Mexican newspaper offices were hit by gunfire in the capital of Sinaloa state

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Attackers fired a dozen shots at a building housing the El Debate newspaper in the embattled northern Mexican state of Sinaloa, the media company said Friday.

The newspaper is based in the state capital Culiacán, where rival factions live the Sinaloa Cartel fought bloody battles.

The newspaper said it found at least four bullets struck the walls of the building and more shots struck newspaper trucks parked outside the offices late Thursday. The newspaper said no one was injured.

The Mexican Media Alliance, a press freedom group, called it “a direct attack on press freedom and the public’s right to information.”

El Debate said the attackers arrived in two vehicles and stopped just outside the building. A gunman got out and opened fire with a rifle before they sped away.

Threats against journalists and their sources have increased exponentially since the latest round of factional fighting erupted after two Sinaloa drug capos – one from each faction – were flown to the United States and arrested.

Drug lords Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were arrested in the United States after flying there in a small plane on July 25.

Zambada later claimed he had been kidnapped and forced aboard the plane by Guzmán López, leading to a fierce battle between Zambada’s faction and the “Chapitos” group, led by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Journalists have reported being stopped by gunmen on streets outside Culiacán and said they could not cover the ongoing shootings that take place almost daily on the outskirts of the city.

The fear is justified; In 2022, one of El Debate’s columnists, Luis Enrique Ramírez, was kidnapped and killed in Culiacán. His beaten body was found wrapped in plastic on a dirt road outside the city.

In 2017, Javier Valdez – an award-winning reporter for the weekly Rio Doce who specializes in reporting on drug trafficking and organized crime – was murdered in Sinaloa’s state capital.

Ismael Bojórquez, director of Rio Doce, said: “As in other wars, we journalists are the ones caught in the crossfire.”

Adrian López, the director of El Noroeste, another local newspaper, agreed with the war analogy.

“This forces us to rethink the protocols and the way we report events in this context, because unfortunately at certain times it is practically a war,” López said.

There is little doubt that the warring cartel factions in Sinaloa want to intimidate the media from reporting on their fights, and that has forced local residents to largely turn to social media for reports on when and where going out is safe and there is danger.

These social media platforms were abuzz on Friday with videos of burning vehicles, bodies and cartel convoys racing through cities.

As usual, there was no confirmation of this from state authorities, who have always tried to downplay the violence.

On Thursday, hours before the attack on the newspaper, Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha said: “There is no reason to worry” and “everything is under control.”

But the truth is emerging from the sidelines: Sinaloa State University told students it was canceling in-person classes Friday because of “the acts of violence in and around the capital of Sinaloa state.”

These online videos sometimes show scenes that could easily be compared to war: Two weeks ago, in a town north of Culiacán, a passing driver filmed a military helicopter hovering over four gunmen wearing helmets and tactical vests, just meters from one Highway away. The gunmen crashed their truck into a telephone pole but fired back at the helicopter.

However, the rumor mill on the Internet is sometimes unreliable.

The Sinaloa Red Cross was forced to issue a statement late Thursday denying reports that two paramedics had been kidnapped along with their ambulance in a remote town where fighting had been particularly intense.

But even the Red Cross was shocked. It was carefully noted that “it is important to emphasize that the Mexican Red Cross does not take sides in the conflict.”

Prosecutors were largely paralyzed after the chief prosecutor resigned after allegedly providing false information about the July 25 assassination of one of Gov. Rocha’s opponents.

And the entire municipal force in Culiacán was temporarily disarmed by soldiers to check their weapons, which has also been done in the past when the army suspected police officers were working for drug cartels.

President Claudia Sheinbaum limited her response to the shots fired at the newspaper to a few words. “Firstly, of course, the aim is to condemn these acts and investigations are being carried out,” said Sheinbaum.

The state is governed by her Morena party, and she has strongly supported Rocha.

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Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson contributed to this report.

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