By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-20 21:32:05 | Updated at 2024-10-20 23:48:46
2 hours ago
Border Patrol agents have been warned that the deadly Sinaloa cartel may turn its guns on them as a brutal power struggle engulfs the Mexican drugs gang.
The notorious mobsters have been reluctant historically to face off against US law enforcement for fear of an overwhelming backlash.
But that reluctance has been abandoned after the arrest of two senior figures sparked a battle for control of the multi-billion dollar cartel among younger members.
The bloody gang war has spiraled out of control to the extent that members are now permitted to shoot Border Patrol agents, according to an internal memo sent out to federal agents in the El Paso sector, NewsNation reported.
'They fear no-one anymore, especially US law enforcement,' former Homeland Security Investigation agent Victor Avila told the outlet.
'They do have the resources and they do have the capability, and they will use them against us.'
Those guarding the US border have been warned that they may be targeted by the notorious Mexican Sinaloa drugs cartel for the first time as rival factions battle for control
More than 190 people have been killed since kingpins Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada (left) and Joaquín Guzmán López (right) were arrested by US authorities in July
The notorious outfit has been in turmoil since cofounder Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López - the son of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán - were arrested in the US after flying there in a small plane on July 25.
The battle for control has since cost more than 190 lives in the gang's Culiacán powerbase in the Mexican province of Sinaloa.
But the violence has started to spill across the border after contractors working on a ranch in Eagle Pass, Texas, reported being fired upon through the border fence on October 15.
An internal alert has since been sent out to Customs and Border Patrol agents in the surrounding El Paso sector warning them to approach any suspected cartel operatives with extreme caution.
It comes less than a month after four rocket-propelled grenades were found alongside eight roadside bombs in an ammunition dump on the Mexico side of the border near Ajo in Arizona.
And the growing threat is piling pressure on the Biden administration and its former border security czar, Kamala Harris.
'We have long heard from Border Control agents that they face increased risks in their frontline jobs,' said Rep Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
'These reports are just further proof that the cartels will stop at nothing to take what they want.
'Our border patrol agents deserve policies that will make their jobs easier. Unfortunately Biden and Harris have given them the opposite.'
National Guards seal off an area where a corpse was found on a street in Culiacán this month
Former Homeland Security Investigation agent Victor Avila warned that the new generation of gangsters fear no-one
El Mayo claimed in a letter that he was kidnapped and forced onto the plane by Guzmán López.
Fighting has since broken out between a faction led by one of his sons, Ismael 'Mayito Flaco' Zambada Sicairos, and Guzmán López's siblings, Iván Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Guzmán Salazar - the last of the remaining Los Chapitos still in power.
Cartel fighters kidnapped David Martínez, 20, the son of local crime reporter Ernesto Martínez, and his two friends, Antonio Bojórquez and Ezequiel Jasso the evening of September 16 in the Culiacán neighborhood of Prados del Sur after they stopped David's vehicle and searched their cellphones.
David Martínez was released hours after the abduction. But Antonio Bojórquez and Jasso were beaten to death and their bodies were found alongside another man under bridge on September 18.
The new generation of gunmen are now routinely approaching people on the streets or in cars and instruct them to turn over their mobile devices.
The owners will be killed if they find contacts for rival factions on the devices, or sometimes even a chat with a wrong word or a photo with the wrong person.
They will then target everyone on that person's contact list, forming a potential chain of kidnapping, torture and death.
Culiacán residents, including veteran journalist said Ismael Bojórquez, have been reluctant to step out of their homes because of the cartel's tactics.
'You can't go five minutes out of the city, ... not even in daylight,' Bojórquez recently said. 'Why? Because the narcos have set up roadblocks and they stop you and search through your cellphone.'
Last week, gunmen burst into a Culiacán hospital to kill a patient previously wounded by gunshots.
And on October 4, drivers were astonished to see four gunmen taking on a military helicopter that was trying to corral them next to a highway north of the city.
Police have been unable to quell the violence as Culiacán's entire municipal force has been temporarily disarmed by soldiers to check their guns, something that's been done in the past when the army suspects policemen are working for drug cartels.
The local army commander recently acknowledged that it's up to the cartel factions - not authorities - when the violence will stop.
'People live in fear, schools are empty, young people are disappearing, the streets are empty at night,' said State Council on Public Safety general coordinator, Miguel Calderón.
'We have a social emergency on the horizon.'
