01/22/12 VIOLENCE TIJUANA CARTEL VS. FRAGMENTATION-INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES

Record amount of cocaine seized by the Tijuana Municipals:

We are back from the thermal waters of the San Diego desert, and it was really nice. Before we left however there seemed to be a lot of people patting each other on the back, Americans and Mexicans alike proclaiming that Tijuana was now a safe destination for tourists and that soon Mexicali too would be turned around, the organized criminal groups run out of Dodge. I'm not naive enough to ever believe the cartels will be run out of Dodge, but they probably would prefer to keep a lower profile so they can continue with their businesses of human and dope trafficking unhindered.


Looking over the news from the past few days there have been many seizures and many arrests, but also many violent assaults. We can attribute the large quantities of dope seized by the Mexican Army as belonging to the cartels, but unlike a few years ago when authorities would attribute shootings, kidnappings and assaults to one cartel criminal cell group or another, this time around we are not receiving information as to who exactly is responsible for these assaults (unless of course the person or person is arrested). We are unsure if these are the fragmented groups we've read so much about, or individuals acting as their own agents.


None the less, the trend seems to be escalating in Tijuana not diminishing. Importantly, all of these events over the past few days did not take place in the east part of Tijuana, one took place in a tourist area of the Zona Rio. Granted, in many of the cases there was quick response from the authorities - but if this trend is escalating, which it appears to be doing, will the authorities be able to keep up? And if the Mexican authorities are able to keep up and prove to be a deterrent to assaults, is it possible that the U.S. State Department will reduce the current Travel Warning advisory to a Travel Alert advisory for Tijuana - if not all of Baja California?


Just a quick note that as far as Rosarito Beach, it has been very quiet with only the four tons of dope found on the beach south of town a few weeks back, and there were no arrests in that case. Another quick note or my neighbor will crown me, he reports that yesterday in Rosarito Beach it was quiet, no tourists, but he saw three patrols of Municipals on Benito Juarez and one truckload of Marinos headed south - so Rosarito despite all of the reports of US gang members and criminal cell members living there seems to be holding her own and the presence of the authorities is obvious.


In an earlier analysis from last year on the changing shift in violence patterns in Mexico, June Beittel writes:


"...The DTO's (Drug Trafficking Organizations) that pose a serious challenge to governance in Mexico today are more fragmented and competitive than the larger and more stable organizations that Presidente Calderon faced at the beginning of his administration. Analysts disagree about the extent of this fragmentation and its importance, and whether the resulting highly competitive groups of smaller organizations will be easier to dismantle. There is more agreement that the environment is growing more violent and that the "violent free for all" is a relatively new development in Mexico."

"Mexico's Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence"

by, June S. Beittel
Analyst in Latin American Affairs
09/07/2011

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So let's take a look at the known cartel activities brought to a halt by the Mexican authorities in the past few days:


- At the Otay border crossing, Mexican Army seizes one ton and forty kilos of mota hidden in a load of tomatoes headed for the States - unsure where this load was coming from because it's been too cold around here to grow tomatoes. Also, southeast of San Vincente, Ensenada mota plants destroyed and another clandestine airstrip south of Ensenada destroyed by the Mexican Army. The article does not state where south of Ensenada, however there have been at least five airstrips destroyed in San Quintin in the past few months:



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- Tijuana Municipal Police arrest four men and seize a record amount of 81 kilos of cocaine - this was in the east part of town, El Florido and El Rubi respectively. The product belonged to El Chapo of the Sinaloa cartel, two of those arrested were from Mexicali. According to Chief Capella the dope was due to be transported to the US the very same evening, and also commended the Municipals for their abilties to not only work in unison with the other corporations but to be able to work singularly in the fight against organized crime:


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- Two tons of mota seized by the Mexican Army in the east part of the Mexicali Valley, no word on any people arrested in this case:


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- Two and a half tons of mota seized by the Mexican Army at the port of San Felipe, no arrests in this case:


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- More and more dope: In La Mesa inside of a building, four tons and 255 kilos; four people arrested with rifles, mags and 100 cartridges and five vehicles seized. In the Villas de Tijuana neighborhood 28 kilos, a rifle, 6 cartridges and a vehicle seized. In colonia Lucio Blanco, Rosarito Beach 335 kilos found inside of a house. On the Mexicali-Tecate Highway at one of the checkpoints, 110 cases of liquor seized which seems was smuggled into Mexico.


Ah, the reason why the exotic birds were found at the Airport: Airport authorities allowed two trucks into the cargo zone. When inside, people started unloading the boxes which contained the birds and since this was an irregular procedure the Mexican Army stepped in. Aside from the birds, there were also two sheep dogs and a sable rifle:


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- I've mentioned this before, but here is the link to the nearly four tons of abandoned dope found by the Mexican Army earlier in December down the road at La Burrita:


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- Down south in Vizcaino which may be an indication that matters are not exactly smooth, Governor Mario Covarrubias Villasenor delivers money, nine patrol units (three of those will go to Santa Rosalia) and eleven bulletproof vests to beef up security in the area: (Also I believe Mexican Army is posted at or around Guerrero Negro)


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Now let's look at some of the fragmentation or individual criminal activities from this last week; also check out the police reports on the links, more are there:


- In Tecate, the PME arrest the man responsible for the murder of a man on 12/26/11. Also seized was a .223 rifle and charger with 15 shots:


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- In colonia Zona Urbana del Rio two men arrested by the Tijuana Municipals after an attempted kidnapping, assault and robbery of the son of a former Commander of the Tijuana Police:


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- A taxi driver and his accomplice kidnap a family, hold and threaten them for three days after picking them up from the bus station. The woman manages to escape and alert authorities, there is one arrest by the Municipals of the accomplice:


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- In colonia Industrial Chilpancingo (Centennial) Municipals arrest one man transporting five migrants - not indicated in this report is how much the migrants paid the pollero, and we're assuming he was working on his own - but there's the possibility this was cartel related:


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- Five arrested in Mexicali, two of those minors, all with knives:


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- Two men posing as police officers in plain clothes handcuff a man then shoot him in front of witnesses in colonia El Lago:


Asesinan a joven haciendose pasar por policias

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- In Mexicali, Municipal Police Officer Samaniego Jesus Felix shot dead in a drive by by armed men who later abandoned their vehicle. AFN notes in this case the officer had four cases against him for abuse of authority, some of those cases had been dropped and several properties which were in his name which raised some eyebrows since of course this would seem a bit extravagant for a policeman's salary.
The abandoned vehicle used by the gunmen turned out to be stolen from San Diego, inside were 17 shell casings from an AK-47, tactical gloves and a 40 gauge gun. AFN has a video:


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- AFN reports an armed commando group opens fire on a man killing him in the El Lago neighborhood - so maybe this one and the police officer killed should have gone under cartel crime? Hard to say:


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- Finally, this week's Zeta states that according to the records from the Medical Examiner (SEMEFO) of Mexicali twenty three deaths have been recorded in Mexicali for the first two weeks of January. Seventy percent of these are drug related murders, living up to the NY Times standard of reported "Zetanification" of brutality. No one cartel is singled out or blamed, so this may be a real indication of fragmentation at work. Zeta lists all of them:

Zeta
Edicion 1973
Asesinatos por control de droga

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And what is happening throughout the country?


Mexico Drug War Bloodies Areas Thought to Be Safe
NY Times
by, Randal C. Archibold


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Here are the links for all of the news:



Zeta Tijuana

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AFN

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FRONTERA

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EL MEXICANO

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El VIGIA - ENSENADA NEWS

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Noticias Ensenada.net - Ensenada News

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Encuentro 29.com - Mexicali News

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Mundo Narco - Formerly Blog del Narco

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LA Times

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