Mexico’s bloody cartel war rages as myth of the ‘good narco’ wears thin

Security authorities work at a crime scene where a police staff investigator was gunned down, in Culiacán. Photograph: Jose Betanzos/Reuters

Last Christmas, the Sinaloa cartel made a show of sending branded gifts to children’s hospitals. This year, a bloody war between rival factions of Mexico’s notorious drug mafia has cast a shadow over the holiday, leaving Culiacán’s Christmas fair nearly empty, and the city silent at night.

Sinaloa has always had a complex relationship with its narcos, who portray themselves as generous bandits with a code of conduct. But as the war enters a fourth month, with more than a thousand dead or disappeared, the myth of the good narco is wearing thin.