(NewsNation) — Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel has banned fentanyl production and sales, according to roadside banners.
Dozens of banners in Culiacán read, “In Sinaloa, the sale, manufacture, transport or any kind of business involving the substance known as fentanyl, including the sale of chemical products for its elaboration, is permanently banned. … You have been warned. Sincerely yours, the Chapitos.”
It is unclear who put up the banners, which were placed on bridges and overpasses. They appeared at a time when U.S. authorities ramped up pressure on Mexico to take action against crime groups involved in fentanyl production.
For years, Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman ran the Sinaloa Cartel, building a drug trafficking empire with a larger footprint in the United States than anyone else.
El Chapo is now serving a life sentence in the U.S., and the takedown created a power vacuum in Mexico. But once the dust settled, four men rose to the top of the organization: Ivan Guzman Salazar, Alfredo Guzman Salazar, Joaquin Guzman Lopez and Ovidio Guzman Lopez. All four, known as “Los Chapitos” or “The Little Chapos,” are sons of the former boss.
The U.S. government this year portrayed Los Chapitos as the principal provider of fentanyl into the United States. Last month, Ovidio Guzman, the youngest of the four Los Chapitos brothers, was extradited to the United States.
Leo Silva, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent who worked in Mexico, said the banners were likely an attempt by Los Chapitos to shift the blame for fentanyl production onto others.
“Coupled with the extradition of one of the brothers, it’s a ploy to take the heat off of them,” Silva said. “I don’t see them stopping production.”