--- title: Mexico's Drug War Goes 'Behind Enemy Lines' description: The man honored by the shrine to Jesus Malverde in Culiacan, so often packed with locals, is no ordinary Mexican saint — Malverde was a... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6943492/mexicos-drug-war-goes-behind-enemy-lines/ author: Ioan Grillo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2008-05-29T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-15T20:20:05.415Z article:section: World og:title: Mexico's Drug War Goes 'Behind Enemy Lines' og:description: The man honored by the shrine to Jesus Malverde in Culiacan, so often packed with locals, is no ordinary Mexican saint — Malverde was a... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6943492/mexicos-drug-war-goes-behind-enemy-lines/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd33f90dad331571f/698a5097d0753347b3e70340/360_postcard_sinaloa_0529.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 360 og:image:height: 203 og:image:alt: 360_postcard_sinaloa_0529.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mexico's Drug War Goes 'Behind Enemy Lines' twitter:description: The man honored by the shrine to Jesus Malverde in Culiacan, so often packed with locals, is no ordinary Mexican saint — Malverde was a... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd33f90dad331571f/698a5097d0753347b3e70340/360_postcard_sinaloa_0529.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) # Mexico's Drug War Goes 'Behind Enemy Lines' > Sponsored content. 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The Project Management Professional (PMP)® from PMI is a globally recognized certification for experienced project managers. For those newer to the field, PMI's Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® is a common starting point. Other notable certifications include those focused on agile methodologies, such as the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®, and program management certifications like the Program Management Professional (PgMP)®. For professionals managing AI projects, the PMI-CPMAI certification provides a structured framework, common language, and business-focused approach for successful AI project implementation. #### How does PMI support career growth for professionals? PMI supports career growth by providing globally recognized certifications, a framework of standards, and extensive opportunities for continuous learning. Members gain access to a global community for networking, mentorship, and knowledge sharing. The organization also produces research and thought leadership on emerging trends, helping professionals stay current with skills in areas like AI, agile practices, and strategic business management. These resources are designed to help professionals at all levels enhance their skills and advance their careers. #### What is the PMBOK® Guide? The PMBOK® Guide, or A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, is PMI’s foundational guide to generally accepted project management knowledge and practice. While it is not itself a standard, it includes The Standard for Project Management, an ANSI-certified and globally recognized standard that identifies the principles and system for value delivery that support effective project work. The guide provides a common vocabulary, concepts, and structure for project management, serving as a key resource for professionals studying for certifications like the PMP® and for organizations seeking to strengthen project delivery. #### How is AI changing project management? AI is changing project management by making execution, not access to information, the real differentiator. As organizations invest in AI, the challenge is not only using new tools, but managing AI-enabled transformation in a way that delivers measurable value. Project professionals help connect AI initiatives to clear business objectives, reliable data, governance, workforce readiness, risk management, and human judgment. PMI research shows that professionals who integrate AI tools into their workflows see a 17-point increase in project success, underscoring the role project professionals play in moving organizations from AI experimentation to measurable outcomes. #### What are the most important skills for a project manager? Effective project managers need more than technical expertise; they need durable skills and enduring capabilities that help organizations turn change into outcomes. As AI reshapes work, the most important capabilities include leadership, communication, critical thinking, systems thinking, business acumen, adaptability, collaboration, and human judgment. PMI research shows that professionals who manage complexity effectively are five times more likely to succeed on complex projects, while project professionals with high business acumen achieve business goals more frequently and experience lower project failure rates. #### How can I get involved with the PMI community? Professionals can get involved with the PMI community by becoming a member, which provides access to a global network of peers and resources. Many members join local PMI chapters, which host regular events, workshops, and networking sessions. Online, PMI's projectmanagement.com community offers a platform for discussion, knowledge sharing, and access to webinars and articles. Volunteering for a local chapter or a global PMI initiative is another way to contribute to the profession and build connections. #### What is the difference between PMP and CAPM? The PMP (Project Management Professional)® and CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management)® are both certifications offered by PMI, but they target professionals at different career stages. The CAPM is an entry-level certification designed for individuals with little or no project experience, validating their understanding of fundamental project management knowledge and terminology. The PMP is for experienced project managers and requires a combination of formal education and years of documented project leadership experience, making it a more advanced and globally recognized certification. #### How does PMI support social impact? PMI supports social impact by helping individuals, nonprofits, NGOs, and communities use project management to turn purpose into measurable outcomes. Through the PMI Educational Foundation, PMI expands access to project management education for youth worldwide, including underserved and underrepresented populations. Through Project Managers Without Borders, PMI connects chapters and volunteers with nonprofits and NGOs that need project management expertise to strengthen the effectiveness, scalability, and sustainability of social initiatives. This reflects PMI’s broader purpose: maximizing project success to elevate our world. ### Sources * Project Management Institute | [pmi.org](/c/pmi-2026-q3/home?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, "Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey—Fourteenth Edition" | [pmi.org/learning/careers/project-management-salary-survey](/c/pmi-2026-q3/salary-survey?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, "Global Project Management Talent Gap" | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/global-project-management-talent-gap](/c/pmi-2026-q3/talent-gap?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, "Maximizing Project Success" | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/project-success](/c/pmi-2026-q3/project-success?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, “Pulse Report 2025: Boosting Business Acumen” | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/boosting-business-acumen](/c/pmi-2026-q3/business-acumen?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, “Pulse of the Profession® 2026: Driving Success in Complex Projects” | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/driving-success-in-complex-projects](/c/pmi-2026-q3/complex-projects?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, “Step Up: Redefining the Path to Project Success with M.O.R.E.” | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/path-to-project-success](/c/pmi-2026-q3/more-mindset?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI Education Foundation, PMIEF 2024 Annual Report, [pmi.org PMIEF 2024 Annual Report (PDF)](/c/pmi-2026-q3/pmief-report?i=3c9953fd-99f1-431b-a0fa-0897d80d66c3&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) by [Ioan Grillo](https://time.com/author/ioan-grillo/) May 29, 2008 4:00 AM UTC  A couple visits the Jesus Malverde chapel in in Mexico's state of Sinaloa. A couple visits the Jesus Malverde chapel in in Mexico's state of Sinaloa. Daniel Aguilar / Reuters by [Ioan Grillo](https://time.com/author/ioan-grillo/) May 29, 2008 4:00 AM UTC The man honored by the shrine to Jesus Malverde in Culiacan, so often packed with locals, is no ordinary Mexican saint — Malverde was a Sinaloan bandit who has been adopted as a kind of a patron saint by the northern province’s drug traffickers. Sinaloa is the cradle of Mexico’s narco-trafficking industry, producing the majority of the nation’s drug kingpins in recent decades. Their number includes such storied figures as Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who ran the Guadalajara Cartel and ordered the savage killing of a DEA agent; Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias “The Lord of the Skies,” who died in plastic surgery while attempting to change his appearance; and the Arellano Felix brothers, who ran Tijuana as a personal fiefdom. The state of 2.5 million people consistently has the highest murder rates in Mexico, with 350 drug-related killings so far this year. And Sinaloans are also blamed for the killing of federal police chief Edgar Millan in his Mexico City home on May 8, which prompted the arrival of more than 2,000 soldiers and federal policemen earlier this month. Many locals are happy to see the feds, hoping their presence will break the brutal grip of trigger-happy gangsters over life in the city. “We have grown up with violence here, but recently it has got totally out of control,” says Humberto Olvera, a 30-year-old accountant. Olvera recounts how he recently crashed into the car of a minor trafficker, and was marched at gunpoint into his parents’ house until he paid the man off in cash. But for many others, the federal forces are seen as an invading force, come to disrupt a local way of life. The resentment is particularly strong in the mountain communities close to generations-old marijuana and opium fields. Here soldiers are insultingly branded “guachos,” a slang term once used to describe Indians who served as messengers. “The soldiers are abusive and rude,” complains Dolores Gamboa, 42, in the ramshackle mountain village of Santiago de los Caballeros. “But most of all they are dangerous.” She proudly shows off a bush of opium poppies in her garden, which she says she planted for decorative purposes. Many Sinaloans hail the traffickers as heroes, saying they have fought hard to bring wealth to the hardscrabble region, and crediting them with helping the poor by rebuilding houses, buying medicine and handing out extravagant Christmas gifts. Their exploits are celebrated in song in _narco corridos_ or drug ballads, which are banned on radio and television but are immensely popular on the street, where the gunslingers are often referred to _valientes_, or brave ones — and stores with names like “Mafia Clothes” sell gold chains of Kalashnikov rifles to heavily armed men in alligator-skin boots who drive huge, gleaming pickups. “These guys are scared of nothing,” says Mercurio Sanchez, 50, a record store owner. “They have no fear of the police, the army or even the DEA.” In some ways, the federal forces who arrived earlier this month were being deployed behind enemy lines, as a show of strength in the heartland of Mexico’s drug trade. And that sense may have been underscored, on Tuesday, when local gangsters gunned down seven federal officers raiding a local house — one of the worst ever losses suffered by the agency. Newspaper editorials despaired that government forces have never appeared so vulnerable. Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna retorted that the villains had a home-ground advantage, and ordered more troops to Sinaloa. “We need to be in the very place where the violence is being generated,” he said. “We are going to strengthen our operation in Sinaloa.” Some 500 miles from the U.S. border on the Pacific coast, Sinaloa is a crucial battleground in President Felipe Calderon’s war on drug cartels — a campaign that the Bush Administration seeks to back with $1.4 billion in cash and equipment. It is in Sinaloa’s arid mountains that Mexico’s drug trade was born, with peasant farmers first growing opium poppies — the raw ingredient for heroin — back in the 1940s. These pioneers developed violent organized crime structures that later took over the business of supplying marijuana, cocaine and then crystal meth to hungry American consumers — a market worth an estimated $30 billion to the Mexican crime families. Even some of the residents opposed to the traffickers in their midst argue that the military presence does more harm than good. Since Calderon began his crackdown against drug gangs in December 2006, soldiers at Sinaloan checkpoints have killed at least nine unarmed civilians, including three children. “Fighting violence with violence doesn’t work. Now we are oppressed by soldiers and gangsters,” says Culiacan human rights activist Mercedes Murillo, part of a growing chorus calling for a demilitarization of the anti-drug effort. The Calderon administration, for its part, has no intention of sending the troops back to the barracks anytime soon. On the contrary, following the killing of the seven policemen earlier this week, officials vowed to increase the caliber of armaments available to federal forces in Sinoloa. “The Mexican government is superior to organized crime,” Garcia Luna said. “We are going to confront it with everything we have.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6943492/mexicos-drug-war-goes-behind-enemy-lines/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6943492/mexicos-drug-war-goes-behind-enemy-lines/"},"headline":"Mexico's Drug War Goes 'Behind Enemy Lines'","datePublished":"2008-05-29T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-15T20:20:05.415Z","description":"The man honored by the shrine to Jesus Malverde in Culiacan, so often packed with locals, is no ordinary Mexican saint — Malverde was a...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6943492/mexicos-drug-war-goes-behind-enemy-lines/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd33f90dad331571f/698a5097d0753347b3e70340/360_postcard_sinaloa_0529.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ioan Grillo","url":"https://time.com/author/ioan-grillo/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd33f90dad331571f/698a5097d0753347b3e70340/360_postcard_sinaloa_0529.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"360_postcard_sinaloa_0529.jpg","caption":"A couple visits the Jesus Malverde chapel in in Mexico's state of Sinaloa.","creditText":"Daniel Aguilar / Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6943492/mexicos-drug-war-goes-behind-enemy-lines/","name":"Mexico's Drug War Goes 'Behind Enemy Lines'"}}]}] ```