The ongoing violence has been one of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s biggest challenges since taking office in October. Thousands took to the streets in Mexico on Thursday to protest the killing of two children in an attempted carjacking in the country’s troubled northwestern state of Sinaloa.
![[Sinaloa state Gov. Ruben Rocha waves as he takes part in an annual earthquake drill in Culiacan, Mexico]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/24/00/Mexico_Violence_Protest_62738.jpg)
Mothers and children in school uniforms were among those calling for an end to months of cartel violence that has at times closed schools and businesses in the state capital, Culiacan. A small group of protesters forced their way into the offices of Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha, trashing them and demanding his resignation. Rocha, a close ally of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been unable to control his state’s violence despite the deployment of troops.
“We understand people’s outrage,” state spokesman Feliciano Castro said a short time later, noting that federal authorities were investigating the killings. Brothers Gael and Alexander Sarmiento, ages 12 and 9 respectively, and their father were fatally shot Sunday when armed men tried to steal their vehicle. Two other minors were injured. State authorities have suggested the vehicle’s tinted windows could have been a factor, but it was unclear how.
Thursday’s march was organized by the younger brother’s elementary school. It was a large display of public anger for a city firmly in the grip of the Sinaloa cartel. Culiacan has suffered months of intense violence as two cartel factions have battled for control since the arrests last year in the U.S. of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons.
