Soldier of Fortune Magazine The Journal of Professional Adventurers
by Jose Campos
The firefight began on the main federal highway in Mexico, and it didn’t let up for hours. Long after dark, the sound of gunfire echoed through Mocorito in Sinaloa, turning the stretch of road into an open war zone. Eyewitnesses reported seeing scores of double-wheeled pickup trucks, with weapons mounted in the back, and armed men inside.
READ MORE: Bad Scene at Sunrise: Bodies and Gunfire in the Texas Wilderness
It began with roadblocks and stolen vehicles set on fire, and explosions when the flames reached the gas tanks.
What unfolded was the latest sign of a full-blown challenge to control the territory long dominated by Los Chapitos, led by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Similar incidents took place elsewhere inside Mexico, sources tell Soldier of Fortune.
Another blockade occurred on the Benito Juárez Highway near Navolato, one law enforcement contact said. Armed men forced the drivers of heavy-duty vehicles to stop at gunpoint, and used those trucks to block the Culiacan Highway.
“Traffic was backed up for miles,” the contact told me.
A Growing Alliance
The challengers are a growing alliance of rival criminal groups that has emerged to wrest control from the once-dominant Los Chapitos.
The violence is part of a targeted campaign amid intense rivalries and a perceived power vacuum. The cartel clash pits supporters of Los Chapitos against those who favor Los Mayitos, the sons of El Mayo, who was arrested last year. Sources close to Mexican law enforcement say the vacuum intensified after 17 family members from within the Sinaloa Cartel inner circle struck a deal with the U.S. government.
Complicated? Yes. And it’s not just rumor.
Suitcases in Hand
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed on May 13 that 17 relatives of cartel leaders – including close family of Ovidio Guzmán López, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2023 – fled to the United States last week. They were spotted at the border in Tijuana, suitcases in hand, crossing by foot into San Diego, sources said.
Their passage was part of a deal, reportedly brokered between emissaries of the Trump administration and key gatekeepers for the Guzman family. The deal occurred along with rumors that the younger Guzmán would plead guilty in order to avoid trial in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.
“You Are the Hunted”
Official pressure on the Sinaloa Cartel has not let up. From a podium in the Southern District of California, U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon on May 13 delivered a stark message – not with gunfire, but with words.
Gordon announced indictments to charge alleged Sinaloa Cartel leaders with narco-terrorism and material support of terrorism. The leaders were charged with narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering. They are believed to be in charge of a violent faction that controls the world’s largest known fentanyl production network.
Others are in the U.S. government’s crosshairs.
“To the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel: you are no longer the hunters, you are the hunted,” Gordon said. “You will be betrayed by your friends, you will be hounded by your enemies, and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom.”
Power in Flux
The recent developments come in the wake of longtime terror campaigns, where shootouts echo through neighborhoods, kidnaps are on the rise, bodies are dumped in broad daylight, and cars and storefronts are torched with impunity. The terror campaigns have included grotesque torture techniques such as electrocution, corkscrews, hot chiles applied to wounds, and in some cases, feeding victims – dead or alive – to captive tigers.
Now, analysts tell Soldier of Fortune, the balance of power is in flux, and the game is changing.
On many levels, the hunt is on.
Jose Campos covers security for Soldier of Fortune.
