Two gunmen riding a motorcycle shot and killed a popular social media influencer in the cartel-controlled Mexican state of Sinaloa. The public murder comes at a time when tensions continue to rise between Mexico and the United States over international pressure to fight drug cartels.
The murder took place on Tuesday night in Culiacán, Sinaloa, when Cesar Gastelum was streaming a video for his social media followers outside of a fast food restaurant. The stream captured the moment when two gunmen riding in a motorcycle pulled up to him and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. The murder took place approximately 400 yards away from the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office.
The murder sparked much controversy in Mexico and particularly in Sinaloa, where two main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have been waging a fierce turf war. Critics of Gastelum claim that in his posts and videos he had shown support for the Mayiza faction of the cartel. The Mayiza faction is named after the jailed kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and controlled by the crime boss’s son and other relatives. The Mayiza has been fighting for over a year and a half against the Chapiza faction named after jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The public killing comes at a time when the U.S. government has been pressuring Mexico’s government to fight drug cartels. As Breitbart Texas has frequently reported, one of the main issues in the international disagreement concerns the criminal indictment filed against Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya and his closest political allies. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly defended Rocha Moya and criticized the criminal indictment. She claims the indictment is a political move by the far right in the United States aimed at tarnishing her political party, MORENA. Both Sheinbaum and Rocha Moya are part of the MORENA party.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
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