Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has blamed the US government for the current drug cartel turf wars that are terrorizing the residents of the state of Sinaloa. The politician argued that the country would be at peace if US authorities had not tried to arrest one of the Sinaloa Cartel's top leaders.
The comments come as Sinaloa state has become the epicenter of a fierce turf war between the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa cartel and a faction loyal to the family of recently arrested boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, which has resulted in dozens of murders and countless kidnappings.
At his daily press conference this week, a reporter asked whether the U.S. government was responsible for the violence.
“Of course,” Lopez Obrador responded, “they carried out that operation. They need to understand that they cannot take those kinds of actions without taking into account the Mexican government.”
Lopez Obrador claimed that an agreement had been made between the US Department of Justice and the Chapitos group so that Joaquín Guzmán López could turn himself in and arrest Zambada. The Mexican politician questioned why the US Department of Justice had changed the detention conditions of one Chapitos member, Ovidio Guzmán, at the same time that his brother was helping to arrest Zambada.
“We are facing this situation in Sinaloa because they made that decision,” Lopez Obrador said. “In Sinaloa, we have never had the violence we have now.”
As Breitbart Texas reports, Chapito's gang captured Zambada on July 25 while he was meeting with leading politicians in Sinaloa. They put him on a plane and landed it near El Paso, Texas, where U.S. authorities were waiting for him. After the arrest, a tense peace lasted for a while as both sides made preparations, but on September 9, the two sides began openly fighting. Although the Mexican government has only confirmed 48 deaths, unofficial reports put the number much higher, and this part of Mexico was completely paralyzed.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist at Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. Twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
Brandon Darby is Managing Director and Editor in Chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas' Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and other senior Breitbart executives. Twitter and FacebookContact details: email address.
