Obrador: US shares blame for violence shaking Mexico drug cartel

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador attends his last public act as president at the “Grito de Independencia” ceremony, which marks the start of Independence Day celebrations at El Zocalo Square in Mexico City on Sunday, September 15, 2024. – Obrador said Thursday, September 19, 2024, that the United States share the blame for the bloody drug cartel infighting that erupted in the country after Washington arrested a narco kingpin. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / Agence France-Presse)

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday that the United States share the blame for the bloody drug cartel infighting that erupted in the country after Washington arrested a narco kingpin.

The northwestern state of Sinaloa has been wracked by violence following the dramatic July arrest of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who claimed he was kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will.

Zambada, 76, was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.

READ: US arrests 2 leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel

The violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada, who pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges in a New York court last Friday, Sept. 13.

Bodies have been abandoned in the streets and residents left terrified as gunfire, abductions, arson and armed clashes have left more than 40 dead in less than two weeks.

READ: Mexico’s president downplays drug cartel violence

Lopez Obrador said the United States bore some of the responsibility “for having carried out that operation” to arrest Zambada.

Zambada was arrested on US soil but said he was taken there against his will. Washington denies having planned his capture.

Lopez Obrador said the arrest “produced the confrontation that is taking place in Sinaloa.”