Sinaloa breaks record for violence with 30 murders in a single day

In Sinaloa, violence is escalating and becoming increasingly bloody, despite the concentration of federal forces, which have been unable to contain the feuding criminal groups.

With 30 murders in one day, it set a national record, the highest number for an entity since the security cabinet began the preliminary daily count of victims of intentional homicides in December 2018.

Furthermore, June ended as the most violent month of the year for the state and the entire country, with a record of 212 murders. It is also the month with the highest number of crimes since the war between Los Chapitos and La Mayiza for control of the Sinaloa Cartel began in September 2024.

Throughout June, Sinaloa experienced four days with 10 or more murders, with Friday, June 6th, being the most violent with 14 homicides, preceding Monday, June 30th, which reached 30. Between the 26th and 30th, 65 people were killed. On average, seven people were murdered every day during June.

This is despite the presence of thousands of Army and National Guard officers in the state.

A guerrilla war

Isaac Tomas Guevara Martínez, founder of the Violence Studies Laboratory at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS), explains that combating criminal groups is difficult for federal forces because the opposing groups know the terrain like the back of their hand, enjoy the protection of their associates and family members, and operate as a kind of guerrilla group.

He notes that criminal groups plan violent, surprise attacks against their enemies and plot escape routes, making it difficult for state and federal security authorities to stop them.

He emphasizes that the violence that has been going on for 10 months in this state is considered a disaster for all sectors, but what is most worrying is that society will become accustomed to "the bad life."

Guevara Martínez explains that while a silent migration of a large number of families seeking refuge in other states is perceived, the spirit of belonging keeps the most rooted despite the panorama of uncertainty and fear that permeates society.

The retired university researcher explains that the peak of violence occurred last Monday, June 30, when the State Attorney General's Office documented 30 murders in four municipalities.

That count includes the massacre of 20 men, who were found early Monday morning near the Diocesan Seminary, on the northern outskirts of Culiacán.

In addition to this discovery, another 10 murders were reported: four homicides were reported in Culiacán; three bodies were found near an agricultural field in Navolato; two deaths were reported in Mazatlán; and one more was reported in Elota.

The past of terror

June 2025 is also the bloodiest month since 2010, when Sinaloa experienced years of violence.

In the early hours of January 21, 2008, with the capture of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, "El Mochomo," in Culiacán, the alliance between the Beltrán Leyva gangs and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera was broken, unleashing more than three years of violence in the state.

According to figures from the Sinaloa State Attorney General's Office, August 2010 saw the highest rate of intentional homicides, with 228 cases; two months earlier, in June, there were 226, and in April 2011, there were 227. Since then, there hasn't been a month with more than 200 intentional homicides—until now.

On June 16, during a visit to the state by the Secretary of National Defense, General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, and the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, the deployment of 1,200 additional Army personnel was reported, while Governor Rubén Rocha Moya announced the arrival of 400 SSPC personnel "to focus efforts on priority targets and reduce high-impact crimes."