Chapo has always been smart and innovative. There are several Mexican-folk (norteo) ballads (narco-corridos) that narrate the Tijuana cartel exploits. Our work is costly and high risk. "Veracruz was always going to be the jewel in the crown for the CJNG," Balderas said. A report by the International Crisis Group found at least 20 distinct criminal groups there, vying for control of synthetic drug production, drug trafficking routes coming in via the Pacific and for theincreasingly lucrative extortion of the avocado industry. El semanario Zeta de Tijuana, ya reportaba disputas entre los bandos de "El Mayo" y "Los Chapitos", presuntamente provocadas por el Crtel Jalisco Nueva Generacin (CJNG). [13] The U.S. authorities speculated WikiLeaks in 2009 that Tijuana's former police boss, Julin Leyzaola, had made agreements with Snchez Arellano to bring relative peace in Tijuana. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR The sun sets in Tijuana, Baja California, on the border with San Diego. In terms of what does this mean, this means that the state increasingly looks weaker in relation to criminal groups, said Cecilia Farfan-Mendez, co-founder of the Mexico Violence Resource Project. The shootout led to a renewal of all-out warfare, and Carrillo Fuentes sided with the Tijuana Cartel, seeking to have Guzman killed. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR . Thats when the U.S. pressured Mexican leaders to go after them. They hide in safe houses or . The downfall and desizing of one cartel, like the Tijuana Cartel, provides the opportunity for another to retake territory and expand their business. "Because they gained what they were seeking: to have a lot of problems and fear in the population. Although one cartel was weakened, simple economics demonstrate how the illicit drug market and organized crime continues to prosper despite cartels coming and going. But these criminal economies are already bitterly contested by Los Rojos, dissidents from theBeltrn Leyva Organization, splinter groups from La Familia Michoacana and criminal gangs from Mexico City. This mother says violence has sadly become expected for residents of Tijuana. The Tijuana Cartel (Spanish: Crtel de Tijuana) or Arellano-Flix-Cartel (Spanish: Crtel Arellano Flix, CAF) is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Chapo attacks Benjamn Arellano Flixs (Alfonso Dosal) 40th birthday party and kills Enedina Arellano Flixs (Mayra Hermosillo) new husband, Claudio Vazquez. Like other large cartels, the CJNG has found it increasingly difficult to control strategic territories the more it has expanded. A 2021 study by the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies found that 64% of Mexicans think organized crime or drug trafficking groups buy public officials. Updated on: August 13, 2022 / 7:59 AM / AFP "I think these events should encourage us to really think seriously, precisely about what are these structural conditions that allowed this violence to take place. It's not for lack of trying. Tijuana Cartel - za siedzib tej organizacji uznaje si miasto na granicy ze Stanami Zjednoczonymi, Tijuan, znajdujc si w pnocno-wschodnim stanie Baja California. Cartel henchmen set up roadblocks throughout Baja California and the government imposed a curfew. SAN DIEGO - An indictment was unsealed today in federal court charging 60 members of a San Diego-based international methamphetamine distribution network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel with drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms offenses. Mexico's Atlantic Coast was traditionally contested between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas. When the second season of 'Narcos: Mexico' ends, Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo (Diego Luna) is in jail and his Guadalajara Cartel has splintered into three independent cartels: the Tijuana Cartel under the leadership of the Arellano family; the Sinaloa Cartel controlled by Chapo (Alejandro Edda), Palma (Gorka Lasaosa), and Azul (Fermn Martnez); and the Jurez [] If there was a concern, the cartel pivoted and used the. Currently, the majority of Mexico's smuggling routes are controlled by three key cartels: Gulf, Sinaloa and Tijuanathough Tijuana is the least powerful. hide caption. The power of the CJNG in Jalisco also extends to certain municipalities in neighboring states likeZacatecasandAguascalientes, as well as the coasts ofNayarit, ColimaandMichoacn. Investigators had linked the airline's owner, Jess Villegas Covallos, to Ramn Arellano Flix.[9]. [45][46], They were a criminal organization that operated from San Diego to Los Angeles and other California and Nevada cities. ", She also downplayed the severity of last week's attack, saying burning a dozen cars in a city of two million people "statistically does not make it an act of terrorism.". He was born in Mexico City, grew up in San Diego and has two passports to prove it. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide . Presumably one of the criminal groups of a coalition could win, Felbab-Brown said. Yet outside, hundreds of Tijuana residents gathered, encouraged to come by Carlos Atilano Pea a local politician from an opposing political party who is using the moment to spread a very different message. The CJNG has made direct attempts to dominate this area but continues to face the Sinaloa Cartel, remnants of Los Zetas and Los Pelones, another group to emerge from the fragmentation of the Gulf Cartel. [17] Despite the series of high-ranking arrests the cartel suffered throughout 20112012, its ability to maintain a highly centralized criminal infrastructure shows how difficult it is to uproot cartels who have long-established their presence in a community. The fighting between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel began after Osiel Crdenas Guilln took command of the Gulf Cartel and started attacking the Sinaloa Cartel in order to conquer some of the Yucatn territories and expand; moreover, Crdenas wanted to defeat the Sinaloa cartel and make the Gulf Cartel Mexico's most powerful drug [12] Much of the violence that emerged in 2008 in Tijuana was a result of conflicts within the Tijuana cartel: on one side, the faction led by Teodoro Garca Simental (a.k.a. Seeking a dominant position in Mexico City -- where authorities are quicker to react than in many other parts of the country -- may simply not be a priority for the CJNG. There cannot be one single dominant criminal actor in a country as politically, economically and criminally diverse as Mexico. Both cartels emerged from the disbanded that began with the dissolution of the Guadalajara Cartel. The Tijuana Cartel has lost power but is growing more alliances in foreign countries.[46][53]. [30], On November 5, 2011, Mexican troops arrested cartel lieutenant Francisco Sillas Rocha,[31] who was reported to be the cartel's number two leader,[31] and some of his close associates. Eduardo Arellano Flix was captured by the Mexican Army after a shootout in Tijuana on October 26, 2008;[20] he had been the last of the Arellano Flix brothers at large. What MS-13 has not done is establish any real foothold in the international drug trafficking market. In recent years, several shootings have occurred in bars or clubs, where rivals, including the CJNG, are trying to wrest control of this extortion racket. After the death in 1997 of the Jurez Cartel's Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Tijuana Cartel attempted to gain a foothold in Sonora. And even then, it wont be a lasting peace. RELATED: Narcos: Mexico's Biggest Arrest Is a Straight-Up Ocean's 11 Heist. Boca Del Rio Massacre- On september 20, 2011, gunmen from Los Matazetas working at the time under orders of the Sinaloa Cartel dumped the tortured bodies of 35 men and women along a city highway in Boca Del . "They are entrenched among local society," Falko Ernst, senior analyst with International Crisis Group, told InSight Crime. Borja Vilalta-Castellanos, 36 . These battles for territorial control have caused violence to flare up. "The Zetas have been decimated.". He graduated from Columbia Universitys School of Journalism in 2013 and has worked in New York City, Miami, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Initially, they seem to be collaborating. According to Vctor Snchez, a national security expert at the University of Coahuila, the CSRL was initially able to stave off CJNG advances due to its strong backing from local communities that profit from oil theft. Tijuana, city, northwestern Baja California estado (state), northwestern Mexico. As other groups splintered across Mexico, it maintained a hierarchical, disciplined structure that allowed it to gain territory and members. Its members use social media and public spectacles of violence to terrorize communities into submission. Many others in Tijuana felt the same, and despite assurances of safety from local authorities, the normally bustling border city was eerily quiet on Saturday. [49] The infamous drug cartel led by the Arellano-Felix family spent years transporting, importing, and distributing cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin into the United States. [52] While the United States proved successful in minimizing and fighting the Arellano-Felix Organization, the effectiveness on combating the war on drugs also proved successful. "It's an unfortunate question of culture, narcos culture," she told NPR. Investigators say the attack was carried out by Los Salazar, a Sonoran-based criminal group affiliated with Los Chapitos, the sons of infamous Sinaloa Cartel drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.The people they targeted worked under Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano ('El Omega'), a local drug kingpin. I don't feel safe at all.". The Arellano Flix family has seven brothers: They also have four sisters, of whom Alicia and Enedina are most active in the cartel's affairs. Just over a week ago, a drug cartel launched a campaign of terror on Tijuana vehicles were set ablaze and gunmen blocked major thoroughfares. And right next to that park there's this crowd of drug dealers. Ismael Zambada Garca or El Mayo (Alberto Guerra), a previously independent but respected trafficker, join forces with Chapo after Tijuana burns his boat. Benjamin Arellano Felix, who was arrested on March 9, 2002, by the Mexican Army in the state of Puebla,[40] was extradited to the United States on April 29, 2011, to face charges of trafficking cocaine into California. After Archbishop Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo is killed in a shootout between the two cartels, the Mexican and US governments form a joint task force to fight the cartels. Tijuana has seen a methamphetamine-fuelled murder epidemic which produced a record 2,518 murders in 2018 and looks set to cause even more this year. The first cartel war ever in Mexico!! Some of them. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador addressed last weeks violence during a pre-scheduled visit to Tijuana Friday. The sun sets in Tijuana, Baja California, on the border with San Diego. This criminal organization is responsible for the transportation, importation, and distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana, as well as large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine.[22]. He would spend the years 1993 to 2001 in maximum-security prisons. This would suggest that the CJNG and Sinaloa organizations have more common interests than differences. When the war begins, it predictably affects both sides. Crtel de Sinaloa r ett mexikanskt globalt brottssyndikat som utfr olika sorters brott som bland annat kidnappningar, korruption, mord, penningtvtt, mnnisko- och vapenhandel. One mother at the rally outside the military base said violence had become a part of life in the region, but the scale of the attack last week still surprised her. hide caption. State officials say 17 people were detained and suspects include members of the Jalisco cartel. VICE 16.6M subscribers Subscribe 1.8M views 4 months ago #elchapo #sinaloa The Sinaloa Cartel are probably the richest and most powerful criminal organization on Earth. With the imminent release of El Ingeniero and the current consolidations with in Baja California as well as an alliance with Rafa Caro Quintero and the Sonora plaza its speculated the Tijuana Cartel may again rise and surpass both the Gulf and Juarez Cartel's who along with the Sinaloa Cartel are suffering greatly from internal strife. "I think we should really abandon these narco narratives that, even though they can be very sexy and very appealing, do very little in serving us to understand why is it that a place like Tijuana has not been able to reduce levels of violence," she said. SEE ALSO: Mexico's Role in the Deadly Rise of Fentanyl. And while the CJNG is certainly the largest and the most well-funded group in Tierra Caliente, this has not been enough to overcome entrenched local groups with popular support. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR The gang war was marked by several gang shootings, bombings, and atrocities, and it was brough to an end in 2002 when the Tijuana leaders were taken down by both the Sinaloa Cartel and law enforcement. The cartel was portrayed as the Avendanos brothers in Univision's Netflix series El Chapo. TIJUANA, Mexico Moses Zazueta Ramirez was at home last Friday when he started getting messages from his mom and seeing the chaos unfold on social media. To the east, the border state of Tamaulipas has long been a prized criminal enclave. Chihuahua City, where the old Juarez cartel now known as La Linea is trying to expel Sinaloa cartel proxy Gente Nueva, had a higher murder rate with 42.87. Wage theft is commonplace in San Diego. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article. Guzman proceeded to anger them by trafficking drugs through their territory without informing them or giving them a cut of the action. The cartel was involved in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in the Baja California area. The brothers' death and arrests during the 2000s did impact the Arellano Flix cartel, but they did not dismantle the organization. Furthermore, the city has numerous smaller street gangs, whichcontrol much of the microtrafficking. Carlos Atilano Pea organized the "united for security" rally outside a military base where Mexico's President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador gave his daily press briefing during his visit to Tijuana. Stephanie Brewer, director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America. "It was definitely a flashback of other times where you saw this spectacular violence playing out in the city," said Farfn-Mndez, the security expert. "The most recent outbreaks of violence have been the execution of the last soldiers [of the CSRL]," Balderas said. Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero says residents of her city can trust officials to keep them safe. [15] With the arrest of El Teo in January 2010, much of his faction was eliminated from the city of Tijuana; some of its remains went off and joined with the Sinaloa Cartel. In October 1997, a retired U.S. Air Force C-130A that was sold to the airline Aeropostal Cargo de Mxico was seized by Mexican federal officials, who alleged that the aircraft had been used to haul drugs for the cartel up from Central and South America, as well as around the Mexican interior. The CJNG dominates the western state of Jalisco, which gave the group its name. The US Treasury Department has included on its blacklists various businesses connected to the cartel in the city. In the days since the attacks, military reinforcements have been sent into Tijuana to bolster security. To comprehend whats happening now, you need to understand the history of the Mexican cartels, said David Shirk, director of the Justice in Mexico program at the University of San Diego. [50] In its most successful era of drug distribution, the Arellano-Felix Organization was solely responsible for a significant portion of the cocaine distribution to the United States. Ensenada, and Tijuana, Mexico to transport cocaine from Sinaloa to the southern border of California and into the United States. De r dock mest knda fr sin omfattande narkotikasmuggling mellan produktionsorterna i Mellan - och Sydamerika och den lukrativa narkotikamarknaden i norra . They try to buy off government officials to amass political influence and offer free food and social programs to poor communities. Currently, the Sinaloa and Los Zetas Cartels are in a war, forcing other cartels to take sides and new alliances are forming. Enedina bought out her share and had their mini-plaza absorbed into the Federation, which meant Isabelle had to go again. Tijuana hasn't seen this type of violence in its streets since the mid-2000s, when the federal government took a hardline approach on the cartels. In the city of Tijuana, in the Pacific state of Baja California, the CJNG and Sinaloa Cartel are the main providers of synthetic drugs, especially fentanyl. The Cartel del Abuelo operates from the municipality of Tepalcatepec, in western Michoacn. U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez also imposed a $50,000 fine. He then proceeded to declare war on the Gulf Cartel, arranging for a series of raids targeting Cardenas Guillen and his brother, Antonio Cardenas Guillen, in Nuevo Leon, starting a new war. [16] To be exact, experts told InSight Crime that the peace exists because Joaqun Guzmn Loera wants it that way, and argued that his organizationthe Sinaloa Cartelhas become spread too thin with its wars with Los Zetas and the Jurez Cartel and that opening a third war would be inconvenient. The Tijuana cartel was further weakened in August 2006 when its chief, Javier Arellano Flix, was arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard on a boat off the coast of Baja California. Checkpoints have been set up in some areas and troops can be seen stopping and inspecting cars close to where one of the vehicles was set on fire last Friday. Tijuana residents take part in a peaceful rally outside a military base during a visit by Mexico's president. Large segments of Mexico's people, territory, and economy are falling under the rule of Mexican criminal groups even in areas where violence has not flared up or has declined, with the declines . But, for those who study the cartels, the actions were part of an all-too-familiar pattern. Their protection strategy and preparations have been described as "paramilitary in nature" by Mexican enforcement officials. But the CSRL has been severely weakened by repeated government assaults, and the CJNG has managed to seize control of criminal economies in these three states, although not without spilling blood. In June 2020, it was reported that the Sinaloa Cartel controlled much of the Tijuana Cartel's former territory and that an alliance with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which also resulted in the cartel being rebranded as Tijuana Cartel New Generation (Cartel de Tijuana Nueva Generacin), but this alliance disintegrated very quickly when the Jalisco Cartel showed it intended to take the place of the Sinaloa cartel rather than aid in helping the Tijuana Cartel reestablish dominance and independence. But while it is certainly one of the country's principal national security threats, the reality on the ground is far more complex as the group is embroiled in a patchwork of rivalries nationwide. A member of the National Guard pats down a driver who was stopped at a checkpoint in the Gran Tenochtitlan neighborhood in Tijuana. In 2016, the organization became known as Cartel Tijuana Nueva Generacin (New Generation Tijuana Cartel) and began to align itself under the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, along with Beltrn Leyva Organization (BLO) to create an anti-Sinaloa alliance, in which the Jalisco New Generation Cartel heads. This means that crucial information needed to dominate a region -- such as knowledge of escape routes, safe houses and warnings of operations by authorities -- are not being shared with the CJNG. The cartel and its origins have also been portrayed in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico. Why the Jalisco Cartel Does Not Dominate Mexico's Criminal Landscape, Mexico's Role in the Deadly Rise of Fentanyl, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aliasEl Mencho,, Morelos, Mexicos Latest Hotspot for Fragmented Criminal Showdowns, The Slow Death of Mexico's Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, Wildlife Protection Treaty Hits 50 Amid Challenges, Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted, Brutal but Futile: Venezuela's Anti-Gang 'Mega-Operations', MS13s Mexico Program Key to El Salvador Gang Negotiations, Peace Leaders in Putumayo, Colombia Bet Their Lives on Coca Crop Substitution, Pablo Escobar and the Real Criminal Story of the Cocaine Bear, Severed Heads in Mexico City do not Signal Capital's Decline, Walled Inside Homes, Corpses of Mexico's Disappeared Evade Authorities, Poverty a Recruitment Tool for Mexico's Criminal Gangs. This group reportedly arosein 2017 when several gangs dedicated to oil theft banded together to stop the CJNG's incursions into Guanajuato, Quertaro and Hidalgo. The Sinaloa-Tijuana war was a bloody gang war fought between the rival Sinaloa and Tijuana Mexican drug cartels in the states of Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Jalisco, Guerrero, Michoacan, and Oaxaca from 1989 to 1993 and from 2001 to 2002. [13], The relative peace in the city of Tijuana in 20102012 has raised speculations of a possible agreement between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel to maintain peace in the area. "This aligns really well with data that we have on the perception that criminal groups have the firepower capacity to effectively confront the state. One man was found tied by his feet while the other two were hung by the neck. At least 11 people, including a child and a radio presenter, were killed in a wave of violence reported at least four Mexican cities on the US border. Our study found that MS-13 leaders have made several attempts to . Members of the National Guard stand guard outside a military base in Tijuana. Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero says residents of her city can trust officials to keep them safe. En Bolavip te decimos quines sern los futbolistas que protagonizarn el partido de este domingo 26 de febrero entre Xolos de Tijuana vs Pachuca por la Jornada 9 de la Primera Divisin de . The animosity between the two groups has been brimming since the last season. Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, the founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, was arrested in 1989. Another key crossing is Ciudad Jurez in Chihuahua, infamous for once being the most violent city in the world. He then sends Neto to the same prison as Palma to show the inmates who is truly in charge. While both resort to violence, the Sinaloa Cartel is viewed as more professional. What Happens to Jurez and Gulf Cartels at the End of Narcos: Mexico Season 3. Tras conocerse la noticia de su inminente salida de prisin el pasado 18 de agosto, fue mucha la incertidumbre sobre cul sera el futuro del exlder del cartel de Tijuana. El Ingeniero), focused primarily on drug trafficking. "Federal authorities say there was no terrorism, but we say we had terrorism here in Tijuana," he told NPR.