It was one of the craziest episodes in the whole drug war - Sinaloa’s most powerful kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a legend who had been in the game for half a century, touched down at an airport near El Paso on July 25 and into custody. There was a crazed rush of stories about what the hell had happened including the notion that he must have self-surrendered. But the truth that seemed to emerge was even more bizarre; the rival Chapitos faction of the cartel had kidnapped Mayo and handed him to the Americans. Yet after such an act of treason, people asked, how come Sinaloa was calm?
The war of revenge finally kicked off on Sept. 9. It has quickly developed into one of Mexico’s worst cartel conflicts ever, with more than a thousand deaths and disappearances and the city of Culiacán in lock-down. Shoot outs rattle the nights, mutilated corpses litter the streets, and residents are forced to suffer through it. As the year ends, there is no sign of the war abating.
After doing a series of stories on the Mayo rendition and Sinaloa Cartel civil war, including from the ground, I have put together this 16-minute guerrilla documentary for the CrashOut Chronicles. To bring up the production, I brought in Omid Visua, a film-maker and photographer who I hope will be working on a lot more projects for CrashOut. It uses images shot by myself and Culiacán photographer Fidel Durán and also includes some video filmed by John Dickie from a news report we made there back in 2009.
This is still rough and ready as we have done it on less budget than a TV crew would use for a 3-minute segment. But I think this provides a decent first cut of the Sinaloa Cartel Civil War. (As they used to say, journalists write the first draft of history; now us guerrilla journos can also offer the first cut).
I want to step up production of more CrashOut guerrilla documentaries and podcasts. I love writing but also love audio and video and they have the power to reach millions. We are a lot more efficient than most in the media, but still need money for gas and tacos, so any subscriptions to support these efforts will turn directly into new features. Love you all!
Copyright Ioan Grillo and CrashOut Media 2024
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