The hometown of jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman has been hit in attacks by explosive-laden drones, the governor of the northwest Mexican state of Sinaloa said on Tuesday.
Authorities did not specify when the strikes on Badiraguato, Guzman’s birthplace and the historical stronghold of drug trafficking in Mexico, took place. Displaced residents said attacks in the region began in September.
Dozens of residents were forced to leave the area, Governor Ruben Rocha Moya told a news conference.
“Drones were indeed used,” Rocha said, adding that displaced people were being assisted by the government.
Cartels and other criminal organizations in Mexico have increasingly used drones in attacks against rival groups or authorities.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has been using drones since 2020, according to a report by the Insight Crime think tank.
Some of the displaced, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP that the most recent attacks targeted the La Tuna farm that belongs to Guzman’s family.
Other properties were also targeted, according to witnesses who said that more than 80 families were threatened by armed groups.
The latest drone attacks began on September 16, according to a resident of Bacacoragua, one of the municipalities of Badiraguato, who left her village in early October.
Armed men blocked access to farms and cut electricity in the area, said another witness who fled a village in the region.
AFP has contacted authorities for confirmation and to seek further details about the reports.
Guzman, who founded the infamous Sinaloa cartel, was sentenced to life plus 30 years and is serving time at a Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. He was convicted in 2019 of charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offenses. In 2023, the cartel leader sent an “SOS” through his lawyers to then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for help due to alleged “psychological torment” he says he is suffering in prison.
The attack in Guzman’s hometown comes just days after a drone attack hit the prosecutor’s office in the Mexican border city of Tijuana. Baja California state prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade told reporters that the attack with three explosive-laden drones caused some damage but resulted in no casualties.
In 2024, officials said an alleged cartel attack using drones in southern Mexico killed at least six people and injured 13 others. The Mexican army has said that drug cartels have increased their use of roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices — especially bomb-dropping drones.
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