"La Perris" Slips Through the Cracks Amid Chaos in Culiacán

It was a typical Saturday afternoon in Culiacán, Sinaloa—until it wasn’t. By dusk, the city's air reverberated with the sound of gunfire, and the Tres Ríos commercial district was plunged into terror. The target? Jorge Humberto Figueroa Benítez, alias La Perris or El 27, a shadowy figure linked to the infamous Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. La Perris managed to escape yet again, leaving a deadly trail in his wake, and once again eluding both the Mexican military and U.S. intelligence.

The gunfight, which left three armed civilians dead, two soldiers wounded, and one suspect arrested, underscores the darkly sophisticated choreography of Sinaloa’s cartel wars. Far from a straightforward shootout, it was an elaborate smokescreen, a distraction designed to let the cartel's most wanted man slip away—literally—through the cracks of the city’s underbelly.

Rise of "La Perris" in a Fractured Empire

Jorge Humberto Figueroa Benítez is no ordinary cartel figure. Known for his peculiar monikers—La Perris and El 27—he’s both feared and elusive, operating largely in the shadows while holding a key position within Los Chapitos, the faction led by the sons of the imprisoned Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Described by the DEA as a low-profile, brown-haired, brown-eyed man in his early 30s, La Perris doesn’t fit the usual image of a narco kingpin. Instead, he’s become something of a myth, slipping through the cracks of cartel warfare with an almost comic sense of timing.

His role, however, is no laughing matter. As the chief of security for Los Chapitos, El 27 allegedly coordinates armed factions, oversees drug manufacturing, and even orchestrated the betrayal of cartel co-leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Such treachery hasn’t gone unnoticed, either; the DEA has placed a $1 million bounty on La Perris, charging him with federal crimes ranging from trafficking fentanyl to using destructive devices.

But it’s not just the drugs and machine guns that make La Perris a wanted man. It’s the intrigue, the cunning escapes, and the fact that his leadership of Los Ninis, an armed wing of Los Chapitos, has gained new importance following the capture of Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, aka El Nini. As his influence grows, so does the chaos in Sinaloa.

The Great Escape—Through a Sewer

The recent shootout in Culiacán was a microcosm of the larger cartel power struggle. According to local reports, La Perris had been holed up in an apartment in the city’s central Tres Ríos area when the Mexican Army closed in. What followed was a frenetic confrontation involving grenades and gunfire, turning the nearby shopping mall into a scene of panic. Civilians and soldiers alike found themselves caught in the crossfire of a narco war playing out in broad daylight.

Yet, amid the violence, La Perris performed one of his trademark disappearing acts. According to journalist Luis Chaparro, the cartel leader's escape was worthy of a Hollywood thriller—he evaded capture by slipping through a drain in the hotel where he was staying, leaving his armed guards behind to distract the authorities. It was, in a sense, vintage La Perris: a mixture of audacity and absurdity, leaving military forces and U.S. intelligence scrambling while he vanished into the labyrinthine underworld of Culiacán.

The exact details of how he managed this are as murky as the sewers themselves. Was it planned well in advance, or was it a last-minute escape from a tightening noose? Either way, La Perris lives to fight another day, leaving a baffled military and media in his wake.

The broader context of this violent episode cannot be ignored. The Sinaloa Cartel, once a unified and fearsome criminal organization, is now a battlefield of its own, riven by betrayal and infighting. On one side, you have Los Chapitos, the heirs of El Chapo’s empire, who are waging a brutal war for control. On the other, the old guard of the cartel led by El Mayo Zambada, whose leadership has been undermined by his alleged handover to U.S. authorities by Los Chapitos themselves.

It’s within this fractured landscape that La Perris has risen to prominence. As factions within the cartel jostle for power, men like El 27 are crucial pawns—protectors, enforcers, and, perhaps most importantly, scapegoats. His rise mirrors the Sinaloa Cartel's increasing reliance on violent, flashy shows of force as it grapples with both internal dissent and external pressure from the Mexican government and U.S. authorities.

The Mexican Military’s Escalating Role

In response to the growing violence, the Mexican government has ramped up its military presence in Culiacán. This past Saturday, 600 soldiers were deployed to the city, a move that underscores the gravity of the situation. According to the Ninth Military Zone, their mission is to "inhibit the activities of organized crime," though how effective this will be in the face of cartel cunning remains to be seen.

Indeed, the Sinaloa Cartel has shown time and again that it is adept at navigating such crackdowns. As La Perris’ latest escape demonstrates, sheer military force is often no match for the intricate, almost surreal maneuvering of cartel figures. And as long as figures like La Perris remain at large, the cycle of violence seems doomed to repeat itself.

For now, the man known as La Perris remains a free agent, an enigma, and a key player in the blood-soaked drama of cartel warfare. His ability to slip away from seemingly impossible situations adds to his growing legend, but it also paints a grim picture of Sinaloa’s future.

As the cartel wars rage on, the Mexican government finds itself at a crossroads. Will they be able to contain the violence and bring men like La Perris to justice, or will the elusive narco leader continue to laugh from the shadows, grenades at the ready, as his enemies fall behind him?

One thing is certain: La Perris is a man on the run, both from the law and from the very empire he helped build—a deadly reminder that in the world of Mexican cartels, even the smallest crack can be enough to slip through.