Day 765: Chapitos Financial Operator Salvador "El Chava" Díaz Rodríguez Detained in Mexicali

Fuerza de Seguridad Ciudadana (FESC) and Secretaría de Seguridad Ciudadana de Baja California officers, working with Mexico's Centro Nacional de Inteligencia and in coordination with US authorities, detained Salvador Díaz Rodríguez — alias "El Chava" or "El Gusano" — at 6:03 PM on Thursday, August 27, 2026, on Avenida General Santiago Vidaurri in the Rivera Campestre neighborhood of Mexicali, Baja California. Díaz Rodríguez, identified by Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch as an alleged financial operator (money launderer) for the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, was traveling in a brown Toyota Corolla with a co-detainee, Kitzuki Yaczely Rocha Sepúlveda, 26, of Culiacán, Sinaloa; officers found 57 sealed packets containing roughly 38 grams of methamphetamine in the vehicle. The US Treasury's OFAC had already designated Díaz Rodríguez on March 31, 2025 as part of a Mexicali-based network — run with Israel Daniel Páez Vargas on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel — accused of laundering more than $50 million. The DEA publicly congratulated García Harfuch and the Mexican government for the arrest, calling it the product of close binational cooperation targeting Chapitos financial infrastructure. Though the detention took place in Baja California, outside Sinaloa state, it directly targets the Chapitos faction's money-laundering network centered on Culiacán.