Dark Week In Culiacan: By RíoDoce

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This article was translated and reposted from RIODOCE 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 

For six days, the city and its rural area were immersed in fighting between rival organized crime groups, which spread to other municipalities with blockades and confrontations; mayos and chapos measure their forces and drag thousands of citizens into their hell under the permissive gaze of a disoriented and evasive government.

The relative peace and tranquility of Culiacán hung by a very thin thread that finally broke early last Monday morning, with confrontations that broke out in the eastern sector of the city - Las Quintas, La Campiña, Hidalgo and Emiliano Zapata neighborhoods - and ended up escalating in the southern unions of the municipality, keeping the citizens confined in the midst of fear and desolation.

The government, at its three levels, disappeared, and when it did show its head it was to say that things were calm, that it was safe to walk the streets, that children and young people could go to school and that people could go to work normally.

But these calls were made while commandos from both sides, Los Chapitos and the people of Ismael Zambada, El Mayo, entered the city in broad daylight, causing terror among the population.

The background to the clashes was the alleged kidnapping of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael Zambada, but most certainly the gaps left by his departure, forced or negotiated, to the United States, where he is on trial for drug-related crimes.

Monday, the beginning

Forty-seven days after Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López were arrested in El Paso, Texas, and 30 days after the publication of Mayo's letter in which he accused Chapo's son of kidnapping him and handing him over to the US, on Monday, September 9, at 5:50 a.m., gunshots woke up neighbors in the neighborhoods of La Campiña and Las Quintas.

The information flowed like wildfire through social networks and Whatsapp groups. Videos of convoys of armed groups with armed pickup trucks at a gas station on the Malecón Nuevo circulated everywhere. The versions also indicated their presence at the north exit and the Miguel Hidalgo neighborhood.

Two of these groups met in one of the streets of La Campiña, where they exchanged gunfire. Military personnel who were patrolling the area came across one of the armed groups and were attacked. Six soldiers were wounded, although authorities say there were only two. An infantry second sergeant attached to the Ninth Military Zone, who was shot in the face, died in the ISSSTE hours later.

The narco commandos fled in different directions, abandoning some units along the way. Two pick-up trucks with bullet holes in the bodywork were left along the Francisco I. Madero Boulevard. A white armored double cab pick up, with the doors open, on the corner of Aquiles Serdán Avenue, in front of the Tipo school, and a black Suburban, with the lights on, outside the El Bicho cantina, a few meters from booth four.

VANS SECURED. Traces of violence.

A dark-colored Chevrolet Cheyenne van was found on Cristóbal Colón Street between Revolución Avenue and Fray Andrés Tello in the Miguel Hidalgo neighborhood.

That morning, violence broke out as Culichis were on their way to school and work. The SEPyC announced at 6:42 a.m. the suspension of classes in the La Campiña area, but the warning arrived late. A large number of students, especially middle school, high school and university students, were already in or on their way to school.

A young woman walking in front of Jesusita Neda High School, panicked by the news on her phone, asked to be let in to take shelter.

In the streets and highways, trucks circulated along their usual routes, picking up and dropping off students and workers, while news of the confrontations continued to flow, causing schools outside the “ground zero” zone, marked by the authorities, to suspend work as well.

At 7:42 a.m., Governor Rubén Rocha Moya confirmed the confrontation through his X account.  

At that time, in Costa Rica, two rival groups also clashed at the entrance to the syndicate, in front of the Industrial Park. The scuffle began shortly after 7:30.

COSTA RICA. War breaks out.

A resident passing through the area 10 minutes earlier on his way to Culiacán, saw a checkpoint of two pickup trucks and a jeep, as well as an armed man wearing a military-style breastplate, in front of the industrial zone, which is located next to an Oxxo and a gas station, and thought it was the military, so he did not think anything of it and continued on his way.

While he was still driving to work, he was called from home to warn him that there was a shooting where he had seen the checkpoint. This went on for about half an hour. According to witnesses, men in pickup trucks had arrived at the site along the Mexico 15 International Highway, but they were met by the gunmen who were protecting the area.

The bullets were fired in all directions: they hit vehicles, walls, roofs and the glass of the access booth to the industrial zone. Some workers fled into the bush, which is overgrown due to the rains, and others threw themselves to the ground trying to escape the hail of bullets.

A video recorded from a Kiosk, located in a nearby gas station, shows the war that took place.

A witness reported that some men who participated in the confrontation came running to a house in the village, from where they took an old pickup truck and fled in it. No one was able to explain where the gunmen fled to.

The confrontation in Costa Rica had barely ended when another one took place on Mexico International Highway 15, near the Splash Club. There, a white Kia Rio car was abandoned, with a bucket of tire patches inside, an old model gray Chevrolet Aveo and a silver Nissan Sentra. All three had bullet impacts and traces of blood. 100 meters away was a corpse.

DEATH TO 'COMANDANTE COCO'. One of the casualties.

The deceased was a resident of Colonia Nakayama, identified as Carlos. A black tactical helmet, vests, and a magazine holder were found next to the body.

At 9:00, at the Government Palace, Rocha held his weekly Monday conference. He assured that in Culiacán “tranquility prevailed” and asked citizens to remain calm and ignore the information circulating on networks.

“The situation is focused and controlled,” he said.

Two hours later, he announced that the suspension of classes was extended to the afternoon shifts of schools throughout Culiacán and the Costa Rica syndicate, where elements of the GN, the Army and state and municipal police had already cordoned off the area where the confrontation between civilians occurred hours earlier.

A dozen vehicles were left abandoned, both along the highway and inside the Industrial Park, mostly pickup trucks, some with numerous bullet impacts. The tires of pickup trucks that tried to stop left their tracks on the pavement, as well as pieces of rubber, along with dozens of shell casings of different calibers, which were not included in the scene delimited with yellow tape.

Shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon, maneuvers were still being carried out to remove the double cab SUVs and Jeeps left at the scene. They had multiple bullet impacts on the bodywork and windows. Traffic agents arrived with tow trucks and hooked up the ones they could, and the ones they managed to start were driven towards Culiacán, in the midst of a strong security device.

Only then was the highway reopened to traffic and motorists and motorcyclists who were waiting to return to their homes in Costa Rica were able to do so.

During the day, cell phones continued to receive videos of the confrontation. Rumors of convoys of armed men allegedly moving from nearby towns towards Culiacán increased the fear.

“It's the Chapitos and the Mayos that are grabbed,” read messages that had been forwarded many times.

On the Mexico 15 highway in the Quilá sindicatura, criminals placed a trailer and a pickup truck to block the road.

In the city of Culiacán, criminals began to rob vehicles, mainly pickup trucks. On the highway to Imala, an armed group forced a woman to get out of her truck. Later on, another driver was also robbed of his vehicle. A total of 12 vehicles were reported stolen that day.

With the multiplication of violent acts, Rocha's call for calm did not work and the city came to a standstill. The businesses that had opened lowered their curtains, the trucks stopped operating, leaving dozens of people stranded, and the indignation at the official silence increased.

In the La Primavera residential area, the neighbors set up their own blockade. They crossed gondolas and a pipe to protect themselves from what was happening outside the gates.

As the hours passed, the confrontations did not cease. Around 5:00 p.m., National Guard agents confronted an armed group at the junction of the Culiacán-Eldorado and La 20 highways, in Costa Rica. After the exchange of gunfire, they gave chase, causing panic among workers from nearby businesses, who took refuge in the Bachoco plant. An armored pickup truck was left at the site with bullet wounds.

According to the Ministry of National Defense, 23 firearms, 138 magazines, 5,000 cartridges, 21 vehicles and tactical equipment were seized in the area.

Rocha had announced the arrival of reinforcements. They arrived in the afternoon, aboard Army Special Forces planes.

At around 8:00 p.m., armed men shot at a pickup truck in the town of Portaceli, in Eldorado, at the exit to the El Melon ejido, where a pickup truck was set on fire. One person was reportedly killed and another wounded.

At the same time, on Agricultores Boulevard in Culiacán, a man with his hands handcuffed was thrown from a vehicle and shot dead.

Despite the wave of violence that kept Culiacán and surrounding areas devastated, the SEPyC announced that classes would resume on Tuesday. The UAS and UAdeO opted for the virtual modality.

Tuesday, direct attacks

At 6:30 a.m., the state government reported that public transportation service was operating normally and released a video of Rubén Rocha on a “morning walk on the banks of the Tamazula”. The objective of showing a calm Culiacán did not work. A large number of schools remained closed and those that did work had few students. The population retreated into their homes and the streets looked empty.

The patrols and the arrival of reinforcements did not prevent armed groups from circulating in different areas for the second day. One of them, aboard a convoy of armed pickup trucks, was stationed on the Mexico-15 highway, in the area of the Splash Club beach resort. Mayor Juan de Dios Gámez confirmed the presence of the commando. There was talk on social networks of a confrontation, but authorities said that the criminals fired into the air. 

At midday, a man was shot on Manuel Estrada Street almost on the corner of Francisco I. Madero, in the Miguel Hidalgo neighborhood. A patrol car took him to the Rehabilitation clinic located nearby, where he died.

Shortly after, the Criminal Justice Center of the Central Region was evacuated due to reports of alleged gunshots in the Culiacán prison, although the Public Security Secretariat assures that it was only a security reinforcement.

At the same time, on the highway to Imala, where the new IMSS-Bienestar General Hospital is located, the presence of commandos was reported. A video showed employees at the site running for cover.

At 2:00 in the afternoon, the Secretariat of Public Security denied that there had been confrontations in or around Culiacan and assured that the images broadcast (of an armed group in the Splash area) did not correspond, and that the reported detonations were shots fired into the air.

The clock struck 4:00 when, in a private area of the Cumbres subdivision in the Santa Fe sector, two men who were in front of a house were shot at. One died and the other was wounded.

In social networks, the scarce official information that flowed generated indignation. The authorities' refusal to suspend classes was also strongly criticized.

At 7:16 p.m., the governor posted that he had instructed the state Secretary of Public Security, Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, to give a timely and truthful report on the events of the day.

A few minutes later, Mérida informed through a video, that after the report of an armed group on the south exit, elements of the three levels followed them by land and with the support of two helicopters, they managed to secure four vehicles, two of them armored, weapons and ammunition in the town of Los Arrayanes.

That night, the UAS announced that virtual classes would be extended to the whole state, indefinitely, while the SEPyC insisted that on Wednesday classes would be held in person.

Wednesday, violence spreads

Shortly after 7:00 a.m., the state Public Security Secretary assured that the city and the rest of the state dawned “with normal tranquility” and urged the population to go out to their normal activities. By that time, a man had already been executed in the 16 de Septiembre neighborhood.

Two hours later, a confrontation between armed civilians began in the Quilá syndicate, which, according to witnesses, lasted for three hours.

The crossfire occurred in front of the local Red Cross base, where one cell maintained a checkpoint with artillery units, which confronted a rival group that tried to enter the town.

The exchange of fire extended to Baila, Jacola, Laguna de Canachi, Estación Obispo and Loma de Redo, where a truck carrying day laborers was caught in the crossfire. Four workers were injured and were taken to hospitals. The attack was recorded by a female passenger. The video shows gunshots and screams.

Two men who were shot and who allegedly participated in the confrontations were also admitted to hospitals.

On the Culiacán-Mazatlán highway, between kilometer 122 and 131, three pickup trucks, two of them with the letter “J” painted on the driver's door and on the hood, were abandoned. One more was left in the bushes. Blankets, clothes and even shoes were left scattered on the road. These units were probably part of the scuffle in Quilá.

In Culiacán, armed individuals seized a Sello Rojo company van and another pet food van, which they set on fire to block the road to Culiacán, on the stretch of Álvaro Obregón Avenue and La Costerita. They also threw tire punches at the site.

BURNED VEHICLES. Blockades and panic.

A Coca Cola delivery truck was also burned. The soft drink company decided to suspend its services and ordered the return of all units to the plant.

At the Ley del Valle intersection, on the Eldorado highway towards Pedro Infante Boulevard, at least five vehicles were damaged by tire punctures.

The violence which had been concentrated in Culiacán, spread on the third day outside the municipality. On the Culiacán-Mazatlán highway, delinquents stole trailers at the height of Elota and blocked both lanes in the area of Las Labradas, municipality of San Ignacio. This caused dozens of trailers to be trapped for hours at the site. All the toll booths up to Mazatlan were released.

Another trailer was placed on Mexico Highway 15 to the south.

At 8:50 a.m., in a recorded video, Rocha had acknowledged the violent events in Culiacán, Elota and Cosalá, and attributed them to a fight between criminal groups, predicting that they would continue. He said that four Texan-type airplanes with artillery arrived in the state, as well as helicopters and 100 elements of special forces, but their presence was barely noticeable in the streets.

In response to the events, the authorities closed the Mármol toll booth on the Culiacán-Mazatlán highway, but it was later released.

In Culiacán, some Walmart branches were closed.

During the afternoon, in the Las Tapias syndicate, the former commander of the Municipal Police, Raúl Demetrio Herrera, was murdered in his home.

Due to the lack of trucks, which stopped operating for the third day, the state government set up its own units to transport people from the Center to the neighborhoods.

Thursday, blockades and murders

At 5:52 a.m. on Thursday, Rocha reported the suspension of classes in Culiacán, Elota, Cosalá and San Ignacio on Thursday and Friday at all levels and educational modalities and in another message he announced the cancellation of the Grito de Independencia. “There will be no celebration, neither public nor private,” he said.

At that time, but in the Riveras de Tamazula neighborhood, an Army convoy patrolling the area was shot at by a commando of at least three pick-up trucks. One of them, a pickup truck with a round gun, fired at the first military pickup truck. The soldiers managed to duck or get out to seek shelter, while the bullets hit a few meters behind them. The thugs fled without being apprehended.

In the afternoon the governor met with businessmen, after the day before, ex-leaders of the Canaco, demanded guarantees to work from the three levels of government. That day they had been unable to work normally for four days. He called on them to open their businesses.

At 2:00 in the afternoon, the Secretary of Public Security indicated that confrontations had been reported in the city and towns such as Abuya, Jacola, Oso Viejo and Alcoyonqui, but all turned out to be false.  

A gondola was placed to block a dirt road in the community of Pueblos Unidos, which was removed.

MURDER AT SAMS.

In Culiacán, patrols by the armed forces, National Guard and police did not prevent three men from being murdered. The first was in the Montebello subdivision, another in El Barrio and a third in the Sams Club parking lot. A mother who was passing by the scene of the last execution had to cover the face of her young son, who was wearing a Spiderman costume, to prevent him from seeing what was happening a few steps away from them.

In the Country Tres Ríos sector “ponchallantas” were placed and in the Miguel Alemán neighborhood, a young man managed to flee from armed men who stopped him. He accelerated the vehicle until he took refuge in a car wash. He said that one of the bullets that passed through his face hit a vape that he was carrying.

At about the same time, a car dealership was shot at in the Miguel Hidalgo neighborhood. The bullets hit almost all of the vehicles.

Minutes before 5:00 p.m., members of the Sedena and hired killers clashed on the International Highway, at the Splash Club, south of Culiacán, three soldiers were wounded and a man was arrested. Officially only one soldier was reported injured.

The Secretariat of Public Security reported the arrest of 11 people, seizure of 11 weapons and three vehicles, derived from the aggression at the southern exit, but the apprehensions correspond to another location.

CONFRONTATION IN THE SPLASH. Three military personnel wounded.

In Eldorado, three units were seized, one of them armored, in a home.

On the Mazatlán-Durango highway, in the El Sinaloense tunnel section, armed men set up tire irons and burned two tractor-trailers, blocking the highway for several hours.

Friday, Mass Kidnappings 

On Friday, the sun did not come out. The advance of tropical storm “Ileana” in the Pacific caused early rains in Culiacán. As in previous days, the day began in apparent normality, with intermittent transportation service and scarce affluence of people in the streets.

From the National Palace, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador minimized the wave of violence in the state, and called on the groups that are fighting in Culiacán to “act with a minimum of responsibility”.

“... it is not a major issue, so far, and hopefully soon, soon complete normality will return to Culiacán, and that is what we are working on. If it has an arrangement, then with the presence of the armed forces to take care that there are no confrontations, to take care of the population and also they must act with a minimum of responsibility, it is their family, they are their countrymen, it is their municipality, it is their state, it is their country, and even before this, because that is unsettled from the arrest or kidnapping of Mr. Zambada.”

Later, Rocha mentioned that he hoped that the worst of the fight between two criminal groups, which resulted from the events of July 25, was over.

11 ARRESTED. The results.

But their good wishes did not prosper. The morning had not yet ended when a corpse was found in a gap that leads to an invasion in the Zona Dorada subdivision, Los Angeles sector. The deceased was wearing dark tactical pants and a black shirt, and had bruises in different parts.

When it seemed that the worst had passed, minutes before 5:00 p.m., the house of an agent of the Municipal Police of Culiacán, in the community of El Alhuate, Costa Rica, was shot at.

Two hours later, an agent of the Directorate of Protection Services of the Secretariat of Public Security was kidnapped inside the 87 park. The vehicle he was driving was abandoned at the scene… hours later he was released.

On social networks, the presence of armed men in various sectors was spread. On Maquío Clouthier Boulevard, people recorded the kidnapping of the driver of a red compact car. The subject was intercepted by two armed men, who took him and his car.

During the week, the Sabuesos Guerreras collective and the State Commission for the Search for Persons have reported the disappearance of more than 30 young people. Some of them Uber drivers.

MONTEVERDE. Confiscated artillery.

In the town of Monte Verde, municipality of Culiacán, members of the National Guard were attacked with bullets. Later, a search operation was implemented for those responsible, seizing two trucks, inside which there were six long weapons, 34 magazines, 3,098 cartridges, 14 explosive devices, a drone, a satellite antenna, a grenade launcher attachment and tire-puncturing devices.

During the night of Friday and early Saturday morning, multiple gunshots kept several sectors of the city awake, especially in the area of ​​Las Quintas and La Campiña, announcing that the wave of violence between cells of the Sinaloa Cartel is just beginning.

Article published on September 15, 2024 in edition 1129 of the weekly Ríodoce.

SOURCE: RIODOCE