Escuinapa Police Force Collapses — 32 Officers Resign After 5 Colleagues Killed in 9 Days

At least 32 Escuinapa municipal police officers submitted resignations or early retirement requests around April 11, 2026 — representing approximately 40% of the entire municipal force — following the killing of five officers in nine days (March 31–April 8, 2026). The mass resignation is one of the most dramatic institutional collapses of a Mexican police force documented during the Sinaloa cartel civil war. Officers cited fear for their lives, particularly after the most recent killing occurred when gunmen intercepted an officer at his own home on April 8, eliminating any sense of personal safety even off-duty. Governor Rubén Rocha Moya responded on April 10 by deploying 1,190 state police, National Guard, and Mexican Army personnel across Escuinapa, Rosario, and Concordia municipalities, establishing a permanent Joint Operations Base in Escuinapa. The security collapse in Escuinapa — on the critical Sinaloa–Nayarit border corridor — is attributed to intensifying cartel competition for control of southward trafficking routes, with the April 5 army clash (involving three underage gunmen) pointing to CJNG-linked recruitment networks in the region.