Assessments

Bullet-ridden and wrecked vehicles in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan, Mexico, on Oct. 17, 2019. Heavily armed gunmen in four-wheel drive trucks fought an intense battle there on Oct. 17, 2019.

The incident demonstrated the military might of the Sinaloa cartel in its core area of operations.

Mexican cartels are a criminal insurgency, and the government needs to adopt a holistic counterinsurgency approach to fight them.