Sinaloa Cartel Aviator 'El Chuki' Detained In Mexico

Mexican special forces conducted on Monday an operation that ended with the arrest of "El Chuki," a top operative for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Infobae noted he was an aviator for the "Chapitos," a faction of the criminal organization engulfed in a turf war with "La Mayiza." It added that his capture was requested in the context of a case investigating crimes related to terrorism and weapons trafficking.

So far, Infobae added, Mexican forces have arrested more than 50 top cartel operatives since September last year, when the turf wars began following the July abduction of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada by his godson Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Zambada was taken to the U.S. and is currently imprisoned there.

Since then, thousands have been killed or kidnapped, and according to the Mexican news outlet Noroeste, there have been 1,972 reported homicides in Sinaloa over the past 12 months, an average of 5.4 per day, which marks an increase of more than 200 percent compared with the same period between September 2023 and August 2024, when 600 homicides were reported.

Kidnappings have surged at a similar rate, with 1,949 reported victims, an average of 5.3 per day since the conflict began.

In recent months, reports of alleged cooperation between former high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel, including Ovidio Guzmán López, another son of El Chapo, and the U.S. government, have fueled further infighting and deepened fractures within the cartel's internal structure.

In response to the growing violence, the Mexican government has deployed thousands of federal troops to Culiacán, and according to a senior federal security official stationed in the city who spoke with El País, authorities have inflicted major blows to criminal networks but acknowledge that much remains to be done.

Earlier this year, President Claudia Sheinbaum reaffirmed her administration's commitment to restoring peace in Sinaloa, where communities have spent the past year caught in the crossfire.

"We are working to bring peace to Sinaloa, and that is going to happen," Sheinbaum said on July 25. "We are working every day, and when there is honesty, strategy and hard work, there are results, in Sinaloa and across the country. so of course, Sinaloa will be pacified."