Radio Havana, Cuba | Mexican president blames US for rising drug cartel violence

Mexico City, September 21 (RHC) – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says the United States is partly responsible for the escalating violence by the Sinaloa cartel, which has claimed dozens of lives in the past week.

Last week’s “instability and clashes” that left 53 people dead in the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa were the result of a “completely illegal” operation by U.S. forces, Lopez Obrador said during his morning press conference.

Since fighting between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel began on September 9, another 51 people have gone missing, with no end in sight for the violence.

The conflict between the two most powerful factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, a drug gang, began in July, when the top dealer and leader of one of the groups, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, was arrested in the United States.

Zambada claims that a high-ranking member of Los Chapitos, another faction of the cartel, kidnapped him and flew him to the United States against his will.

Since fighting broke out on September 9, shootings have disrupted daily life in the capital Culiacán, with schools forced to remain closed on some days and restaurants and shops closing early.

Lopez Obrador said the United States bore some responsibility for the violence “because it carried out this operation” to arrest Zambada. He said the arrest “triggered the confrontation that is now happening in Sinaloa.”

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico City, Ken Salazar, denied that his country was responsible for the cartel violence. “If it is said that the United States, we, are responsible for what is happening in Sinaloa or other places, I do not agree with that,” Salazar said from Ciudad Juárez, according to Mexican media.