President: USA shares responsibility for violence against Mexico cartel

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Thursday that the United States was partly to blame for the bloody power struggles within the drug cartels that broke out in the country after Washington arrested a drug lord.

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

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

The violence is believed to be a case of gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons turning against other gang members allied with Zambada. Zambada pleaded not guilty to a number of charges in a New York court last Friday.

Bodies have been left in the streets and residents have been left in fear and terror after more than 40 people were killed in less than two weeks in shootings, kidnappings, arson and armed clashes.

Lopez Obrador said the United States bore some responsibility for “carrying out this operation” to arrest Zambada.

Zambada was arrested on US soil but said he was taken there against his will. Washington denies planning his arrest.

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

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