Chilling footage captured the moment gunmen from a Sinaloa Cartel faction warned a bus driver and his passengers of the violence that awaited them in Culiacán, the capital of the northwest Mexico state of Sinaloa.
In the video, masked men holding assault rifles are seen boarding the bus and telling those on board to reconsider their travels.
‘It’s better that you get off because there’s a lot of chaos, you know,’ one of the gunmen is heard saying.
‘You’re the boss, man,’ the other gunmen is heard saying. ‘We’re just getting on to tell you.’
The men are then seen stepped off the bus.
A member of a Sinaloa Cartel faction was seen boarding a bus and advising the driver and passengers to reconsider travel to Culiacán, the capital of the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, where cartel infighting left at least two cartel members and a soldier dead
Members of the Mexican National Guard respond at the scene of a confrontation between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel on Monday
The video, recorded on Monday, was a forewarning of the violence spreading across the state capital and other cities amid warring between Sinaloa cartel factions operated by ‘Los Chapitos,’ led by the sons of the jailed Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, and Ismael Zambada Sicairos, the son of cartel cofounder Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, who is now in U.S. custody after he was allegedly turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration in July by El Chapo’s son, Joaquín Guzmán López, who arranged his voluntary surrender.
Other videos showed gunmen from one of the two factions lined up on the side of road with their weapons out or riding in trucks as gunfire rattled in the background.
A car passenger filmed an alleged cartel fighter being placed under arrest after littering a road with tire spikes.
The cartel factions had remained at relative peace until the early hours of Monday, when a heated argument broke out in conversations held via two-way radios, a source told the news outlet Milenio.
Zambada Sicairos, who is also known as ‘El Mayito Flaco,’ is said to have called off a truce with El Chapo’s sons, Iván Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Guzmán Salazar, while his security chief, known as ‘El Comanche,’ greenlit their henchmen to overtake Culiacán and ‘finish Los Chapitos.’
Since then, at least two cartel fighters and a soldier have been killed, multiple businesses have shut down operations, and the Autonomous University of Sinaloa moved all of its classes to a remote setting.
‘It’s better that you get off because there’s a lot of chaos, you know,’ one of the gunmen is heard saying
The Mexican military was seen placing an alleged member of two Sinaloa Cartel factions under arrest on Monday after placing tire spikes on a road
‘El Comanche’ reportedly instructed cartel fighters to hunt down everyone linked to Los Chapitos.
‘We were asked not to fight against the government, but to kill anything that smelled like Chapo,’ one of Zambada Sicairos’ henchmen was heard saying.
The Mexican government deployed 90 special forces soldiers to Sinaloa on Tuesday to back the nearly 500 who were already stationed following El Mayo’s arrest.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said during his daily press briefing Tuesday that the government is ‘watching and taking action’ to ensure calm.
‘It’s a confrontation, and I hope it’s temporary,’ López Obrador said.
Security analysts have predicted that the Sinaloa Cartel would explode in an internal war following El Mayo’s arrest on July 25.
El Mayo, who had never been apprehended in the past, has claimed that Los Chapitos kidnapped him and then flew him on a private jet to Texas.
Joaquín Guzmán Lopez, one of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s sons, self-surrendered to United States authorities on July 25 and in the process allegedly set up Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, by flying him into El Paso, Texas after El Mayo thought he was going to fly to the Mexico City area to look for property
Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada has claimed that he was set up by Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s sons and kidnapped from Mexico before he was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration
One Sinaloa-based security official told Reuters that fighters from the Los Chapitos faction entered areas controlled by Zambada to intimidate them. Some media reports, however, suggested that it was fighters loyal to Zambada who attacked the Los Chapitos faction.
‘It is believed that there may be more fighting and that these clashes are between the same two groups,’ said America Armenta, an independent Sinaloan journalist in Culiacán.
In the days following the arrest of El Mayo and Joaquín Guzmán López, retired DEA agent and Chief of Operation, Ray Donovan, who helped take down El Chapo, told DailyMail.com that Iván Guzmán Salazar would join forces with ‘El Mayito Flaco.’
‘He’s not the type that’s gonna be bold and willing to battle and fight for control,’ Donovan said of Iván Guzmán Salazar. ‘So my belief is that Iván Guzman is going to consolidate power over the cartel.’
