Top Member of Sinaloa Cartel Faction 'El Güero Chompas' Captured After Clash With Mexican Troops

The different Sinaloa Cartel factions fighting over control of drug smuggling routes in northern Mexico have been losing high-ranked members one by one as Mexican troops continue making advances.

Earlier this month, "Los Chapitos" lost their head of security and a right-hand man of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, while "La Mayiza" suffered a big blow to its ranks when "El Max", considered one of the greatest generators of violence in the country, was captured outside of Culiacán in late October.

Continuing with this trend, members of the Mexican National Guard secured the arrest of a man known as "El Güero Chompas" along with nine other cartel members on November 9 in the small town of Las Milpas, near the Sinaloa border with the state of Durango.

The clash left 3 soldiers and a civilian injured, but it led to the arrest of eight men and two women with links to Ismael Zambada Sicairos, alias "El Mayito Flaco," the son of drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and current leader of "La Mayiza."

Sinaloa's secretary of public safety Gerardo Mérida Sánchez detailed that, besides the arrests, authorities were also able to seize a few AK-47 rifles. Mendoza Uriarte along and the other suspects were put at the disposal of Mexico's Attorney General's Office.

A close ally to "El Mayo," Mendoza Uriarte is one of the main suspects related to the October 2023 homicide of Mario Martínez Martínez, director of public security in San Quintín, Tijuana.

Who is "El Güero Chompas"?

Authorities believe that Mendoza Uriarte has been linked to organized criminal groups since at least 2006, when he was a member of the Arellano Félix Cartel, also known as the Tijuana Cartel.

With time, as the Tijuana Cartel weakened, he switched allegiances to the Sinaloa Cartel and earned the trust of "El Mayo" Zambada, who assigned him to the state of Baja California where he was in charge of controlling drug smuggling routes along the border.

Fourth arrest

Mendoza Uriarte has a long history with law enforcement, being captured three other times before this one.

The first one took place in 2009, when authorities accused "El Güero Chompas" of unlawful possession of firearms. He was then released from prison due to lack of evidence.

He was recaptured in 2011 by local law enforcement while he was driving a stolen vehicle, and although prosecutors had up to six files of incriminatory information against Mendoza Uriarte, he was again released in December of that same year. Fast forward to 2014, when a search warrant of his Culiacán home ended with the seizure of AR-15 rifles, a machine gun and several grenades, as well as his arrest. He is now behind bars again.