MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Schools and businesses in Culiacan, the state capital of Sinaloa remained closed and festivities around Mexican Independence were canceled Thursday as fears over clashes between factions of the Sinaloa cartel disrupt life in the northern city of 1 million.
Sinaloa Gov. Rub茅n Rocha and 鈥 both of the ruling Morena party 鈥 have downplayed the tensions, which started Monday, and said that local, state and federal forces are ensuring safety in the area.
But despite the recent deployment of special forces soldiers, planes and heavily armed helicopters, the fear continues. Even Rocha recognized that the clashes, which have followed , could continue.
Security forces are 鈥渄issuading some violent acts but above all reducing the risks to the population to a minimum,鈥 Rocha said in a video posted to social media Thursday.
Still, for safety reasons, he said 鈥渢here will not be any celebration鈥 for the Sept. 15-16 holiday, adding that school will be suspended Thursday and Friday because so few students showed up.
In 2008, a grenade attack in the city of Morelia, west of Mexico City, during the independence celebrations , in what was an unusual cartel mass attack on civilians.
The Sinaloa governor maintained the state has sufficient security presence to protect people, but around Culiacan people appear to have a very different view.
鈥淭he government doesn鈥檛 control anything, absolutely nothing,鈥 said Ismael Boj贸rquez, director of the weekly newspaper Riodoce in Culiacan, which specializes in coverage of organized crime. 鈥淭here is a lot of fear. The people are defenseless.鈥
As an example, he said that on Tuesday gunmen in a convoy of 15 trucks drove into the city and later left without any authority stopping them.
Boj贸rquez said that cartel gunmen have their shootouts, kidnap and burn, then the government arrives to clean up and take away the burned vehicles.
Faced with inaction from the government, residents took their own precautions including not sending their children to school, he said.
Juan Carlos Ayala, a professor of philosophy at the University of Sinaloa, said that just between Wednesday and Thursday he came upon three shootouts.
鈥淭he city appears empty,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e clashing everywhere.鈥
He noted that the internal clash created a lot of uncertainty. 鈥淭hey all know each other, they know where each other lives. They come, wreck the houses, take relatives.鈥
A 65-year-old retiree named Jes煤s, who lives in a rural community on the outskirts of Culiacan and gave only his first name for safety, said he had asked his children to leave his grandchildren home and to not believe that things are calm even if the government says so.
As of Wednesday, the state prosecutor鈥檚 office had reported nine dead, eight injured and 14 abducted, but the actual number of fatalities may be higher since the cartels often pick up their own dead.
The surge in violence had been expected after Joaqu铆n Guzm谩n L贸pez, a son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaqu铆n 鈥淓l Chapo鈥 Guzm谩n, landed near El Paso, Texas on July 25 in a small plane with .
Zambada was the cartel鈥檚 elder figure and reclusive leader. After his arrest, he said in a letter circulated by his lawyer that he had been abducted by the younger Guzm谩n and taken to the U.S. against his will.
Now there appears to be a struggle for power between the remaining sons of El Chapo, known locally as and those loyal to Zambada.
鈥淭here鈥檚 obviously a fight for power鈥 inside the cartel, Boj贸quez said. 鈥淭he only thing the government is doing is watching, observing the clash between the Chapitos and El Mayo鈥檚 people,鈥 he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no action against the drug trafficking cells.鈥 ___
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