos” weakened traditional structures and created openings for other operators.
Security Cabinet reports released in June indicated that Fausto Isidro Meza Flores (“El Chapo Isidro”) and Aureliano Guzmán Loera (“El Guano”) had expanded their zones of influence within the state, capitalizing on the attrition suffered by the warring factions. However, public records regarding operations in El Rosario primarily identified cells linked to *Los Chapitos*, without establishing that *Los Mayos* had taken control of the municipality.
The corridor’s importance also lay in its connection to Escuinapa and northern Nayarit, where continuous land routes link southern Sinaloa to the rest of the Pacific coast.
For this reason, the struggle for El Rosario was not limited to a conflict over rural communities. Controlling the area offered a potential advantage for maintaining lines of communication, mobilizing criminal networks, and keeping routes open to other states.
Across this strip, military operations, clashes, and arrests revealed a territorial struggle that affected both the armed groups and the populations living between the mountains and the coast.
Source: Milenio
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