20 bodies, some decapitated, found in Mexico amid bloody cartel turf war
Sinaloa state prosecutors said four decapitated bodies were found hanging from a bridge over a highway near the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan. Authorities found 16 bodies riddled with gunshot wounds in a van on the same highway, one of which was also decapitated, local media reported.
Speaking at a news conference June 30, Sinaloa Secretary General Feliciano Castro Meléndez said the incident was "regrettable" and told reporters that authorities were trying to get a handle on the rampant violence.
"Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa," he said.
For months, Sinaloa has been the epicenter of bloody clashes between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Chapitos and La Mayiza.
The turf war erupted last summer, after Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the cofounder and former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested by federal authorities in Texas. Zambada claims he was kidnapped and delivered by plane to U.S. authorities in a betrayal orchestrated by one of the sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Zambada remains in custody pending trial on 17 counts of drug trafficking, firearms offenses and money laundering; he has pleaded not guilty. Guzman is serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado following his conviction in 2019 on over two dozen drug violations and one murder conspiracy charge.
The U.S. has targeted the Sinaloa Cartel for its role in trafficking deadly fentanyl over the border. Fentanyl, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans in recent years, is the nation's leading cause of death for those between the ages of 18 and 49, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
New report: Hacker for El Chapo helped boss hunt and kill FBI informants
Such violent clashes aren't limited to Sinaloa. In the border city of Ciudad Juarez, over 40 homicides in May and June have been linked to a turf war between La Linea, the armed wing of the transnational Juarez Cartel, and a Sinaloa Cartel faction known as Los Cabrera.
This week, ABC News first reported that American families who've lost loved ones in violence stemming from Mexican drug cartels called on the State Department to designate La Linea as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, which would open the group up to facing sanctions, immigration restrictions and other penalties.
The Sinaloa Cartel was added to the list in February, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office calling for international cartels to receive the designation.
The Trump administration has moved swiftly to clamp down on the cartel, announcing in June sanctions on a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Los Chapitos. The State Department also announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrests of the faction's leaders, Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, two of El Chapo's sons.
Contributing: Josh Meyer and Thao Nguyen
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 20 bodies, some decapitated, found after latest Mexican cartel clash
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