Former governor Francisco Labastida Ochoa stated that violence in Sinaloa is at its peak and that the state government's measures are insufficient to contain it. He also warned that without purging the police forces, it will be difficult to improve security. "It will be very difficult to make any real progress as long as the police and public security forces are not cleaned up," he said. In this regard, he recalled his experience as governor (PRI, 1987-1992), when he implemented confidence tests that removed over 70% of the judicial police and led to the imprisonment of corrupt high-ranking officials. "If you don't clean that up, you have no instruments with which to combat crime," he noted in an interview for Aristegui en Vivo. The former head of state directly criticized Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, for denying the violence and criminality in the state. "He lives in a fantasy world, saying that everything is fine in Sinaloa, that there is no violence, no criminality," he said, and warned that without profound decisions, impunity will continue to affect the citizenry. Labastida also referred to the security situation regarding the attack on the Citizen Movement legislators Sergio Torres Félix and Elizabeth Montoya Ojeda, which occurred this Wednesday upon leaving the State Congress in Culiacán. He highlighted that Torres Félix, known for his frankness and criticism of the government, could have been a target due to union disputes or his political work. "There are two hypotheses that need to be investigated with depth and seriousness to end this current of impunity we have in Mexico," the former governor and presidential candidate explained. Torres Félix, former leader of the Culiacán municipal workers' union and former mayor, has criticized the governor and officials on violence, debt, and resource management. "It is very common for them to try to use social organizations, such as a union, to penetrate drug trafficking or control," he added. Likewise, Labastida recalled that impunity extends to high-impact cases in Mexico, such as railway accidents and infrastructure collapses, where no responsible parties have been found, and criticized the federal and state government's strategy for "inventing things" instead of facing structural problems. Regarding national security and relations with the United States, the former governor alerted the country's critical dependence on energy and food. "We only have two days of gas stored and nothing has been done; we import nearly 80% of the gas we consume and over 60% of our food," he stated. Finally, he said that the outflow of fentanyl to the United States is a shared risk with that nation and therefore efforts could be united to combat it. "If we have a common enemy, which is drug trafficking, we need to unite efforts, intelligence, and actions to combat it," Labastida concluded, acknowledging the investigative work of Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch.
