Mexican authorities find 20 bodies in Sinaloa state
The prosecutor's office said 16 bodies were found inside the van and four others were discovered on a bridge on the same highway near the state capital of Culiacan. At least six of them were decapitated, the office said.
Sinaloa has been gripped by months of intense violence fueled by rival drug trafficking groups vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the United States.
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Reuters
25-07-2025
- Reuters
Violence in Mexican state of Sinaloa continues one year after 'El Mayo' Zambada's arrest in US
Culiacan, Mexico July 25 (Reuters) - The street vendor said the few tourists who still visit Culiacan no longer look for posters of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and accused drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, once the Mexican city's most famous residents. The posters, which for years were in high demand, have become symbolic of a spike in horrific violence sparked by an alleged betrayal that led to Zambada's arrest one year ago and fueled fighting within the Sinaloa cartel. "I imagine that at some point in my life, tourism will return to Culiacan," said Jazmin, who now sells a smattering of magnets, keychains, and mugs. She declined to share her last name because of the constant threat of violence in this once-bustling city of 1 million people. Friday marks one year since Zambada, one of Mexico's most infamous accused drug lords, was arrested at an airfield near El Paso, Texas, along with one of El Chapo's sons, Joaquin Guzman Lopez. Zambada says El Chapo's son, Joaquin, kidnapped him and turned him over to U.S. agents. The alleged betrayal was shocking. Prosecutors allege Zambada and "El Chapo" founded the Sinaloa cartel and represented different factions of the criminal organization. The arrests sparked a break in the group and triggered a wave of violence that continues. During the first six months of this year, authorities registered 883 homicides in Sinaloa compared to 224 during the same period a year earlier. The vast majority happened in Culiacan. The homicides may be just the beginning. Authorities say more than 1,500 people have gone missing in Sinaloa since September 2024, after Zambada's arrest. Security officials say criminal groups were involved in many of the disappearances. "Life in Culiacan is no longer the same," said a local official who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. "There are no more parties here due to fear," he said, adding that schools prefer to hold classes online instead of in person. Security analysts say violence in the state is at the highest level since the last major split between criminal groups in 2008, when the Sinaloa cartel broke an alliance with the Beltran Leyva brothers' cartel. "It's one thing to break a pact through betrayal, as happened then, and another to hand over an important partner, as happened last year," said Tomas Guevara, an expert on security issues in Sinaloa, referring to Zambada's alleged abduction. "The situation is more gruesome these days,' he added. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has struggled to control the spiraling violence, sending thousands of heavily armed soldiers to Sinaloa to patrol the area, along with helicopters, armored vehicles, high-caliber weapons, and drones. Still, the discovery of corpses continues, sometimes piled up by the dozens. Bodies have been hung from bridges and mutilated with messages of revenge between rival groups. U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that Mexican authorities are "petrified" of the drug cartels and alleged they have enormous control in the country and over Mexican politicians. Sheinbaum said those allegations are blatantly untrue. Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Sunday during a visit to Sinaloa that the government's priority is "restoring peace to families." Zambada said in February he was willing to plead guilty to charges related to drug trafficking, money laundering, and weapons possession if U.S. prosecutors take the death penalty off the table.
Scottish Sun
18-07-2025
- Scottish Sun
Trainee firefighter, 32, faces the sack after ‘unnerving' boasts about his astonishing former life outside the UK
Greater Manchester Fire Service said they 'moved quickly to investigate' BURNING WORRY Trainee firefighter, 32, faces the sack after 'unnerving' boasts about his astonishing former life outside the UK Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A TRAINEE firefighter has been sacked for boasting he was a former drug cartel hitman. Ali Gonzalez, 32, was six weeks into his basic training course when he was suspended this week. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Ali Gonzalez was suspended from the fire service amid claims he was a hitman in Mexico Credit: His colleagues in Bury, Manchester, turned web sleuths to find Gonzalez had previously given interviews about his life as a sicario — or hitman. He claimed he worked in Mexico for the feared Sinaloa cartel, featured in Netflix dramas Narcos: Mexico and El Chapo. His boasts included killing dozens of rivals and seeing one gangster beheaded in a jail fight. A source said he had dropped hints to trainees about his past. 'It was unnerving,' they added. Greater Manchester Fire Service said: 'We moved quickly to investigate. Public safety is our top priority.' Gonzalez declined to comment.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Mexico set to be torn apart as drug kingpin El Chapo's son prepares to tell US prosecutors 'everything he knows'
One of the world's most notorious drug cartel leaders could very well destabilize the Mexico government as he plans to reveal all he knows about corrupt officials. Joaquín ' El Chapo ' Guzmán's son, Ovidio Guzmán López pleaded guilty to two counts of drug conspiracy and two counts of knowingly engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise before a federal judge in Chicago last Friday. The 35-year-old jailed boss, who oversaw the Sinaloa Cartel's 'Los Chapitos' faction, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors who have accused him of distributing drugs and running a criminal enterprise. New York and Illinois federal prosecutors alleged that Guzmán López and his three brothers assumed control of the Sinaloa Cartel once El Chapo was arrested in Mexico in 2016 and then extradited in 2019 to the United States, where he is serving a life sentence at a Colorado super maximum-security prison. The indictments indicated that the transnational drug trafficking organization made hundreds of millions by shipping, producing, and trafficking fentanyl to the United States. Now Guzmán López's mea-culpa could very well open a Pandora's box into the Sinaloa Cartel's dealings with former and current law enforcement and government officials back home in Mexico. His high-profile lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman slammed the Mexican government while talking to reporters after leaving the courtroom. 'It's not so much of a surprise that somehow, for 40 years, the Mexican government, Mexican law enforcement, did nothing to capture who was probably the biggest drug dealer, perhaps in the history of the world,' he said. Lichtman was referring to Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, who co-founded the cartel with El Chapo and had never been arrested until El Chapo's also jailed son, Joaquín Guzmán López, set him up and flew him across the border to Texas, where he turned himself in and El Mayo was captured. 'So what I would say to Pres. Sheinbaum is: perhaps she should look to her predecessors in the president's office and try to figure out why that happened, why there was never any effort to arrest,' the famous criminal lawyer said. 'I don't even know if Zambada has been charged in Mexico.' In an X post on Friday night, Lichtman appeared to take another swipe at Sheinbaum for reportedly shielding criminal organizations. 'Apparently the president of Mexico is displeased with my truthful comments about her corrupt office and government,' Lichtman wrote. 'She can call as many hastily convened press conferences as she likes, but the people of Mexico (and myself) know that she acts more as the public relations arm of a drug trafficking organization than as the honest leader that the Mexican people deserve. I'll have more to say on this shortly.' The war of words spilled over to Tuesday when Sheinbaum filed a defamation law suit against Lichtman. 'I'm not going to establish a dialogue with a lawyer for [a] narco-trafficker,' Sheinbaum said during a press conference. Iván Guzmán Salazar (pictured), is one of El Chapo's sons now leading one-half of the Sinaloa Cartel. The DEA is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction The Drug Enforcement Administration is offering a $10 million reward for information that leads to the arrest and/or conviction of Jesús Guzmán Salazar El Chapo's two other sons, Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán, who are both wanted by the United States government, have hired Lichtman, who has over three decades of experience as a lawyer. Retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent and chief of operations Ray Donovan told that Ovidio's and Joaquín's cooperation could allow for the Mexican government to reorganize itself. 'I think with the potential that Ovidio, Joaquin and others provide information on corrupt politicians and corrupt officials, is an opportunity for Mexico to reset and Sheinbaum is the president to do that,' said Donovan, who took down El Chapo 'So, you can look at it like this is very good, very bad for her party or you can look at it as, "I'm in control now, we want to be strong partners and we want to take Mexico forward not backwards."' 'This is an opportunity for her to do that. Now, the actions she has taken I think have been substantial. And clearly she is very astute, she is different from other presidents, he added. 'The good news about Claudia Sheinbaum, besides the fact that she is highly intelligent, I think that the corruption piece that often surrounds politicians, she doesn't have that. 'So, this is an opportunity to really take Mexico forward under her leadership and partnership with the United States. Regardless of if charges were to come out against politicians, she's taking concrete action forward and I think it's going to be great. I see her as a really, influential leader in the Western Hemisphere. It's not a bad thing.' Ovidio Guzmán López's decision to accept responsibility for his wrongdoing in court last Friday came just two months after 17 family members, including his mother, sister, wife and children, were met by U.S. federal agents at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego and brought across the border. The fact that his brother was able to lure El Mayo made cooperating with the U.S. government easier.
