Mexico’s navy kills 11 Sinaloa Cartel allies in operation

A navy security operation in Mexico’s Sinaloa state against one of the country’s most powerful cartels left 11 people dead.

Members of the navy killed the people while responding to an attack from a building used by a group affiliated with the cartel faction known as “Los Mayos,” the force said in a statement posted on X. The faction has been in a bloody turf war since the arrest of its leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in 2024.

The security forces located the daughter of a criminal group leader at a different property, but turned her over to family members because of her lack of ties to criminal activity, the navy said. The individual was Zambada’s daughter, according to a government official not authorised to speak on the matter. The navy said it detained a member of the criminal organisation at the same location.

The navy seized high-powered firearms and tactical gear at the property where the shooting took place, it said. In January, Mexico deployed 1 600 more members of the military to address Sinaloa’s ongoing violence.

Mexican security forces have been on high alert since February, when the military killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, stoking fears of more violence. The operation happened as the country prepares to co-host FIFA World Cup games in June, drawing in millions of tourists.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has vowed to address the high homicide rate in Sinaloa, but violent episodes have continued this year. Ten employees of a Vizsla Silver Corp mine were kidnapped in January, of whom at least five were found dead, an incident Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch blamed on a separate Sinaloa Cartel faction.

Two local lawmakers from one of Mexico’s opposition parties, Movimiento Ciudadano, were shot and injured in Sinaloa in January. On the day Sheinbaum visited the state in February, a woman from a collective of families looking for relatives who have gone missing was found dead, according to local media.

Last August, Zambada, who co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel, pleaded guilty in the US to drug-trafficking charges, for which he faces life in prison when he’s sentenced in April. He also agreed to forfeit $15 billion as the proceeds of his crimes. Zambada was arrested in July 2024 after allegedly being hoodwinked by a Sinaloa Cartel rival and forced onto a plane headed to the US.

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