US citizen goes missing in Sinaloa, hotspot of cartel war

José Antonio Castro Meza, a U.S. citizen, has been missing since Tuesday, when he was last seen in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, which is grappling with a serious outbreak of violence due to a long-running war between criminal factions. The man disappeared in the state capital, Culiacán, on September 15 and was reported missing 48 hours later by local authorities. A fact sheet with his basic information has been circulating on social media ever since his pickup truck was found near a park. According to data from the State Attorney General’s Office, Sinaloa has recorded more than 4,400 disappearances and over 3,800 homicides since an internal war between factions of the Sinaloa Cartel — La Mayiza and Los Chapitos — erupted two years ago.The State Attorney General’s Office has reported via information requests that ever since the start of the internal war through March 2026 at least nine foreign nationals had gone missing, including three U.S. citizens, two Colombians, two Dominicans, one Australian and one Guatemalan.According to the information released by authorities, on Thursday officers located a gray GEELY EX2 pickup truck in which Castro Meza had been traveling. The vehicle was found in the La Campiña neighborhood, east of Culiacán. Local authorities said an anonymous tip led to the vehicle’s discovery. The State Preventive Police and the Army focused their operations in neighborhoods near the location of the pickup to carry out a search, but by Thursday afternoon there was still no sign of Castro Meza’s whereabouts.The Sinaloa war has intensified over the past five months, particularly in the towns of Culiacán, Mazatlán and Escuinapa, without an official explanation or public report on the reasons behind the surge in attacks, killings and disappearances. President Claudia Sheinbaum has deployed up to 15,000 personnel from the Army, the Navy, the National Guard and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection to the area. In recent days the government announced a new contingent of 3,500 personnel to bolster security in Mazatlán, the state’s most important tourist destination.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition