Cartel gunmen are seen during clashes with federal forces in Culiacan on Oct. 17. Jesus Bustamante—Reuters
Time: How The Sinaloa Cartel Bested The Mexican Army
In Mexico’s big cities, drug cartel gunmen normally act like phantoms. They hide in safe houses or amid communities, suddenly striking with an assassination or a gunfight, and then disappearing again. Residents know they are there and are scared, but most the time, they can’t see them.
But on Thursday in the Sinaloan city of Culiacan, the cartel gunmen were everywhere. They openly drove in trucks with mounted machine guns, blockaded streets flashing their Kalashnikovs and burned trucks unleashing plumes of smoke like it was a scene in Syria. They took control of the strategic points in the metro area, shut down the airport, roads, and government buildings and exchanged fire with security forces for hours, leaving at least eight people dead. In contrast, everyone else had to act like ghosts, hiding behind locked doors, not daring to step outside.
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WNU Editor: The murder rate is now at an all-time high in Mexico, and the drug cartels showed this week who is in control in this part of Mexico. If this continues, and it will, support for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's policy of appeasement and accommodation towards the cartels is going to disintegrate.
