• PEACE: At least 2,000 people (per local media) marched Sunday through the streets of this city in northwestern Mexico demanding peace only 10 days after a series of violent clashes between the Sinaloa Cartel hitmen and Mexican Government’s security forces left 13 dead.
• CITY RATTLED: One of Mexico’s key agricultural centers at the foothills of the Sierra Madre, Culiacán (pop. 905,000) tried to regroup after the events of October 17 Mexican forces failed to arrest suspected drug runner Ovidio Guzmán, the son of covicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
• MESSAGE: “We are more those who want peace. That is the message of this march, this is the message for this city”, was the key slogan of a politically diverse demonstration marching through the Tres Ríos neighborhood that witnessed most of the violence.
• SECURITY: Mexico’s most recent data shows Culiacán had a murder rate of 54 per 100,000 inhabitants in September, making it one of the 50 most violent municipalities in the country. Still, this is far from the most violent months given that in May 2017 it hit 95 per 100,000.
