President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador says that the United States is partly to be blamed for an increase in violence in Sinaloa, Mexico.
The president made the statement while speaking at a press conference, claiming that the US aided in stirring up hostility between rival cartels when they arrested two cartel leaders in the United States.
On July 25, Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was arrested along with Joaquín Guzmán López, son of drug kingpin “El Chapo” Guzmán, after they landed near El Paso, Texas on a small plane.
Weeks after the arrest was made, violence broke out leaving nearly 50 dead, with numerous cases of bodies being found on the streets with gunshot wounds.
The president claims the US Department of Justice had “agreements” with an organized criminal group that led to the arrest of Zambada, also referring to the operation as a kidnapping.
US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar previously stated that Washington was not involved in the operation that led to Zambada’s arrest, stating:
“It was not a US plane, it was not a US pilot, it was not our agents or our people in Mexico. This was an operation between the cartels, where one handed over to the other.”
