Thousands protest the killing of 2 young brothers in Mexico's troubled Sinaloa state

FILE PHOTO - Mexican National Guardsmen cover a body found lying on the side of a road in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Thousands took to the streets Thursday to protest the killing of two children in an attempted carjacking in Mexico’s troubled northwestern state of Sinaloa.

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 nine 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.

The ongoing violence has been one of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s biggest challenges since taking office in October. Her administration is under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to reduce smuggling of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States and the Sinaloa cartel is one of the world’s largest illicit producers.

Outrage over the deaths of the children grew online this week and fueled Thursday’s march to be “more effusive, more emotional, very very sad and much harder” than other protests in the capital, said Estefanía López, of Culiacan Valiente, a collective that has organized previous peace marches.

“It took on a life of its own, I think a lot of people woke up,” López said. “The disgust … has been such that today the people came out.”

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The Associated Press