In Mexico, Sinaloa suspends Independence Day celebrations due to cartel violence

The Mexican state of Sinaloa has suspended Independence Day celebrations on September 15 and classes at all educational levels for the remainder of the week. The measure applies to the cities of Culiacán, the state capital, Elota, Cosalá, and San Ignacio. The news was announced by the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya on Thursday.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that the wave of violence in Sinaloa has sparked “fear” among residents of Sinaloa. The state has witnessed a series of violent attacks due to clashes between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel: Los Mayos, a group under the command of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Los Chapitos, led by sons of Joaquín “El Chapo“ Guzmán.

Mexican authorities, however, have accused the media of “magnifying” the incidents, and insisted that there are enough security forces to contain the conflict. “There is fighting between two groups and we have to try to ensure that it does not affect the population and also that they do not confront each other,” said Lopez Obrador. Since last Monday, the disputes between Los Mayos and Los Chapitos have left at least nine and led to 14 forced disappearances, according to official figures.

The drug violence has been concentrated in Culiacán and the surrounding cities of Cosalá, Elota and San Ignacio, where classes were suspended Thursday morning. In the past four days, Sinaloa has seen narco blockades, torched cars, stolen vehicles, shootings and dead bodies in the street. Local businesspeople from the National Chamber of Commerce demanded that authorities provide minimum security guarantees to prevent the paralysis of the local economy. “We cannot allow violence to continue endangering lives, jobs and the economic future of our community,” read the joint statement.

Governor Rocha has issued several public announcements in a bid to calm the panic — a move critics have described as an attempt to “decree normality.” In his latest message, he announced the suspension of Independence Day celebrations, which included a concert by singers Pepe and Angela Aguilar in the main public square of Culiacan.

Rocha said that security forces deployed from the three levels of government had managed to “reduce to a minimum the risks that the population runs with these demonstrations by criminal groups.” “We need to continue taking care of ourselves,” the governor added. In-school classes were suspended after authorities admitted that — despite the Education Ministry’s call to resume activities — there was still “low attendance.”

The clashes between the cartel factions have also affected public transportation and trade routes that connect municipalities, although the governor said that service has been restored or, if necessary, replaced with school buses. Rocha called on business owners to continue operations in order to prevent the insecurity from hurting the local economy. “This is the situation we are living now, but I want to insist that we are attentive and alert,” he said.

On Wednesday, the state government had warned that it expected new clashes between the criminal groups. And on Tuesday, Rocha recorded a video walking peacefully along the banks of one of Culiacán’s rivers. In a bid to restore public trust, state authorities have pivoted between insisting “everything is under control” and recognizing the violence and how it is impacting residents’ everyday lives.

The federal Mexican government has also sent these mixed messages. López Obrador acknowledged the scope of the internal dispute within the Sinaloa Cartel, but downplayed the latest violence by saying that the death toll was only two — according to the latest report from the local Prosecutor’s Office —, and that more deaths had been recorded in other states, such as Guanajuato.

Tensions within the Sinaloa Cartel escalated following the capture of Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, El Chapo’s son, on July 25 in the United States. El Mayo claimed that he was ambushed, betrayed and handed over against his will after being summoned to a meeting with Rocha and the governor’s main political adversary, Héctor Cuén, who was murdered that same day. After seven weeks of uncertainty, authorities have been forced to acknowledge that Los Mayos are now responding to the alleged betrayal of their leader, and have deployed hundreds of officers to contain the threat of a larger-scale war within the Sinaloa Cartel.

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