(CNN Spanish) – The Mexican Army sent another 600 soldiers to Sinaloa this Saturday to carry out security tasks after the acts of violence recorded throughout this month in the northwestern state of the country, the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) reported in a statement.
The shipment has the objective of “reinforcing the current operational deployment maintained by military personnel in this federal entity and inhibiting the activities of organized crime,” indicated Sedena.
He added that the soldiers have the instruction to “collaborate closely with local authorities and reduce crime rates through joint actions that contribute (to) the preservation of order and public peace.”
The deployment of more soldiers in Sinaloa comes as the state faces problems of violence that both the local and federal governments attribute to a fight between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel, known as “Los Chapitos” and “Los Mayos.”
The first faction is allegedly controlled by the children of drug trafficker Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán, sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States; and the second, by the group of Ismael “el Mayo” Zambada, detained this year in the United States and who is awaiting criminal proceedings.
In the first 20 days of the month, at least 70 intentional homicides were committed in Sinaloa, according to daily reports from the federal government. The dates with the highest cases were September 15, with 14 crimes of this type; on September 18, with nine, and on September 13, with seven.
