After the arrests and convictions of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, son on "El Chapo" Guzmán, drug trafficking organizations in the Mexican state of Sinaloa have seen a reshuffle to their structure including new leaders and strategies to combat rival cliques.
Once Guzmán López allegedly betrayed "El Mayo" and turned him in to U.S. authorities back in July, the Sinaloa Cartel organigram saw the rise of new leaders. But for investigative journalist Anabel Hernández, the new generation of "narcos" seems to be much more violent than the previous one.
In her podcast titled Narcosistema, Hernández argues that Zambada's arrest opened the doors to a new generation of sicarios such as Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, the only two sons of "El Chapo" who remain at large, and the appearance of Ismael Zambada Sicairos, alias "El Mayito Flaco," son of "El Mayo.
According to Hernández, the new generation of "narcojuniors" (as she calls them) is known for implementing a different approach to their illicit activities. Without figures such as "El Chapo" or "El Mayo," the new leaders have drifted away from the old-school code system and instead replaced it with a more violent approach.
"They are younger, they are better prepared in terms of education," Hernández said in her podcast. "They are also more immature, less experienced. But at the same time they have more economic power, they are bolder and more violent and show no scruples," she added.
At the same time, Hernández attributes the sudden rise of fentanyl production in recent years to the more aggressive approach taken by these "narcojuniors," generating more clashes between "Los Chapitos" and "La Mayiza."
Hernández also revealed that due to the ongoing war between both factions, "La Mayiza" has been forced to retreat to the state of Durango, where they count with the protection of an armed wing unit known as the Cabrera Sarabia brothers.
"Los Chapitos" used to feed victims to their tiger pets
An indictment unsealed in April 2023 revealed that two of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's sons, Iván Archivaldo and Jesús Alfredo, raised and kept tigers as their pets.
Prosecutors said that victims of "Los Chapitos" were at times fed dead or alive to the tigers they kept as pets. A few months later, that version was corroborated by Dámaso López Serrano alias "El Mini Lic," former ally of "Los Chapitos" until his arrest in 2017.
The former Sinaloa Cartel member told investigative journalist Anabel Hernández that "Los Chapitos" used to throw people inside the tigers' cages.
"They threw him inside the cage...the animal teared off one of the hands and his genitals," López Serrano said in the interview. "The lifeless body was then thrown to one of Culiacán's major streets where the victim's mother lived," he added.
Homicides in Sinaloa surpass the 1,000 threshold in 2024
Nearly four months since the violent conflict between "Chapitos" and "Mayos" erupted, authorities in Sinaloa report that the number of homicides surpasses that of the previous five years.
According to media outlet Noroeste, for the first time since 2019 Sinaloa surpassed the 1,000-homicide threshold in a single year. As of Dec. 27, Sinaloa officials reported at least 1,004 homicides throughout the year, a 62% increase compared to 2023 )618).
Sixty-two percent of the homicides in 2024 have taken place since Sept. 9, when the turf wars began, averaging 5.7 homicides per day.
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