Surge of violence in Sinaloa
July 1, 2025
Mexican authorities found 20 bodies in the state of Sinaloa yesterday — five decapitated and several hanging from a bridge on a main road near the state capital. It is the latest surge of violence in a region torn by a bloody war between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“The Mexican government has piled thousands of soldiers into Sinaloa, but has proven unable to curb the violence. The last two months have been the most violent yet. Overall, the war has left nearly 3,000 dead or missing,” reports the Guardian.
“Dead bodies appear scattered across Culiacán on a daily basis, homes are riddled with bullets, businesses shutter and schools regularly close down during waves of violence. Masked young men on motorcycles watch over the main avenues of the city,” reports the Associated Press.
The surge comes as reports emerge of a potentially game-changing alliance between one faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, run by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and rival Jalisco New Generation Cartel. “A shift that could potentially redraw alliances and power structures across international drug markets,” reports the New York Times.
More Mexico
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Mexican authorities to swiftly and transparently complete their investigation into the June 23 killing of reporter Salomón Ordóñez Miranda in Puebla.
Regional Relations
“Brazil and Mexico have begun preliminary talks to deepen their trade agreement as Latin America’s two largest economies seek to boost commercial partnerships beyond China and Donald Trump’s US,” reports the Financial Times.
Ecuador
Former Ecuadorean vice president, Jorge Glas, who was detained last year during a highly criticized police raid on Mexico’s embassy in Quito was sentenced yesterday to 13 years in prison, reports the Associated Press.
Argentina
U.S. judge ordered cash-strapped Argentina to give up its 51% controlling stake in YPF, the state oil company, in partial compensation for seizing the shares of former investors during its 2012 nationalization of the energy group. “Paying up and losing the controlling stake in YPF — which has become a pillar of the economy — would cripple Argentina at a crucial moment for Milei’s government,” notes the Associated Press.
Deportations
Immigration and U.S. government lawyers sparred in court yesterday over whether U.S. President Donald Trump can use the 18th century Enemy Aliens Act against a Venezuelan gang in a case that is likely to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, reports the Associated Press.
“The A.C.L.U. could face an uphill battle in its effort to win over the Fifth Circuit, which has a reputation as one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country. But no matter who prevails in the oral arguments … the case is likely to move on to the Supreme Court,” reports the New York Times.
Regional
The London Privy Court upheld a Cayman Islands law legalising same-sex civil partnerships, in a move that campaigners say could turn the tide for other British overseas territories battling for LGBTQ+ rights - Guardian.
The Trump administration's cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides 40 percent of humanitarian funding worldwide, could lead to 14 million deaths by 2030, a study in the Lancet found, potentially "halting – and even reversing – two decades of progress in health among vulnerable populations". (France 24)
Brazil
“Minaçu, a small city in inland Brazil and home to the only asbestos mine in the Americas, is set to become the first operation outside Asia to produce four rare earths on a commercial scale – a group of minerals key to the energy transition at the centre of the trade dispute between China and the US,” reports the Guardian.
Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro offered a glimpse of its renovated building and collection yesterday, two days before it reopens for visitors and seven years after a devastating fire destroyed it, reports the Associated Press.
Correction: In yesterday’s edition, I mistakenly referred to former Colombian foreign minister Leyva by the wrong given name, his correct name is Álvaro Leyva. (See yesterday’s post.)