Military members attacked, roads blocked with burning vehicles in Mexican cartel stronghold

Mexican authorities said Thursday there have been attacks on military personnel and roads blocked with vehicles in northern Sinaloa state.

The state police department said the violence broke out in an area just north of the state capital, Culiacan. The state is home to the drug cartel of the same name, and similar violence has broken out in the past whenever a cartel leader has been arrested.

However, federal authorities said they had no immediate information on any such arrest.

Local media showed images of burning vehicles blocking roads.

“We are aware that military personnel suffered an attack,” the Sinaloa state police department wrote in its social media accounts. “We are also aware that roads have been blocked with vehicles.”

State Gov. Rubén Rocha wrote that assailants had set two vehicles on fire “with the aim of blocking authorities.” He called for calm, but did not specify the motives of the attack or if there were victims.

Roadblocks were later reported in another district where Ovidio Guzman, son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was arrested in January 2023 before being extradited to the United States.

Local media showed video and photos of the vehicles in flames. Cartels in Mexico often use that tactic to prevent police or military units from reaching a given area.

In another social media post, police said that authorities had removed vehicles from a highway near the community of Limón de Los Ramos.

Despite the chaos, the Secretary of Public Education in Sinaloa released a statement Thursday night saying classes would be held as planned on Friday.

Cartel leaders detained in U.S.

There have been fears that wider violence might break out in Sinaloa following recent detentions of top Sinaloa cartel leaders in the U.S.

In late July, Joaquín Guzmán López, one of El Chapo’s sons, apparently kidnapped Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada – an older drug boss from a rival faction of the cartel – forcing him onto the plane and flying him north.

The younger Guzmán had apparently planned to turn himself in, and took the elder Zambada along for reasons that are not known.

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors issued a statement saying “an arrest warrant has been prepared” against Guzmán for kidnapping.

Mexico’s state prosecutor’s office on Thursday urged U.S. authorities to “urgently” clarify the legal status and whereabouts of Ovidio Guzman, suggesting his case was linked to Zambada’s abduction.

It said in a statement that Ovidio Guzman was taken out of U.S. prison on July 23, two days before the arrest of his brother and Zambada.

The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, said on July 26 that Ovidio Guzman remained in U.S. custody without elaborating on his whereabouts.

Experts including former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Mike Vigil suspect that Guzman Lopez gave up Zambada in exchange for benefits for himself and his brother Ovidio.

Zambada appeared in a Texas court this month in a wheelchair and pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder.

Guzman Lopez was transferred to Chicago where he denied drug trafficking charges.

Only one of El Chapo’s sons accused of cartel links remains free — Ivan Archivaldo.

The United States has offered a reward $10 million for information leading to his arrest.

AFP contributed to this report.