Who are the Russians and what is their key role in the internal war of the Sinaloa Cartel

The Russians are identified as one of the armed arms of Ismael Zambada García, el Mayo, the highest leader in the Sinaloa Cartel for decades, and this group leads the internal dispute against Los Chapitos, a faction of the same criminal organization led by the sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera , the Chapo.

According to several reports, the criminal cell expanded to the struggles within the Pacific transnational crime group that have taken place in the Mexicali Valley, Baja California. There they are led by Jesus Alexander/Alejandro Sanchez Felix and/or Miguel Ángel Gaxiola, the Russian.

No major reports have been highlighted about this character, except for his enmity against cells by Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, Ovidio Guzmán Lopez and Joaquín Guzmán Lopez. Mayo Zambada himself allegedly ordered the Russian to move from Sinaloa to avoid drug war in his main stronghold, but the battle only extended to Baja California and Sonora boundaries.

The Russian, as a lieutenant of relevance to Zambada García, did not participate in the release of Ovidio Guzmán in October 2019, when Los Chapitos subjected the Mexican State to threats of murdering innocents if the Mouse was not returned, something that finally happened after the chaos, shootings and murders of the so-called culiacanazo.

Since then, differences and grudges against the operator of the Sinaloa Cartel have been identified. However, the Russian's decisions to refuse to collaborate in the pressure against authorities showed the discrepancy between the two factions that maintain the leadership. He did not act on his own initiative, but on higher orders.

The children of the former criminal chief, also known as the Minors, assumed the inheritance of the criminal empire left by Chapo Guzmán, but came to a structure dominated and supported since mid-1980 by Mayo Zambada, who has never set foot in prison. The latter has rejected the impulsivity, inexperience and tactical errors of his compadre's offspring.

According to some journalistic accounts that cite federal government officials, Los Chapitos began to lose sympathy by attacking members of the same cartel, which was not the case when Chapo Guzmán was in charge, since there were pacts for the control of places.

But the dispute is not only limited to the mistakes of the new litter, since Guzmán Loera's heirs also have revenge as their outstanding balance because their father was betrayed by the son and brother of the criminal chieftain, Vicente Zambada Niebla and Reynaldo Zambada García, who testified in the court of Nueva York for the kingpin to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Russian is subject to the contest against Mayo Zambada and one of the events in which the battle was accentuated occurred a month after the culiacanazo, when hit men from both factions expressed their disagreement over who was of the highest ranking in the Sinaloa Cartel. It all started with the local Agua Caliente dispute, when Nestor Isidro García and/or Néstor Ernesto Pérez Salas were on the side of Los Chapitos, the Nini, 09 and/or Chicken Little.

Later, the battle pursued both factions in areas such as Tepuche in Sinaloa, Valle de Mexicali and San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, leaving a trail of multiple murders, clashes and terror among the population left in the midst of the narco-war. This has been prolonged over the past three years and has been suffered by operators who respond to one group or another as if it were collateral damage.

The Russians settled on Mexico's northern border and that is where they seek to maintain control for Mayo Zambada against interests in the squares of the sons of Chapo Guzmán, who have used armed arms such as the Salazars who remained loyal to the fallen chief, from its strongholds in Sonora and the drug trafficking corridor that signify the limits of Chihuahua.

In Baja California, the Russian consolidated its forces since the beginning of 2020 with Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano, the Omega, who was delegated to various illicit activities in order to strengthen Mayo Zambada's businesses, but finally fell into the hands of justice after being persecuted for recklessness resulting from a drunkenness on December 27, 2021.

Barajas Lozano commanded the Omegas, which after their fall passed into the hands of his brother, Christian Yael Barajas Lozano, who has been identified in narcomantas signed by the so-called Taquiza cell. In addition, Jesús Alexander Sánchez Felix directs Alfonso Peralta and/or Alfonso Amaya, the P-1 and/or Ponchito de la Lima; as well as Hector Infante, the Tolín; and Maximiliano Aispuro Alvarez, the Max.

By November 2020, Baja California authorities arrested 12 hit men sent by Los Chapitos to take control of Mexicali. The operation of at least 20 men against the Russian would be under the command of a guy nicknamed the Tecua. Although the emissaries fell in different actions, they were identified as part of the same cell, since they had been recruited in a rehabilitation center in Mazatlan.

Almost half a year later, in May 2021, security forces also attacked the Russians, after arresting 11 suspected criminals. But a series of narcomantas appeared in Mexicali and threatened the three government orders demanding arrest. A few days later, the Mayo Zambada operators were released.

It was then that the expansion to collect quotas from human traffickers and drug traffickers intensified in the area bordering Sonora. The Russians were found to be responsible for the upsurge in violence in the demarcation by obtaining resources from those who have been engaged in illegal activities for years in an independent format.

In April last year, Jorge Humberto Maya Siqueiros, the Vampire, was executed in the middle of the Miguel Alemán bridge that connects Mexicali with San Luis Rio Colorado. The hit man of the Salazars responded to the Chapitos. The clean had already spread from the east to the rest of the city.

Jesús Ramón Velázquez Contreras, the H, who was close to Miguel Ángel Beltrán Munguía, the Indian, was also murdered around that date. The latter had differences against Omega and the Russian for the alleged theft of drugs, but was a relevant link in the Sinaloa Cartel. In January 2021, his body was abandoned on the road to Islas Agrarias.

Last March, several narcomanties were accumulated in the entity, which were signed by the Omegas. Messages written on a white cloth signaled the state's Secretary of Public Security, Gilberto Landeros Briseño, to be primarily responsible for the insecurity in the Mexicali Valley.

The response occurred on April 5 when state and army agents arrested Rubén Benitez Ponce, in 80, another of the leaders of the Russians who kept a low profile and had only been identified with the alias. The arrest occurred in the Golden Zone of Mexicali, where the 38-year-old lieutenant was leaving his home located in Casa Maya, a residential area in East of the city. Long guns, cartridges and magazines were confiscated.

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