Cartel Violence Escalates as Bodies Found on Highway Bridge

Authorities in Mexico discovered the bodies of twenty individuals on a highway bridge, including four who had been decapitated. Officials attribute the violence to a conflict between factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel, specifically Los Chapitos and La Mayiza. The bodies were found both by the roadside and inside an abandoned vehicle.

Five severed heads were located in a bag, and all the victims exhibited gunshot wounds. The Sinaloa cartel is considered a dominant drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere. It is believed that the group has cultivated connections within the highest echelons of Mexico's federal police and military through bribery.

The cartel's primary activities involve the international trafficking of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin, with the United States being a major destination. Feliciano Castro, a Sinaloa government spokesperson, condemned the killings and called for an evaluation of the organized crime strategy due to the severity of the recent violence. Military and police forces are working to restore peace in Sinaloa.

The recent surge in violence in the state has been linked to the capture of cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada nearly a year ago. A power struggle erupted last September between rival factions following the kidnapping of a group leader by a son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The kidnapped leader was subsequently handed over to U.S. authorities.

Local media reports suggest that the four decapitated bodies were hung from the bridge by their legs, a tactic employed by criminal gangs, although this has not been officially confirmed. The area has experienced a significant increase in bloodshed, with nearly twenty lives lost in less than a day. The city of Culiacan is reportedly plagued by daily discoveries of corpses, homes riddled with bullets, business closures, and school shutdowns due to the ongoing violence. Masked individuals on motorcycles are a constant threat on the main streets.