Mexican military forces reported a significant confrontation resulting in the deaths of 19 individuals suspected of being part of a drug cartel, with no casualties among troops according to the Defense Department.
The current ruling party, Morena, has previously pointed fingers at earlier governments over discrepancies in death counts, noting that many suspects were killed while soldiers remained unscathed. This has raised concerns regarding potential violations of human rights or execution-style killings.
This particular clash transpired on Monday in Sinaloa state, near the capital city of Culiacán. The region has been experiencing turmoil due to internal clashes between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel since early September.
Prior to the firefight, military personnel apprehended a prominent lieutenant from the “Mayitos” faction, who remains loyal to the imprisoned leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. This lieutenant was referred to only by the alias “El Max.” Following this arrest, troops faced an attack from over 30 armed assailants. The army reported that at least 11 of these assailants managed to escape, while 19 were killed in the soldiers’ defensive response.
The Defense Department asserted that the soldiers acted purely in self-defense and emphasized their commitment to upholding the rule of law and human rights during the encounter.
Officials also indicated the recovery of a substantial cache of weapons, including 17 rifles — one being a .50-caliber sniper rifle — along with four machine guns from the scene of the confrontation.
The recent surge in violence is reportedly linked to an incident involving Zambada, who claimed he was abducted and taken to the United States by a rival drug lord on July 25, who then reportedly turned him over to American authorities. This rival, Joaquín Guzmán López, is connected to another faction within the cartel that is known as the “Chapitos,” and happens to be the son of the notorious Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
The sequence of events leading to Monday’s deadly shootout stands out due to its imbalance in casualties, echoing a past incident in 2014 when soldiers killed 22 alleged cartel members at a grain facility in Tlatlaya, located in the State of Mexico. While some fatalities from that confrontation resulted from an initial exchange of gunfire, investigations revealed that numerous suspects who surrendered may have been executed post-conflict. Consequently, a total of seven soldiers were arrested, later released, and subsequently charged again for abuses tied to that incident.