# Culiacán marches for peace after two years of cartel war

> Thousands in white filled a Mexican city's streets to say they are done living inside a cartel feud.
- Title: Culiacán marches for peace after two years of cartel war
- Summary: Thousands in white filled a Mexican city's streets to say they are done living inside a cartel feud. Sinaloa's cartel split has turned ordinary life into…
- Keywords: mexico, sinaloa, cartels, protest, violence, news, world, Culiacán, marches, peace, two, years
- Source: BBC News — https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde06rxw5g6o
- Published: 2026-09-14T11:28:36.457+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: mexico, sinaloa, cartels, protest, violence, news, world
## A city marches in white
Thousands walked through Culiacán on Sunday holding posters of missing relatives and signs rejecting the violence that has gripped the northern Mexican city.

> We don't want fear, we want peace
## Two years of civil war
The march marked the second anniversary of the split inside the Sinaloa cartel, which erupted after drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada was arrested in the US.
## Chapitos against Mayiza
Zambada's followers say El Chapo's son betrayed him. The two factions now run ambushes, drive-by shootings and roadblocks built from hijacked trucks set on fire.
## Ordinary life pays
Murders and disappearances have jumped across the state of more than three million people, and so have extortions and robberies, official figures suggest.
## 5,000 businesses gone
Businessman Sergio Esquer told AFP that more than 5,000 businesses had shut since the feud began. A one-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet last week.

> That's the tragedy Sinaloa is experiencing
## The governor under suspicion
US prosecutors accused Sinaloa governor Rubén Rocha of aiding Los Chapitos. He denies it, stepped aside, returned in August 2026, then requested leave again days later.

> power without principles becomes arrogance
## Key takeaway

Sinaloa's cartel split has turned ordinary life into collateral damage, and residents are now saying so in public.