'Fear is everywhere': BBC reports from Mexican city turned into war zone by drug cartel feud

'Fear is everywhere': BBC reports from Mexican city turned into war zone by drug cartel feud 16 hours ago Share Save Quentin Sommerville International correspondent, in Culiacán, Mexico Share Save Mexico's president has praised the special forces for "bringing down" the country's most wanted man, drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. Oseguera, better known as "El Mencho", died in custody on Sunday, shortly after being captured amid a bloody firefight in Jalisco . But as the BBC's Quentin Sommerville found in another Mexican cartel hotspot – Culiacán in northern Sinaloa state – the vacuum left by the removal of a powerful cartel leader can trigger a surge in violence as warring factions battle for control. Warning: This article contains graphic accounts of cartel violence which readers may find upsetting. "The fear is everywhere and the fear is constant," said paramedic Héctor Torres, 53, from the front seat of the ambulance in Culiacán. We had just come from the scene of a shooting inside a garage in the city centre. The owner was lying dead in his office, blood spreading across the white tiled floor. As Héctor and the other paramedic, Julio César Vega, 28, entered the premises, a woman ran in wailing. She was the man's wife, but there was nothing to be done. Héctor checked for vitals and then placed a paper blanket over the corpse. For the last year and a half, the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world's largest and most feared drug gangs has been at war with itself, after the son of one of its leaders betrayed another. The removal of that cartel leader, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who is now in prison in the US, has wrought mayhem across Sinaloa and provides a warning of the dangers facing the country. How cartel leader 'El Mayo' Zambada was lured to US in elaborate sting 'El Mayo' Zambada and El Chapo's son: Who are the drug lords held in US? Héctor said the violence in Culiacán had never been so bad or gone on for so long. Last year, their number of call outs increased...