Border Patrol agents have been warned that the deadly Sinaloa cartel could turn their guns on them as a brutal power struggle engulfs the Mexican drug gang.
Historically, notorious gangsters have been reluctant to confront US authorities for fear of an overwhelming backlash.
But that reluctance was abandoned after the arrest of two senior figures sparked a battle for control of the multibillion-dollar cartel among younger members.
The bloody gang war has gotten out of control to the point that members are now allowed to shoot Border Patrol agents, according to an internal memo sent to federal agents in the El Paso sector. NewsNation reported.
“They no longer fear anyone, especially American law enforcement,” former National Security Investigation agent Víctor Ávila told the outlet.
“They have the resources and the capacity, and they will use them against us.”
Those guarding the border with the United States have been warned they could be targeted by Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel for the first time as rival factions fight for control.
More than 190 people have died since US authorities arrested kingpins Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada (left) and Joaquín Guzmán López (right) in July.
The notorious organization has been in crisis since its co-founder Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, son of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, were arrested in the United States after flying there in a small plane on July 25.
Since then, the battle for control has cost more than 190 lives in the gang’s power base in Culiacán, in the Mexican province of Sinaloa.
But violence began to spread across the border after contractors working on a ranch in Eagle Pass, Texas, reported they had been attacked through the border fence on October 15.
An internal alert has since been sent to Customs and Border Patrol agents in the surrounding El Paso sector warning them to approach any suspected cartel agents with extreme caution.
It comes less than a month after four rocket-propelled grenades were found along with eight roadside bombs at an ammunition depot on the Mexican side of the border near Ajo, Arizona.
And the growing threat is increasing pressure on the Biden administration and its former border security czar, Kamala Harris.
“We have long heard from border control agents that they face increased risks in their front-line jobs,” said Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
‘These reports are just further proof that the cartels will stop at nothing to get what they want.
‘Our border patrol agents deserve policies that make their jobs easier. Unfortunately, Biden and Harris have given them the opposite.”
National Guard cordons off area where body was found on Culiacán street this month
Former National Security Investigation agent Víctor Ávila warned that the new generation of gangsters does not fear anyone
El Mayo stated in a letter that he was kidnapped and forced onto the plane by Guzmán López.
Since then, clashes have broken out between a faction led by one of his sons, Ismael ‘Mayito Flaco’ Zambada Sicairos, and Guzmán López’s brothers, Iván Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Guzmán Salazar, the last of Los Chapitos still in power .
Cartel fighters kidnapped David Martínez, 20, son of local crime reporter Ernesto Martínez, and his two friends, Antonio Bojórquez and Ezequiel Jasso, on the night of September 16 in the Culiacán neighborhood of Prados del Sur, after They stopped David’s vehicle and searched their cell phones.
David Martínez was released hours after the kidnapping. But Antonio Bojórquez and Jasso were beaten to death and their bodies were found along with another man under a bridge on September 18.
The new generation of gunmen now routinely approach people on the streets or in cars and order them to hand over their mobile devices.
Owners will be killed if they find contacts from rival factions on the devices or sometimes even a chat with the wrong word or photo with the wrong person.
They will then attack everyone on that person’s contact list, forming a potential chain of kidnapping, torture, and death.
Culiacán residents, including veteran journalist Ismael Bojórquez, have been reluctant to leave their homes due to the cartel’s tactics.
“You can’t leave the city for five minutes… not even during the day,” Bojórquez said recently. ‘Because? Because the drug traffickers have set up checkpoints and they stop you and search your cell phone.’
Last week, armed men broke into a hospital in Culiacán to kill a patient previously wounded by gunshots.
And on October 4, drivers were shocked to see four armed men board a military helicopter that was trying to corner them along a highway north of the city.
Police have been unable to quell the violence as Culiacán’s entire municipal force has been temporarily disarmed by soldiers to check their weapons, something that has been done in the past when the army suspects police officers of working for drug cartels. .
The local army commander recently acknowledged that it depends on the cartel factions – not the authorities – when the violence will stop.
‘People live in fear, the schools are empty, young people disappear, the streets are empty at night,’ said the general coordinator of the State Public Security Council, Miguel Calderón.
“We have a social emergency on the horizon.”