Clashes in the Mexican cartel stronghold have claimed 150 lives in the past month

Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has pledged to stick to the “hugs, not bullets” strategy, where social policies tackle crime at its roots. (AP photo)

CULIACAN: A wave of violence in a Mexican cartel stronghold, rocked by infighting between gangs, has killed about 150 people in the past month, according to prosecutors.

They include five men whose bodies were found with gunshot wounds on a main street in Culiacan on Thursday evening, authorities said.

On September 9, a turf war broke out between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations.

Some of the local police suspected of involvement have been disarmed by the army.

The clashes follow the dramatic July 25 arrest on U.S. soil of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped in Mexico and taken into U.S. custody against his will.

Zambada, 76, was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence in the US.

The violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others linked to Zambada, who pleaded not guilty to a series of charges in a New York court last month.

Former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said before leaving office this week that the US shared blame for the infighting over Zambada’s arrest – a claim dismissed by US Ambassador Ken Salazar.

Washington denies planning his capture.

Increasing criminal violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking and gangs, has killed more than 450,000 people in Mexico since 2006.

Claudia Sheinbaum, who was sworn in on Tuesday as Mexico’s first female president, has vowed to stick to Lopez Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy of tackling crime at its roots through social policy.

The former mayor of Mexico City and a key figure in the ruling party will unveil her security plan next week.