Shots fired at newspaper offices in Mexico cartel heartland

By AFP

Gunmen opened fire at the outside of a newspaper's offices in a Mexican cartel stronghold shaken by weeks of gang infighting, authorities said Friday, without reporting any injuries.

The attack late Thursday came during another day of violence in Sinaloa state -- the bastion of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and his sons -- where almost 200 people have been murdered since early September.

According to the Sinaloa security secretariat, unidentified attackers fired shots at the front of the El Debate newspaper's office in the state capital of Culiacan.

Several bullets hit the outside of the building while others damaged vehicles.

Sinaloa governor Ruben Rocha described it as "an attack on freedom of expression," ordering an increased police presence at the newspaper.

Rampant cartel-related violence makes Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists.

More than 150 members of the media have been killed in the Latin American nation since 2000, according to rights group Reporters Without Borders.

They include Javier Valdez, an award-winning journalist and AFP contributor who was murdered in Sinaloa in 2017.

A turf war broke out on September 9 between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations.

The clashes follow the dramatic July 25 arrest on US soil of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will.

Zambada, 76, was detained 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 pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada.