Soldiers of the Mexican Army stand guard as they secure an area during a military operation in Culiacan, Sinaloa State. / Photo: AFP
Some 53 people have been killed, and 51 others are missing in Mexico's western Sinaloa state since rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel began clashing on September 9, local authorities said, with gruesome violence showing no signs of abating.
Sinaloa governor Ruben Rocha Moya on Friday said more than 40 people have been arrested in recent days, while more than 5,000 food packages have been handed out across Sinaloa.
Mexico's military, which has struggled to calm the violence, on Thursday arrested the alleged head of security for Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, the leader of Los Chapitos and son of jailed former Sinaloa kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Fernando Perez Medina, known as "El Piyi", was captured in Culiacan, according to a federal security source.
Meanwhile, Mexico's Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) said it was providing resources to local authorities to feed a tigress tied to a tree.
Senior Sinaloan narcos often keep tigers as pet animals.
Profepa said in a statement that vets in Sinaloa had declined to assist due to security fears, and it had provided military officials with a "cage, a dart rifle and darts".
But the violence had prevented the military from rescuing it.
Mexico blames US
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday said that the United States was partly responsible for the instability because they "carried out this operation", referencing the prior surrender talks between US officials and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the trafficker who kidnapped Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.
US officials have privately confirmed that they held talks with Guzman, but US Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, last month said that American officials were surprised to discover Zambada on US soil.
Salazar added that no US resources or personnel were involved in the July 25 kidnapping of Zambada.
The trigger for the conflict between the two most powerful factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, a drug gang, dates back to July, when legendary trafficker and leader of one of those groupings, Zambada, was arrested in the United States.
Zambada, 74, alleges that a senior member of the Los Chapitos, another faction of the cartel, kidnapped him and then flew him to the United States against his will.
Lopez Obrador said the arrest "produced the confrontation that is taking place in Sinaloa."
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.