Special Forces personnel of the Mexican Army arrived Tuesday in Tijuana to fight organized crime and to focus on a particular listing of criminals suspected of being behind a wave of violence.
For many years, Tijuana has been a battleground for rival cartels, seeking to take over a direct route to move medication into the USA. In 2021, homicides within the border metropolis dipped under 2,000 per yr for the primary time in a number of years. However March was among the many most violent months of 2022, and up to now in April at the least 121 folks have been killed.
For the primary time, the Mexican Army has launched a listing of “most wished” criminals, hoping the general public will assist determine them and discover their whereabouts.
(Mexican Army)
For the primary time, the Mexican Army on Tuesday launched a listing of 115 “most wished” criminals, suspected of fueling the violence within the border area. Officers are hoping the general public will assist determine them and report the suspects’ whereabouts.
Amongst their targets is David López Jiménez, also called “Cabo 20,” who’s suspected by state prosecutors of being chargeable for ordering the homicide of Tijuana photojournalist Margarito Martínez Esquivel.
On Jan. 17, Martínez, 49, who coated crime and safety points in Tijuana, was shot to loss of life exterior his house as he left for work after lunch on town’s troubled southside. Six days after Martínez’s slaying, one other well-known Tijuana reporter, Lourdes Maldonado, was murdered exterior her house. Two years earlier she had publicly advised Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador she feared for her life.
Three males have been arrested on Feb. 9 in reference to Maldonado’s loss of life. Three different people have been held over for trial in Baja California for allegedly murdering Martínez. Prosecutors say the group mistakenly believed Martínez was chargeable for info revealed in Zeta, a investigative information weekly, and on social networks that uncovered the community of Jiménez or “Cabo 20.”
The listing of 115 suspected criminals is the goal of a brand new Special Forces process drive that arrived in Tijuana on Tuesday.
(Mexican Army)
Normal Francisco Javier Hernández Almanza, Baja California state coordinator for the Nationwide Guard, mentioned the 200 Special Forces troopers who simply arrived within the border metropolis on Tuesday from central Mexico will be part of one other 3,000 troopers already deployed within the space to “strengthen the rule of regulation and the event of every day actions” in Tijuana.
The troops kind a joint process drive aimed toward combating organized crime and stopping homicides. Members of native and state authorities, the Legal professional Normal’s workplace, the Nationwide Guard and the the Secretary of Nationwide Protection (SEDENA) can even be part of the duty drive, in accordance with Almanza.
Almanza mentioned the troops will probably be deployed to patrol harmful neighborhoods and directed by investigators to particular addresses the place felony suspects could also be positioned.
Native authorities can typically be out-gunned in Mexico by the cartel leaders they’re trying to catch. Almanza mentioned the extra troops can even present crucial back-up to Tijuana police, if crucial.
He confused the group would stay dedicated to respecting the human rights of standard residents, even whereas the border turns into extra militarized.
“As Special Forces, they’ve many specialties in fight,” he mentioned.
Lining up beneath a 50-meter-by-30-meter Mexican flag, the 200 newly-assigned troops offered a powerful show of drive, however Almanza mentioned different sources would nonetheless be wanted to convey peace to Baja California. He talked about the necessity for higher know-how to fight the high-tech capabilities of some felony organizations.
In response to an INEGI Nationwide City Public Safety Survey of Baja California residents, a rise within the notion of insecurity was mirrored in Baja California in the course of the first quarter of the yr. In Tijuana it elevated as measured by the survey’s index from 76.4 in December 2021 to 81.4 in March 2022, exceeding Mexico’s nationwide common by greater than 15 factors.
