nadia-rahmawati
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the streets of Culiacán on Sunday to voice their outrage and demand an immediate end to the relentless cartel warfare that has engulfed the northern Mexican city. Wearing white garments to symbolize their plea for peace, citizens mobilized in large numbers to demonstrate their collective exhaustion with the wave of bloodshed that continues to upend everyday life across the state of Sinaloa.
The demonstration served as a public display of grief and defiance in a region heavily impacted by organized crime. Protesters marched through the city holding aloft portraits of disappeared family members alongside prominent banners bearing messages such as "We don't want fear, we want peace." The visual display underscored the deep human cost borne by everyday citizens caught in the crossfire of warring criminal syndicates.
Sunday’s mobilization was intentionally organized to coincide with the second anniversary of the internal war currently fracturing the Sinaloa cartel. The conflict initially erupted following the high-profile arrest of veteran drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in the United States, an event that shattered longstanding alliances and triggered an immediate, bloody struggle for control over the cartel’s lucrative operations.
The ongoing hostilities pit Zambada’s loyalist faction, known locally as La Mayiza, against Los Chapitos, a rival group headed by the son of imprisoned cartel founder Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Members of La Mayiza have openly accused El Chapo's son of betraying Zambada to facilitate his capture by American authorities, setting off a cycle of vengeance and armed confrontations across the territory.
In their bid for territorial dominance, both armed factions have routinely deployed aggressive military-style tactics throughout Culiacán and neighboring municipalities. Gunmen frequently stage daytime ambushes, carry out lethal drive-by shootings, and hijack commercial transport vehicles before setting them ablaze to construct impassable street barricades, paralyzing transportation networks and terrorizing local communities.
The fallout from this sustained confrontation has severely impacted the state of Sinaloa, which is home to more than three million residents. Official crime figures indicate that rates of homicides and forced disappearances have soared dramatically over the past two years, accompanied by a sharp rise in secondary crimes including widespread extortion and armed robberies affecting both households and private enterprises.
The tragic reality confronting innocent bystanders was painfully highlighted by the presence of relatives mourning a one-year-old child at Sunday’s march. The infant lost his life just last week after being struck in the head by a stray bullet during an armed clash in Culiacán, an incident that has amplified public anger regarding the lack of security for civilians.
The mass mobilization was organized by a broad coalition representing diverse sectors of local society. Relatives of crime victims coordinated alongside civic advocacy groups, local trade organizations, and representatives of the Catholic Church to ensure their collective demands for safety, justice, and accountability could not be ignored by authorities.
The day’s events formally commenced with a church service led by the Bishop of Culiacán, who used his homily to deliver a direct, impassioned appeal to the cartel factions responsible for the bloodshed. The bishop implored gunmen to halt their hostilities, urging them to consider the profound grief experienced by affected families and young people across the city while emphasizing that no amount of money, territory, or ambition could ever surpass the value of human life.
Beyond the severe physical peril, the security breakdown has inflicted immense economic hardship on the region's commercial foundations. Local business representative Sergio Esquer, who serves as a leader within the centre-left opposition party Movimiento Ciudadano, reported to news agencies that the persistent climate of fear and extortion has forced more than 5,000 businesses to shutter their doors since the factional war began.
The worsening public security emergency has been compounded by severe political instability within the Sinaloa state administration. In April, federal prosecutors in the United States unsealed allegations accusing Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha and nine other current and former public officials of actively conspiring with the Los Chapitos faction to facilitate the smuggling of illicit narcotics into American territory.
Governor Rocha has repeatedly maintained his innocence, forcefully denying any criminal wrongdoing or complicity with cartel operatives. In the wake of the American indictment, Rocha initially stepped down from his gubernatorial duties on a temporary basis while domestic prosecutors in Mexico initiated an independent inquiry into the corruption and trafficking allegations.
Although Rocha returned to his official post three weeks ago, his resumption of power was swiftly cut short by renewed political pressure from the federal government. Only days after resuming office, the governor submitted another request for a leave of absence following pointed public commentary from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who published a message on social media noting that power exercised without principles inevitably becomes arrogance.
As Culiacán marks two years of uninterrupted turmoil, the residents of Sinaloa find themselves navigating a severe multi-layered crisis. The convergence of militarized cartel skirmishes, an escalating toll of civilian casualties, deep economic damage, and paralysis within local governance has left the population increasingly reliant on grassroots public pressure to demand lasting peace and institutional accountability.
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