Overview
- The Army held the change‑of‑command ceremony on Tuesday at military facilities in the port city of Mazatlán.
- Ávila Alcocer is a U.S.-trained officer who served as military attaché in Washington and holds a master’s in strategic analysis from the U.S. Army War College, with additional artillery training at Fort Sill.
- He previously led the Ninth Military Zone in Culiacán in 2021, where authorities credit him with operations targeting Sinaloa Cartel cells.
- The Third Military Region oversees the Ninth Zone in Sinaloa and the Tenth Zone in Durango, areas described as central to efforts to contain factions known as Los Chapitos and La Mayiza.
- The appointment comes as Sinaloa records a surge in violence, with more than 90 homicide victims in January and a January 28 attack that wounded local deputy Sergio Torres Félix while Elizabeth Montoya Ojeda was reported safe.