Media Citation
Is this the end of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel? | Insight Crime
Mexico’s criminal landscape may be on the brink of a profound transformation as the ongoing war between two rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel threatens to split the group in two, according to a new report.
Source: Insight Crime | 15 May 2025
Mexico’s criminal landscape may be on the brink of a profound transformation as the ongoing war between two rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel threatens to split the group in two, according to a new report.
The group’s two main leaders are currently in US prison. Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo,” has been behind bars since 2017. Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias “El Mayo,” was arrested in July 2024 alongside one of El Chapo’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López. Though the details remain unconfirmed, El Mayo accused the younger Guzmán of tricking him and helping coordinate his arrest. This alleged betrayal sparked a war between the Chapitos and the Mayiza factions, led by sons of the former capos.
In a recent report titled, “How the Sinaloa Cartel’s Rift is Redrawing Mexico’s Criminal Map,” the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) examined cases of gang-on-gang violence and state-criminal clashes in the context of the ongoing war. InSight Crime, which maintains a data-sharing partnership with ACLED and consulted on the report, spoke with the authors, Sandra Pellegrini and Maria Fernanda Arocha, to explore what their data-based analysis suggests about the group’s future.
