Tijuana drug violence unabated
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Despite a recent military offensive, at least 38 people have been killed in the city's drug wars since Saturday, nine of them decapitated.
Reporting from Tijuana — At least 38 people have been killed in Tijuana since Saturday, nine of them decapitated, in escalating drug-related violence that appears to have left in tatters a Mexican military offensive launched two weeks ago.The killing spree marked the end of the tenure of the city's top law enforcement official, Secretary of Public Security Alberto Capella Ibarra, was removed from his post Monday evening after a year marked by upheaval in the police ranks and increasing violence.
Dozens of soldiers and federal agents patrolling the eastern part of the city have failed to stop the killings between rival drug cartels, which continue brazen and brutal attacks across Tijuana.
Three of the nine decapitated bodies discovered in an empty lot Sunday were those of police officers, according to the Baja California attorney general's office. On Saturday night, two brothers, 4 and 13 years old, were gunned down along with their father outside a grocery store, authorities said.
The nephew of Baja California's tourism secretary, Angel Escobedo, was found fatally shot inside his car Saturday morning. In nearby Rosarito Beach, police over the weekend discovered a dismembered body in a car outside a taco stand, and another outside a small church.
Since the latest military-led operation began Nov. 18, at least 70 people have been killed in Tijuana, according to the attorney general's office. More than 350 have died since rival drug gangs began battling in late September.
At a news conference in Tijuana, Mexican authorities claimed progress, saying local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were showing increasing cooperation.
They cited as evidence the October arrest of Luis Ramirez Vasquez, alleged to be a key member of the Arellano Felix cartel, as well as large seizures of weapons and the destruction of five tons of marijuana.
"This situation is critical . . . but we have made arrests," said Martin Rubio, the representative for the federal attorney general's office in Tijuana.
Over the last several weeks, federal forces have fanned out across the eastern part of the city to replace about 500 police officers who were sent out for retraining. The move was an attempt to weaken crime boss Teodoro Garcia Simental, who allegedly controls drug trafficking in much of eastern Tijuana.
Critics say the situation has deteriorated. Crime rates have increased in the areas patrolled by the federal forces because they are unfamiliar with the city, the critics say.
