Mexican authorities discover 20 bodies, some decapitated, on Sinaloa highway
Local media reported that a message was also found hanging over the bridge in Culiacán. The prosecutor's office told CNN it had no comment on the message but would investigate.
Sinaloa Secretary General Feliciano Castro Meléndez called the case a 'regrettable situation' and said it was 'part of the violence and insecurity that Sinaloa is experiencing.'
Since 2024, Culiacán has been the epicenter of armed clashes between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel.
Two of the most prominent factions are La Mayiza, which is loyal to the cartel's alleged co-founder Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, and Los Chapitos, which is loyal to the sons of former drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán.
The violence in Sinaloa escalated after Zambada and one of El Chapo's sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, were arrested last year by US authorities in El Paso, Texas.
An official familiar with the operation told CNN at the time that Guzmán López had organized his arrest along with that of Zambada by luring him on a flight to examine a piece of land he thought was in Mexico. Instead, the plane landed in El Paso, Texas, where federal agents arrested them both.
Former Mexican Secretary of Security Rosa Icela Rodriguez said Guzmán López had reached an agreement with one of his brothers, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is in US custody, 'So that they would go to the United States to surrender.'
However, an attorney for Ovidio told CNN that Rodriguez's claim was 'a complete and utter fabrication.' An attorney for El Mayo said he 'neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the US government' and described the flight to the US as a violent kidnapping.
Ovidio had been extradited to the US in September 2023 to face drug trafficking charges over his alleged role in the Sinaloa cartel. Days after his extradition, he pleaded not guilty to the charges in a US court.
But in May, he reached an agreement to change his plea, according to a court document reviewed by CNN.
Later that month, several members of his family entered the US as part of an apparent 'negotiation or plea deal opportunity provided by the (US) Department of Justice itself,' Mexico's Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said.
Two other sons of El Chapo, Ivan Archivaldo and Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, are still at large. The US has accused them of leading large-scale drug trafficking operations for the cartel and has issued $10 million bounties for information leading to each of their arrests.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
5 days ago
- The Hill
Mexican president accuses El Chapo's American lawyer of defamation on cartels
Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, addressed the defamation lawsuit against El Chapo's American lawyer on Tuesday, rejecting his allegations of corruption in her administration. New York attorney Jeffrey Lichtman previously defended three of the cartel leader's sons and said they could detail the government's misconduct under her leadership. 'Moral and political authority is required to govern Mexico, and to be worthy of our people. So, the certainty of that authority — my history speaks for me,' Sheinbaum told reporters on July 15 in response to his claims, according to USA Today. Lichtman told the outlet her 'lawsuit has no teeth' and knocked it as a 'cheap effort to score political points' in a separate post on social media. 'After the plea, I spoke up about what I considered to be absurd remarks made by the president of Mexico about not only my client but the American government for even negotiating a plea deal with him. My response triggered a hastily convened press conference by the Mexican president in which she denied none of my words but claimed I was disrespectful to her office,' he added in the statement. 'Some free advice: don't discuss my clients in a cheap effort to score political points unless you are prepared for my unfiltered response. ' Lichtman is currently representing one of El Chapo's sons, Ovidio Guzmán López, on federal charges. López pleaded guilty to on murder and drug trafficking charges and is expected to help U.S. officials wage a war on narcotics, USA Today reported.
Los Angeles Times
7 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Case of ‘El Chapo' son cooperating with U.S. prosecutors roils Mexico
MEXICO CITY — A bitter public dispute between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the New York lawyer representing a son of drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán has raised speculation here that the deal-seeking scion of the onetime Sinaloa cartel leader may expose corrupt Mexican officials. On Tuesday, Sheinbaum said she had filed a defamation complaint in Mexico against Jeffrey Lichtman, the high-profile attorney representing Ovidio Guzmán López, who last week pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to fentanyl trafficking and other crimes. He has agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors in a bid to reduce a potential life sentence. In comments after the court hearing, Lichtman labeled as 'absurd' Sheinbaum's repeated contentions that Washington should coordinate with Mexico on the case — especially if, as is widely expected, Guzmán López spills the beans on alleged ties between Mexican officials and cartels. In an incendiary post on X, Litchman assailed the Mexican leader's 'corrupt office and government' and charged that Sheinbaum 'acts more as the public relations arm of a drug trafficking organization than as the honest leader that the Mexican people deserve.' That sparked a flurry of denunciations from allies in Sheinbaum's ruling Morena bloc, which dominates Mexican politics. Ernestina Godoy Ramos, Sheinbaum's official counsel, labeled Lichtman's comments 'grotesque and unforgivable, breaking the ethical and legal limits of the profession.' Declared Sheinbaum: 'I'm not going to establish a dialogue with a lawyer for [a] narco-trafficker.' Lichtman also represented El Chapo — now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison in Colorado — and is the attorney for Joaquín Guzmán López, another son of the drug lord. Like his brother, he is in U.S. custody and faces drug smuggling and other charges. El Chapo's sons, known as Los Chapitos, or the 'Little Chapos,' assumed responsibility for cartel dealings after their father's arrest in 2016, prosecutors say. Guzmán López was extradited to the United States in 2023 after being nabbed following a shootout outside Culiacán, the Sinaloa state capital, that left almost two dozen people dead, including 10 Mexican soldiers. Two other sons of El Chapo remain in Mexico directing cartel operations, according to U.S. officials. Behind the nasty contretemps between the New York barrister and la presidenta is a widespread sense here that Guzmán López is poised to dish a mound of dirt about Mexican politicians on the payroll of the Sinaloa cartel. He may have already done so. What else, political observers ask, could explain the special treatment that members of El Chapo's family received in the spring? In May, U.S. authorities escorted 17 members of El Chapo's extended family — including his ex-wife, the mother of Ovidio and Joaquín — into San Diego from Tijuana. Although the U.S. Justice Department declined to comment, Mexico's top law enforcement official said the move was probably part of a cooperation deal between Guzmán López and Washington. 'He [Ovidio] must be singing,' said Guillermo Valdés Castellanos, a former intelligence chief in the administration of former President Felipe Calderón, a political adversary of Sheinbaum. 'I think it's part of a very clear strategy by the government of Donald Trump to pressure Mexico … to take action against the profound links between organized crime and and Mexican politics.' While frequently praising Sheinbaum, Trump has denounced the 'intolerable alliance' between Mexico's government and organized crime. Trump has imposed punishing tariffs on Mexico in what he calls an effort to shut down fentanyl trafficking. Though critics have called Trump's characterizations overblown, the narco-government collaboration in Mexico goes back decades. Calderón's top security official, Genaro García Luna, was convicted of taking millions of dollars in bribes from Sinaloa cartel traffickers and is serving a 38-year U.S. prison sentence. Sheinbaum and her political mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, hailed the U.S. prosecution of García Luna — a case that exposed deep corruption among their political rivals. But the tables may now be turning. There have been no public disclosures about what Guzmán López may be secretly revealing to U.S. prosecutors. But speculation in Mexico has focused on the suspected crookedness of so-called narco-governors serving under the banner of Sheinbaum's dominant Morena political bloc. None have been charged. But even more explosive, experts say, would be any fresh allegations against López Obrador, Sheinbaum's predecessor and the founder of Morena. During his six-year term, López Obrador repeatedly denied unconfirmed reports of having received political donations from people tied to organized crime. By all accounts, any public airing of new accusations against López Obrador from U.S. authorities could trigger a political earthquake in Mexico. 'There is total uncertainty and fear in the presidency,' said José Luis Montenegro, a Mexican journalist who wrote a book on Los Chapitos. 'The politicians of Morena must be trembling.' Sheinbaum has won widespread acclaim for her 'coolheaded' approach to Trump provocations on issues such as tariffs, immigration and drug smuggling. But the Mexican president has sharply rebuked U.S. prosecutors' apparent deal-making intentions with El Chapo's son. She has accused U.S. authorities of hypocrisy — seeking cooperation from Guzmán López at a time when the Trump administration has designated the Sinaloa cartel and other Mexican crime groups as terrorist organizations. 'So where is their position of 'not to negotiate with terrorist groups'?' Sheinbaum asked this month. Mexican leaders are still outraged about what they call the U.S.-orchestrated kidnapping almost a year ago of Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada — co-founder of El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel — who is now also in custody in the United States. Mexican officials suspect that U.S. authorities recruited Joaquín Guzmán López to abduct El Mayo, bundle him into a private plane and fly him to an airfield outside El Paso, where U.S. agents arrested both El Mayo and Joaquín Guzmán López. Washington has never clarified its role in the sensational case. The apparent betrayal of El Mayo set off a civil war in the cartel — pitting El Mayo loyalists against Los Chapitos — that has cost hundreds of lives in Sinaloa state. Now, three top accused Sinaloa cartel capos sit in U.S. custody, and at least one, Guzmán López, appears keen to make a deal that could expose a web of official corruption, roiling Mexican politics. Special correspodent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
CBS News
7 days ago
- CBS News
U.S. drug raids net $10 million in crypto linked to notorious Mexican Sinaloa cartel, officials say
U.S. drug enforcement agents seized more than $10 million in cryptocurrency linked to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel during raids that also netted massive quantities of fentanyl and other drugs, officials said Tuesday. The Sinaloa cartel is one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups that President Trump has designated as global "terrorist" organizations. The cryptocurrency seizure in Miami was part of nationwide operations that netted 44 million fentanyl pills, 4,500 pounds of fentanyl powder and nearly 65,000 pounds of methamphetamine since January, the Justice Department said in a statement. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in coordination with its FBI partners "seized over $10 million dollars in cryptocurrency, directly linked to the Sinaloa cartel," it added. It comes days after Ovidio Guzman Lopez, a son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, pleaded guilty to drug charges in Chicago in a deal struck with prosecutors in return for a reduced sentence. His father was convicted in a high-profile trial in 2019 and is serving a life sentence in prison. "DEA is hitting the cartels where it hurts -- with arrests, with seizures, and with relentless pressure," DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy said. The cryptocurrency haul was among several major seizures across the country in recent weeks, including in California, Texas, Georgia and other states that netted thousands of pounds of drugs and dozens of arrests. In Galveston, Texas, agents uncovered more than 1,700 pounds of methamphetamine worth more than $15 million hidden inside a vehicle. Other raids yielded drugs hidden in produce shipments, including 705 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in cucumbers in Georgia and 783 pounds found in a refrigerated truck carrying blueberries in Texas. The Sinaloa cartel is known for its ruthlessness, as two recent instances show. Late last month, the Justice Department revealed that it hired hacker who was able to infiltrate phone data and Mexico City's surveillance cameras to help track and kill FBI informants. Also late last month, Mexican authorities said twenty bodies, several of them decapitated, were found on a highway bridge in a part of Mexico where factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel are fighting each other.
