“Char” for Borderland Beat
This article was translated and reposted from RIODOCE
This morning a delegation of U.S. officials arrived at the National Palace in Mexico City to address the issue of fentanyl trafficking, while in Sinaloa Los Chapitos allegedly made a statement through banners placed in at least six cities.
The sons of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman stated on the banners that they are not “akin” to the business of fentanyl production and trafficking and prohibited “the sale, manufacture, transport or any type of business involving the substance known as fentanyl, including the sale of chemical products for its production.”
The warning message placed on roads in Culiacán, Ahome, Mazatlán, Guamúchil, El Rosario and other cities in the state, and signed allegedly by Los Chapitos, also accuses “incessant disinformation by some media outlets” and an “evident omission by the government in not investigating and prosecuting the real culprits of this epidemic in Sinaloa.”
This is not the first occasion that the sons of the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel have denied being involved in the production and trafficking of fentanyl, as last May they also did so in a letter sent to journalist Azucena Uresti, in which they also denied being leaders of the criminal organization.
“We have never been nor will we ever be akin to your business. Be aware of the consequences. Att. Chapitos,” it warns.
“We have never worked with fentanyl. However, in Sinaloa there are plenty of people who work with fentanyl. That is why there are seizures, which have first and last names. Investigate. It is enough to send just one agent to the state, so that they really know what happens in Sinaloa,” Los Chapitos stated in the letter, which was validated by Chapo’s lawyer, José Refugio Rodríguez Núñez.
“We are not the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, nor are we interested in becoming one. What does exist is a number of small and large groups that have their base of operations in the state or are made up of people from Sinaloa and operate in other parts of the country or even in other parts of the world,” they added.
The rejection of being producers and traffickers of fentanyl by the Chapitos faction began after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán López on January 5 in the Jesús María syndicate, and the United States began its hunt for them, pointing to them as the ringleaders of the business in Sinaloa.
The US government also said it will go after Ovidio’s brothers and announced on September 19 the “Strategy to Combat Illicit Opioids”, with which it said it will increase investigations and the presence of its agents in Mexico to combat drug production and trafficking.
A month after the letter was published, Ríodoce obtained testimonies from members of the Sinaloa Cartel, who said that people close to Los Chapitos had ordered the production and trafficking of fentanyl in the state to be stopped.
“Those who cook fentanyl or make the M30 pills are being blackmailed, and if they reoffend, they are killing them,” confirmed a member of the Sinaloa Cartel who, like the rest of the cooks who manufacture this type of drug, was warned not to cook synthetic drugs in the area around Culiacán.
Prior to this, two men were murdered in Culiacán and later one more, in different sectors of the city. Fentanyl pills were planted on all of them.