Año Nuevo de la Segunda Guerra

Federación de Sinaloa Divide

If you thought that it was all love, unicorns and rainbows within the Sinaloa Federation Narcotics Cartel, you'd be wrong.  

The biggest personal loser for the New Year's Narco War might be Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza (Macho Prieto). His nephew, El Cholo was assassinated in Sinaloa, his brother was gunned down in Nogales and his cousin, El Celasar, was murdered in Sonorita, SON. Then again, he might not care much about the family. Gonzalo has always been a narcissist.

The Sinaloa Federation now has two factions at war with each other. And you can't tell the players without a program.

Faction #1 Leadership

Joaquin Guzman Loera (El Chapo)

Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo)

Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno (El Azul)

Allied with: 

Arellano Felix Organization, which the USGOV declared to be non-existent but just captured San Luis Rey de Colorado (across the US Border from Yuma) two days ago from Faction #2.

Los Caballeros Templarios, which used to be La Familia Michoacan, which MEXGOV declared to be non-existent but they've been marching steadily from Michoacan, through Colima and into Jalisco (headquarters of Faction #2). LCT has four thousand armed men in the field (trained to the spray and pray level), which isn't half bad for an organization that MEXGOV destroyed.

Faction #2 Leadership

Ruben Osegevera Cervantes (El Mencho)

Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza (Macho Prieto)

They don't seem to have many allies, but they are taking some key players from the old Sinaloa Federation including most of the Manuel Torres Felix's (M-1) organization. Torres is in custody, but you will recall that he worked for Macho Prieto so his people are expected to fall into line behind this cartel.

Where are La Gran Fuerzas de Mexico (Mexican Army)? Glad you asked. They seem to be sitting on the sidelines, eating chicharones, and waiting to see who wins. It's not a bad strategy.

Yes the coffin and funeral business in Mexico is thriving.
It's clearly been a growth industry over the past six years.

The Mexican press is covering some of the major shoot outs, but they also miss some big ones. That may be because they don't have enough surviving journalists to cover it all because the war is widespread throughout Western and Northern Mexico. There was a two-hour gunfight between Faction #1 and Faction #2 yesterday in Cuidad Guzman, JAL and not a peep about it in the newspapers - not even in Zeta, and they're generally quite reliable.