Overview

• Authorities found 20 male corpses along Highway 15 near Culiacán, including four decapitated bodies hanging from a bridge and 16 victims shot inside an abandoned vehicle.
• A note left at the scene claimed responsibility by La Mayiza, the faction loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada’s son, underscoring the internal split within the Sinaloa Cartel.
• The massacre adds to more than 1,200 cartel-related deaths in Sinaloa since the feud erupted in September 2024 following the arrest and alleged kidnapping of El Mayo.
• Mexican federal and state forces have been deployed across the region, but residents say soldiers and police have yet to restore order in violence-plagued neighborhoods.
• Official data show nearly 480,000 cartel-linked homicides nationwide since 2006, highlighting the enduring human cost of Mexico’s drug war.