A recent surge in violence has plagued the Mexican border city of Tijuana, following a shocking incident involving corrupt police officers and drug cartels. The city, known for its high homicide rates, has become a scene reminiscent of a dramatic TV plot, with enraged drug lords targeting officers accused of stealing a drug shipment.
In mid-November, a group of local and state police officers allegedly conspired to steal a significant quantity of drugs from a warehouse used by traffickers. This audacious act, captured on video, showed officers loading their pickup truck with large, plastic-wrapped bales of cocaine.
The aftermath of this theft has been brutal. Prosecutors revealed that two of the officers suspected of the heist have been killed. However, the violence did not stop there. Alberto Capella, Tijuana’s former police chief, indicated that at least three other officers have also been killed, suggesting a widespread retaliation by what is believed to be the Sinaloa cartel, led by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The spate of violence peaked with attacks on government buildings. Gunmen fired upon the federal prosecutor’s office and the state prosecutor’s office in Tijuana, marking a new level of brazenness in cartel operations.
Chief Capella’s tenure as the head of Tijuana’s police force was marked by challenges, including surviving an assassination attempt and firing a quarter of the force due to corruption. He expressed grave concerns about the unprecedented nature of these events, stating that Tijuana has never witnessed anything on this scale.
The city’s history of violence dates back to at least 2017, when murder rates nearly doubled. The turf wars between major cartels such as the Jalisco New Generation and the Sinaloa cartel, along with remnants of the old Arellano Felix gang, are major contributors to this ongoing crisis.
The city’s mayor, Montserrat Caballero, has been vocal in her appeals to the cartels, urging them to cease targeting civilians. In a bold move, the Tijuana city council banned the performance of “narco corridos,” songs that glorify drug traffickers, imposing heavy fines on violators. This decision came after threats from the Jalisco cartel led to the cancellation of a concert by a narco corrido singer, Peso Pluma.