Clash Between Military Personnel and Members of 'Los Chapitos' Leads to 14 Arrests South of Culiacán

SEATTLE - As one of her first decrees when sworn in as president, Claudia Sheinbaum launched a strategy that singled out municipalities that are key for cartels in their drug enterprise. Titled "Estrategia de Seguridad de los Primeros 100 días," or Security Strategy for the First 100 Days, the strategy aims to neutralize criminal networks as well as capturing generators of violence in those regions.

As part of this initiative, Mexican armed forces have spent the last few weeks delivering significant blows to drug trafficking cartels by seizing guns and vehicles as well as securing the arrest of several high-profile cartel members along the places considered to be in need of "priority attention."

In Sinaloa, members of the Mexican Army have continuously followed Sheinbaum's request at neutralizing criminal networks and, on November 12, they secured the arrest of 14 alleged Sinaloa Cartel members in the town of Costa Rica, 30 miles south of Culiacán.

The 14 people arrested are believed to form part of the Sinaloa Cartel faction known as "Los Chapitos," According to reports, the criminals were trying to escape when they noticed the presence of military personnel near an agricultural field who had responded to calls from residents of the area alerting them of the presence of cartel members.

The group of armed men was allegedly preparing to conduct an attack, but as soon as they were aware of the soldiers they tried to escape in a white Nissan truck. They did not get too far, as the vehicle got stuck in a ditch nearby, causing injuries to those aboard.

Besides securing the arrest of the 14 cartel members, authorities seized 13 large caliber firearms, about a hundred cartridges and more than eight thousand rounds of ammunition.

Those arrested as well as the items seized were put at the disposal of Mexico's Attorney General's Office so that proper investigations can be put in place.

Mexican Armed forces made more than 27,000 arrests in 2023

According to data from the Iberoamericana University, military personnel and members of the National Guard made a total of 27,022 arrests across Mexico last year.

The university has been tracking arrests and confrontations between Mexican armed forces and cartels since former President Felipe Calderón launched his so-called "guerra contra el narco" in 2006. During that span, Tamaulipas, Colima and Sonora are the entities with the highest number of arrests made by military personnel.

In Sinaloa, military personnel including the Army, Navy and National Guard arrested 266 individuals in 2023.

The arrests came with a price though, as armed forces suffered 76 attacks from criminal organizations last year. The area with the most cases registered in the state of Sinaloa was Culiacán, accounting for 60% of the attacks on military personnel.