Sheinbaum vows federal troops stay in Sinaloa ‘as long as necessary,’ blames US for violence surge
President Claudia Sheinbaum traveled to Culiacán on September 20 and told Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and other state officials that federal troops sent to fight the state’s cartel war will not be withdrawn, according to reporting from Mexico News Daily. “All federal forces … will remain here for as long as necessary,” Sheinbaum said, pledging that Army, National Guard and Navy personnel already deployed to the state will stay in place indefinitely.
What Sheinbaum promised
Mexico News Daily reported that the federal government has already sent roughly 1,000 marines and more than 800 agents from the Federal Public Security Ministry into Mazatlán, Sinaloa’s main tourist destination, after months of targeted killings spread from the state capital to the coast. Sheinbaum’s pledge on September 20 was a commitment to maintain that presence rather than an announcement of new reinforcements, the outlet reported.
Blaming Washington for the bloodshed
Sheinbaum also used the visit to again attribute Sinaloa’s surge in violence to the United States, according to Mexico News Daily. She said, “We don’t want interference from any foreign government in our territory. Interference generates violence, whereas cooperation for development generates peace.” Sheinbaum specifically pointed to the U.S. role in removing Sinaloa Cartel figure Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada roughly two years ago, telling the crowd that homicides in the state had run below one per day before his removal. That causal claim is Sheinbaum’s own characterization, attributed to her by the outlet, not an independently verified statistic in the report.
Two years of cartel war, by the numbers
The violence Sheinbaum addressed stems from an internal Sinaloa Cartel split between factions loyal to the jailed Zambada and those aligned with the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, a conflict Mexico News Daily says has produced more than 3,100 killings and at least 5,000 forced disappearances over two years, citing law enforcement and human rights groups. The outlet noted the true toll is widely believed to be higher, since disappearances in particular are considered undercounted. Mexico News Daily also reported that Sinaloa’s economy contracted 4.5% in the first quarter of 2026 amid the unrest.
Sources
- Mexico News Daily — “Sheinbaum pledges continued military support for Sinaloa, again blaming US involvement for the state’s violence,” September 21, 2026
Reporting drawn from a single source published September 21, 2026, based on Sheinbaum’s September 20 remarks in Culiacán; this account has not been independently verified against other outlets or an official transcript, and casualty figures are attributed to the law enforcement and human rights groups cited by that source.