The Math Behind Why Mexico’s Cartel War is a Never-Ending Nightmare
Source: ZME Science
An unsettling silence hangs over the historic center of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa. Here, in the heartland of one of the world’s most powerful drug cartels, a violent feud has turned the city’s streets into a ghost town. Since September 2024, this internecine warfare has claimed hundreds of lives, leaving behind a city where normal life has all but evaporated.
As night descends on Paseo del Ángel, once the bustling nightlife quarter of Culiacán, the emptiness feels almost surreal. Restaurants that used to be fully booked every night now sit deserted. Nail salons and pastry shops bear signs that announce they’re up for sale.
“Life in Culiacán has almost disappeared,” Miguel Taniyama, the owner of Clan Taniyama restaurant, remarked with quiet resignation.
For years, Sinaloa — an agricultural region synonymous with the infamous cartel bearing its name — enjoyed a fragile peace. But that calm was obliterated in September when two factions of the cartel turned their guns on each other.
Scenes like these are becoming increasingly common, despite the government’s open war with organized crime. Yet, despite the record number of arrests and fatalities among cartel members, the violence hasn’t stopped. On the contrary, it has accelerated. The scale of death is immense with over 400,000 murders since 2007.
In Mexico, the fight against organized crime has long resembled a game of whack-a-mole. Now, a new study offers a startling insight: the way to stop cartel bloodshed isn’t by locking up more people — it’s by stopping people from joining in the first place.
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