Mexican locals are crediting President Donald Trump for the drop in violence after he designated Mexican cartels are terrorist organizations.
According to the Associated Press, residents of Culiacan, a city of 1 million people in the state of Sinaloa, are grateful that Trump is applying pressure to the Mexican government to go after the cartels.
Culiacan has been the scene of a long burning battle between two main factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel over the past six months, leaving many residents terrified and children running for cover whenever a loud noise is heard. Schools have also taken to suspending classes if there have been any shootouts in the area, which often happens and poses a significant danger to students, their parents, and school personnel.
Mexican authorities have changed how they are approaching the cartel’s violence since Trump took control of the Oval Office. The AP reported that when cartel violence first broke out, Mexico was under the leadership of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who instead of addressing it, minimized the violence and did nothing to attempt to apprehend cartel leaders.
Lopez Obrador’s ally, Sinaloa Gov. Ruben Rocha, blamed the U.S. for setting the violence into motion after it arrested Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Mexican drug lord and top Sinaloa cartel leader. Zambada was arrested alongside Joaquín Guzmán Lopez, son of El Chapo, who was also a top leader of the cartel.
Trump shut down the southern border and illegal immigration and went after drug traffickers while imposing heavy tariffs on Mexico for their part in allowing the illegal migration and drug smuggling on fentanyl to continue unabated.
The AP reported that Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on Mexico to up to 25% Tuesday. However, Mexico’s new leader President Claudia Sheinbaum has taken a stronger stance against the cartels in Sinaloa, who are well known to smuggle and deal in fentanyl.
Ismael Bojorquez, a Sinaloa journalist covering organized crime, who also criticized Lopez Obrador’s enabling of the cartels, said there has been a marked increase in the amount of security operations and arrests in Sinaloa.
“We have never seen such an overwhelming and daily operation against the cartels,” Bojorquez said.
More than a ton of fentanyl was seized in Sinaloa in December, compared to a poultry 286 pounds that was seized in the whole of Mexico in the first six months of 2024.
Around 113 synthetic drug labs have been dismantled by Mexican authorities in the last 10 days of February. More than 400 cartel surveillance cameras were also taken down in Culiacan, but Bojorquez said the government needs to keep applying pressure if it wants completely to disband the cartels.
“I never thought [Trump] would have so much power to do that … but I’m grateful,” a local business owner at a police checkpoint said.
