Before dawn, the principal of the elementary school in the capital of Sinwa state in Mexico is verifying from the various chats on his phone to obtain a word of shooting or other accidents. If there is a danger, it sends a message to the parents of his students to suspend the classroom.
It is not the only new routine in Colakan, a city consisting of a million people, over the past six months, the battlefield of the two main factions in Cartel Sinoa is drug.
Violence has restricted the hours to bury the dead. The bands that played big parties are now playing for money at intersections. Any loud noise sends children flowing on the cap. Those who live on the changing front lines are afraid of their lives daily.
This is the first long period of violence that touched Colkan residents because there was safety in the control of the total cartel.
Now, many residents are grateful for the pressure that US President Donald Trump applies to get Mexico to pursue the carts and some of them are optimistic that this difficult period can change the constant opinion that the cartel was their protector.
“Tired of being among the bullets”
It started in September, that is, more than a month after Ismail “Miu” Zambada – the oldest and most intelligent leader of Sinalo Cartel – that he was kidnapped by one of the sons of the former leader Joakin “El Chapo” Joseman and transferred him to the United States where they were arrested.
The power struggle between both the Kartel factions and the unwritten agreement was unleashed to not attack the non -attacking population in the drug trade.
There were disturbances, kidnappings, innocent people who were arrested in Knights, and cartel roads where gunmen wipe mobile phones for people looking for any trace of contacting the other side. According to government data, there have been more than 900 killings since September.
A resident of Costa Rica, a small town south of the capital, follows the line of confrontation on the horizon: on one side “separation”, on the other side “Mayos”. He, like most others, asked not to be identified due to the danger.
An old man there said that he saw gunmen holding two bodies on the street.
Sometimes people disappear. Julio Hector Carillo, 34, did not reach the house from a relative in late January. According to his son -in -law, Mario Bildran, his only transgression did not respect the self -curfew ban.
His family did not dare put signs of their research, instead adhering to social platforms. A group found a research looking for the disappearance of a body under the DNA test.
“At any time during the past thirty to forty years, we have statistics for crime, did we have many families that have disappeared (relatives),” said Miguel Calderon of the state’s Security Council, a citizenship organization. Some are captured simply, interrogated and released, but others end up on the Wall Wall in the Colakan Cathedral.
“We are very tired of being among the bullets,” said the owner of a 38 -year -old company, who imposed his family security protocol.
“My father, will I be able to go to school today? Have you already verified (Facebook)?” Asked their 7 -year -old daughter in the morning.
“There are things that you cannot hide from children,” he said.
United States: the solution or the problem?
How Mexican authorities have changed significantly in the past month and locals believe that Trump is the cause.
When it started, Mexico led President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who reduced the Cartel's violence and expressed any interest in following the Cartel leaders. His close ally, the ruler of Sinwa Robin Rocha did the same. Rothsa spokesman, Feliciano Castro, confirms that the United States has fired violence by arresting Zambada.
Things changed when Trump won the elections. The closure of illegal immigration and going after drug dealers was among his promises to his campaign, and threatened to impose tariff fees of 25 % on Tuesday.
The new President of Mexico, Claudia Shinbom, had already shown herself ready to take a more aggressive hand with the cartridges, especially Senoa, whose main work is fentanel.
The number of security and arrests has doubled in Cenaloa, and now there is a direct federal supervision of all security measures.
“We have not seen such a overwhelming and daily operation against the cartals,” said Ismail Boguric, a veteran Sinalo journalist who covers the organized crime, who was criticizing Lopez Obrador's approach.
In December, the authorities seized more than a ton of fentanel in Singo, compared to only 286 lbs in all Mexico in the first six months of 2024.
In the last ten days of February, the authorities dismantled 113 artificial drug laboratories, according to the state's initial data.
The authorities did not clarify if it had produced fentanel or methamphetamine. It is not known, if any, the role of American intelligence.
In Kolakan, the authorities dropped more than 400 carpets surveillance cameras, dual, the authorities were.
Boguroise said the recent measures weakened both the Kartel factions, but the government could not give up this if it really wanted to cancel its clarification.
“I never thought that (Trump) will have a lot of strength to do this … but I am grateful,” said the owner of the beer store at the police checkpoint.
A 55 -year -old woman was agreed to sit on a seat watching the forensic team to load the body of the victim of the murder in a truck. On the previous day, she had attended a mass of her son -in -law, who was killed five months ago with a stray bullet while walking with his daughter a few buildings.
She said, “We leave the house, but we do not know if we're going back.”
Overcoming fear, building peace
In the Socrates Elementary School halls in the center of Colakan, the signs explain what to do in an exchange of fire, and children suddenly dig them on the ground when the alarm appears.
Director Victor Manuel Isporo says he cannot remember what was the case in getting all his students about 400 students at school. About 80 families escaped from the city and there were days that had not been attended by more than 10 children. Decide every day if there will be personal lessons.
The last time it was closed was at the end of last month when the intense battles were wounded by fires and low helicopters. Two main members of the cartel were arrested.
In January, one of his students, a 9 -year -old boy, was killed with his 12 -year -old brother and their father in surgery. Thousands of residents moved to the streets in a rare general width of discontent.
In a workshop, a non -governmental police organization led to students with a training exercise that scares them. Listed spiders, weapons and white truck shots (the favorite karttel transport). Another said he was afraid of taste or killing.
Calderon, Citizen Security Coordinator, said: “People are full of a sense of collective anxiety, anxiety and social anger, and this differs from other crises,” said Calderon, Coordinator of the Citizen Security Group. He said he hoped that he would be able to solve the collusion of citizens, who have seen for years the cartel as a flesh, heroes or personalities to simulate it.
