Katarina Szulc

They will fight till the death because they will have nothing to lose.

They will put up a fight.

Will they win that fight?

No, but they won't go down without a fight because that's really, that's all they have.

And so if their entire livelihood and their entire business is being attacked, especially by U.S.

uniform operators who have every means to just completely squash it, they won't go down like a bitch.

Oh, even the local drug dealer.

Yes, the guy who's a lookout who's making pennies.

When I was in Sinaloa covering this fighting in the fall, the money flow was interrupted for all levels of people working for the cartels.

And so...

Main people who, you know, it's like that necessary job that makes no money are the punteros, the lookouts, the guys on their dirt bikes who watch if Mexican forces are coming, you know, they keep the eyes out for whatever's going on.

Those guys make the least amount of money.

They're making around $500 a month.

And when the infighting began and all of this money and resources had to go to, we need to maintain our stronghold and we need to buy arms and stockpile, these punteros were the ones losing out.

And so when I was there, once it got dark, I couldn't order Uber Eats to my hotel because these guys were stealing the food from the delivery men because they didn't even have enough money to eat.

but they were still working for the cartels.

They wouldn't say, okay, you know what, fuck this, I'm gonna go and work in a Walmart where I'm at least gonna make a steady income, it's not great, but I have something to pay for my basic needs.

Because at that point,

It's not just about the money.

It's indoctrination.