Mexican President Blames US Partly for Rise in Violence in Sinaloa – WE FM 99.9

According to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the United States is partly responsible for the increase in violence in Sinaloa, Mexico.

The president made the statement during a press conference, claiming that the US helped stoke hostility between rival cartels by arresting two cartel leaders in the United States.

On July 25, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested along with Joaquín Guzmán López, son of drug lord “El Chapo” Guzmán, after they landed in a small plane near El Paso, Texas.

A few weeks after the arrest, violence broke out, killing nearly 50 people and numerous bodies with gunshot wounds were found on the streets.

The president claims the US Justice Department had “agreements” with an organized criminal group that led to Zambada’s arrest, and he also refers to the operation as a kidnapping.

US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar previously said Washington was not involved in the operation that led to Zambada’s arrest. He said:

“It wasn’t an American plane, it wasn’t an American pilot, it wasn’t our agents or our people in Mexico. This was an operation between the cartels, where one handed power to the other.”