Foreigners involved in Sinaloa Cartel cells. By: RIODOCE

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THIS INFORMATION WAS POSTED BY RIODOCE 

WRITTEN BY: ROXANA VIVANCO

Americans, Venezuelans, Guatemalans, and French nationals, as well as people from other states, have been arrested during clashes and operations in Culiacán and Navolato.

Foreigners from the United States, France, Venezuela, and Guatemala have arrived in the state, where they have been arrested as part of the two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, which have been engaged in a war for control of the territory since last September.

People from Jalisco, Durango, Michoacán, Sonora, and Baja California have also joined the dispute between the Mayos and Chapos factions, participating in clashes or being captured in coordinated operations in both urban and rural areas of Culiacán and Navolato.

On November 19, 14 men were apprehended at a hotel in Navolato, including two Guatemalans and one Venezuelan. Authorities seized 13 long guns, a machine gun, 15 magazines, and more than 420 rounds of ammunition of different calibers.

In Navolato, the Sinaloa Cartel cells have intensified clashes, murders, and attacks with explosives against businesses, and one explosion even occurred at a party, leading to constant school closures, especially in the Villa Juárez district.

In an operation carried out last Friday morning in the Portalegre sector north of Culiacán, elements of the Special Operations Group (GOES) of the State Preventive Police and the National Guard captured 10 alleged hitmen, among whom, according to unofficial reports, were individuals from Jalisco, Mexicali, and Michoacán.

The detainees were found outside a residence next to a black vehicle, and were carrying nine long guns, a machine gun, a pistol, 1,225 rounds of ammunition, and 33 magazines, in addition to tactical equipment, eight ballistic vests, seven tactical helmets, and seven buckets of tire spikes. On Saturday, November 15, cells of the Sinaloa Cartel clashed in the town of El Guasimal, located in the municipality of Imala, Culiacán.  A ground and air operation was launched in the area, resulting in the arrest of nine men, one of whom was identified as Ogelian Fabio “N,” a French national.

Two vehicles were found in the area with their doors open, each containing the bodies of two men who had been shot to death. Another body was found on a dirt road. Authorities seized two machine guns, 21 rifles, more than 3,350 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, 15 bulletproof vests, and three vehicles, two of which had makeshift armor plating.

On November 5, in Culiacán, Daniel Silvestre Manjarrez, also known as "El Dany," a U.S. citizen, was arrested at a residence in the Infonavit Humaya neighborhood. He was wanted by the U.S. for his involvement in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and had an Interpol Red Notice issued against him by the FBI.

GABRIEL SETH RODGERS. Captured in Culiacán.

“Security agents identified the property where one of the most wanted targets by U.S. authorities was hiding, and during reconnaissance patrols, they detected the subject's presence. They ordered him to stop, confirmed his identity, and he was arrested,” said Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection.

On October 23, 2025, Erick L., a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed at midday inside a house located on Jorge Romero Zazueta and Luis M. Rojas streets, in the Adolfo López Mateos neighborhood in Culiacán.

Five days earlier, federal forces freed a U.S. citizen who had been kidnapped from a home in the Espacios Barcelona subdivision in this city, and arrested three of his captors, including a woman.

In Culiacán, another U.S. citizen, identified as Gabriel Seth Rodgers, 26 years old, originally from Sundance, was arrested on March 27. The young man had fled to Mexico while on parole in the state of Wyoming, where he was sentenced in 2019 to 44 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release for stealing more than 30 weapons from a pawn shop a year earlier, which he sold in Colorado.

At that time, the 19-year-old was charged with possession of stolen firearms and conspiracy to distribute LSD and marijuana.

The U.S. Department of Justice reported that Rodgers violated his parole and traveled to Culiacán, Sinaloa, where he trafficked fentanyl and methamphetamine under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel. On November 3, a judge in Cheyenne sentenced the young man to 30 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.

Another U.S. citizen, identified as Matthew Kenneth Rewald, 30 years old, was arrested in Mazatlán on July 8 of this year. He had irregular immigration status and was linked to drug trafficking and arms smuggling for the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as pedophilia.

Dutch media reported that between September and October of last year, Marco Ebben, of Dutch origin, and who was linked to Ismael Zambada García, was in Culiacán, but this information was not confirmed. The drug lord was murdered on February 13 in the municipality of Atizapán, in the State of Mexico.

Ebben was wanted by Europol for drug trafficking.

Governor Rubén Rocha was questioned about the arrests of foreigners in Sinaloa and said that it is a matter of concern to him.

“Yes, of course it's worrying, how could it not be? These are events that attract attention,” he said.

Article published on November 23, 2025, in issue 1191 of the weekly newspaper Ríodoce.

SOURCE: RIODOCE