Guzman told his followers (including the Juarez Cartel and his Sinaloa Cartel men) that those who did not stand with the federation stood against it, and that the federation would monopolize all criminal enterprises in the country. The Sinaloa cartel had the supply. Tijuana, city, northwestern Baja California estado (state), northwestern Mexico. In Utah, fentanyl overdose deaths increased 300 percent over a three-year period. It's easy for politicians to say the violence is just gangs fighting each other, she said, when there were other indicators of problems like homicides being more common in poorer neighborhoods, and rates remaining stubbornly high for women. Its like shadow puppetry. El Crtel de Tijuana y El Crtel del Golfo. The Sinaloa Cartel, which is based in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, is one of the oldest and most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and was designated on December 15, 2021 pursuant to E.O. According toscar Balderas, a Mexican journalist and expert in organized crime, Tamaulipas is divided between the Northeast Cartel (Cartel del Noreste)and the New Blood Zetas (Zetas Sangre Nueva), as well as the remnants of the Gulf Cartel. Sinaloa loses El Azul when Enedina decides to hit out against all their enemies. The Tijuana Cartel has lost power but is growing more alliances in foreign countries.[46][53]. 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. The most extensive database on organized crime in the Americas. El Ingeniero), focused primarily on drug trafficking. [11] Mexican army troops were sent to Tijuana in January 2007 in an operation to restore order to the border city and root out corrupt police officers, who mostly were cooperating with the Tijuana cartel. Tijuana is now the . Jesus Alcazar BADIRAGUATO, Mexico Neat, freshly painted buildings and a renovated church line the central square. The brothers retaliated by killing Guzman's envoy Rayo Lopez when he drunkenly showed up to their nightclub, with Ramon Arellano Felix shooting him publicly and having many of his family members killed to prevent reprisals. [45][46], They were a criminal organization that operated from San Diego to Los Angeles and other California and Nevada cities. 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. 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]. Some of them. In the 1990s they formed an alliance with the Cali Cartel and Norte del Valle Cartel for the cocaine business.[48]. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR After the death in 1997 of the Jurez Cartel's Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Tijuana Cartel attempted to gain a foothold in Sonora. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. At that point, his old organization broke up into three factions: the Tijuana Cartel led by his nephews, the Arellano Flix brothers, the Juarez Cartel, led by Amado Carrillo Fuentes, and the Sinaloa Cartel, run by former lieutenants Hctor Luis Palma Salazar and Joaqun Guzmn Loera, a.k.a. Benjamn Arellano Flix Francisco Rafael Arellano Flix Ramn . The San Diego-Tijuana border region was jolted just over a week ago, when cartel members launched a campaign of terror on the streets of Tijuana, with vehicles being set ablaze and gunmen blocking major thoroughfares. And in states surrounding the capital, the CJNG is running into the results ofcriminal fragmentation. This has brought the group into regular conflict with the CJNG since 2017 but with no side gaining a distinct advantage. KPBS border reporter Gustavo Solis talked to experts about the reasons behind the attacks. Following the defection of El Mayo's head of operations in Tijuana and the reintegration of its Cabo San Lucas branch it is evident that the Arellano Flix Organization has retaken control of its Tijuana hotbed from outside influences as well as other important hubs in Baja California leaving Mexicali and Rosarito as the last known Sinaloa Cartel outposts in Baja California though how long they will remain under Sinaloan control is debatable with the rapid defection of Sinaloa Cartel operators in traditionally Arellano Flix territories. A drug cartel had hijacked and burned. Mexican authorities claim El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel was behind the killings after video footage showed them interrogating rival members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (JNGC) days earlier. 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. [51] The impacts on the United States population were deemed so significant that Members of Congress proposed further changes to migrant policies in border cities like Tijuana. The CJNG dominates the western state of Jalisco, which gave the group its name. When the war begins, it predictably affects both sides. A member of the National Guard stands watch over the Gran Tenochtitlan neighborhood of Tijuana. Its decentralized location in Mexico and proximity to the United States border allowed the Arellano-Felix brothers easy routes to control the illicit drug markets in Tijuana and southern California. The sun sets in Tijuana, Baja California, on the border with San Diego. Mexico's Atlantic Coast was traditionally contested between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas. They hide in safe houses or . To the east, the border state of Tamaulipas has long been a prized criminal enclave. The city of Puerto Vallarta, on the Pacific Coast, has also been used by the CJNG for money laundering, human trafficking and drug trafficking. Its leader Juan Jos Faras lvarez, alias El Abuelo,began by leading a vigilante group, or "autodefensa," against the Knights Templar. The center of Mexico City is largely controlled by La Unin Tepito, a gang native to the capital, though smaller groups such as theCartel de Tlhuacenjoy plentiful incomes from extortion and microtrafficking. 14059. . If there was a concern, the cartel pivoted and used the. On August 31, 2012, Eduardo Arellano Felix was extradited to the United States to face trial for racketeering, money laundering and narcotics trafficking charges in the Southern District of California. "They are entrenched among local society," Falko Ernst, senior analyst with International Crisis Group, told InSight Crime. However, after the cartel was involved in the 1985 torture and murder of a U.S. drug . The Sinaloa cartel has a presence in 17 Mexican states. The two groups began to subdue local leaders and demand the payment of the floor; today there is a "war", reveals a journalistic work of the magazine Proceso. 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He bribed the leader of a special forces team sent to track him down to become one of his henchmen, using him to hunt down other cartel bosses in exchange for $30,000 a month. Farfan-Mendez said government officials didnt help themselves by trying to downplay the cartel attacks. ", "So nah, I don't think I'm really secure. Get fresh updates on organized crime from across the region delivered to your inbox. Although one cartel was weakened, simple economics demonstrate how the illicit drug market and organized crime continues to prosper despite cartels coming and going. [37] After Benjamin Arellano-Felix pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to launder money on January 4, 2012, it was accepted that the Tijuana Cartel had greatly lost influence. . I cannot allow citizens to pay the consequences of these criminal acts we need them to trust our police.". [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. hide caption. In November 2020 it was reported emissaries from the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel had been seen in Tijuana attempting to form an alliance with the now resurgent Tijuana Cartel. Federal officials in Mexico are deploying hundreds of troops to the border city of Tijuana following a wave of violent attacks. "The Sinaloa Cartel is still the most powerful. Tijuana Cartel - za siedzib tej organizacji uznaje si miasto na granicy ze Stanami Zjednoczonymi, Tijuan, znajdujc si w pnocno-wschodnim stanie Baja California. ", A member of the National Guard patrols Playas de Tijuana. "The Zetas have been decimated.". Advertisement. hide caption. Al Crtel de Sinaloa le vendran los mejores aos en su actividad delictiva, mientras el Crtel de Tijuana iba en picada. While incarcerated, he remained one of Mexico's major traffickers, maintaining his organization via mobile phone until he was transferred to a new maximum security prison in the 1990s. 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. Lopez Obrador seems to be doubling down on this failed strategy, Brewer said. Stephanie Brewer, director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America. Thats exactly the kind of public show of force that Tijuana experienced August 12. 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. hide caption. The Luis Fernando Snchez Arellano new generation organization of the cartel is believed to be one of the newest leaders in it to begin shipping cocaine from Colombia, particularly from Los Rastrojos and other Colombian dealers. And right next to that park there's this crowd of drug dealers. When hes not working - and even sometimes when he should be - Gustavo is surfing on both sides of the border. However, Enedina had her arrested so Season 3 can look at her trying to bring down . The most notorious example came in April 2019, when 14 people were murdered during a party in the town of Minatitln. hide caption. In 2018 he was part of a team of reporters who shared a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. But in 2019, the CJNG began a series of bloody assaults against the Cartel del Abuelo, with CJNG bossNemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aliasEl Mencho, even reportedly issuing a personal statement threateningFaras lvarez. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR "La Moni," who police say is an assassin for the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested Tuesday during a police raid in Colonia Miramar in Tijuana. 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). The Sinaloa Cartel's forces heavily employed Narco Tanks and .50 caliber Barrett rifles, among other weapons during fighting in 2019 in Culiacn after a previous attempt to detain Ovidio, along. "Veracruz was always going to be the jewel in the crown for the CJNG," Balderas said. It is one of at least 40 groups vying for criminal economies there. SAN DIEGO - Oscar Rodriguez-Guevara of Tijuana, Mexico was sentenced today to 162 months in prison for smuggling multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico and then laundering the illicit proceeds, all for the Sinaloa Cartel. El Teo) favored kidnappings. [9] Its members use social media and public spectacles of violence to terrorize communities into submission. Its leaders prefer to work behind the scenes. ", 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. The group has expanded rapidly across Mexico and is now one of the country's most. 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. How and where does the Sinaloa Cartel operate? The president downplayed recent violence and said the Mexican National Guard is taking care of the issue. Initially, they seem to be collaborating. SEE ALSO: The Slow Death of Mexico's Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. We go into the field to interview, report and investigate. The squad discovered that Benjamin Arellano Felix was hiding at a safehouse in Puebla with his henchman Charalito, and Conrado Higuera Sol - now operational director of the federal police - oversaw the operation that led to Arellano Felix's capture. Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero says she understands that many residents do take their cues from the cartels, and she is determined to change that. Luis Fernando Snchez Arellano took over the cartel's operations. [52] The story does not end here. 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. [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. It originated as a ranch settlement on part of a land grant (1862) and developed as a border resort with gambling casinos. With Netos help, he learns how to use his inherent talents better. So strongly, that Mexican authority proves not enough to control the infiltration of the American people. As a result, the Tijuana Cartel reversed their branding back to Cartel Arellano Flix and arranged the assassination of Cabo 33 the Jalisco Cartel's head of operations in Baja California, after effectively removing the Jalisco Cartel's influence in Baja California the Tijuana Cartel has further engaged the Sinaloa Cartel for control of Tijuana plaza and its surrounding areas. Step outside tonight and there would be trouble, was the story doing the rounds. There is no region where the CJNG can be said to enjoy total dominance but there are zones where it has consolidated its position as the most powerful criminal actor. In this case, the Sinaloa Cartel outweighed the falling Arellano-Felix Organization and gained control of the Tijuana/ San Diego route. Areas predominantly controlled by the Tijuana Cartel shown in purple, List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords, "El crtel de los Arellano Flix contina: PGJE", "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border", "Violence the result of fractured arrangement between Zetas and Gulf Cartel, authorities say", "Femme Fatale Kidnapper Of CAF Members Has Appeal Denied In US Court", "Los Cabos Leave Ice Chests With Remains and Threats for CAF in Snchez Taboada, Tijuana", "Mexican drug runners may have used C-130 from Arizona", "Expert Says Weakened Sinaloa Cartel Under Attack by Rivals", "Mexico: The Price of Peace in the Cartel Wars", "Tijuana's New Calm Shows Benefits of Local Policing in Mexico", "Leyzaola pact con los rivales de El Teo", "Tijuana Cartel Survives, Despite Decade-Long Onslaught", "Why the Jalisco Cartel Does Not Dominate Mexico's Criminal Landscape", "History of DEA Operations DEA History", "Asesinan a Francisco Rafael Arellano Flix en Los Cabos", "The Business Arellano-Felix Cartel Drug Wars FRONTLINE PBS", "Mexican Drug Cartels: Government Progress and Growing Violence", "U.S. charges top leaders of Tijuana-based drug cartel", "DTO 101: The Arellano Felix Organization", Mexican drug cartel boss Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellano nabbed, "Mexico captures US-born Tijuana drug lieutenant (July 11, 2011)", "Mexican troops arrest Tijuana drug cartel boss", "Tijuana's Uneasy Peace May Endure Despite Arrests", "Arellano Flix cartel operator "El Chapito Leal" arrested in Tijuana", "Tension high in Tijuana following the arrest of "El Chapito" Leal - the San Diego Union-Tribune", "Mexico's Drug Cartels (CRs Report for Congress)", "Latest drug tunnel, pot seizures may reflect rise of Sinaloa cartel", "Captured Tijuana Cartel Boss Confirms Sinaloa Truce", "DEA CONFIRMS CAPTURE OF BENJAMIN ARELLANO-FELIX", "Mexico home to record 1,400 drug-related deaths in April", "Mexico cartel boss Arellano Felix jailed for 25 years", "Eduardo Arellano-Felix Extradited from Mexico to the United States to Face Charges", "Mexican officials warn Americans to stay away", "Sources: U.S. informant oversaw killings", "Juarez murders shine light on an emerging "Cartel in California", "Sources: La Historia de Los Arellano Felix", "Last of Tijuana cartel's Arellano Felix brothers jailed", "Business - The Arellano-Felix Organization | Drug Wars | FRONTLINE | PBS", "Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations", "Tijuana new Generation of Cartel "New Tijuana Cartel", Fatal Shooting in Logan Heights May Have Been Gang-Related - San Diego, California News Station - KFMB Channel 8 - cbs8.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tijuana_Cartel&oldid=1131119244, Luis Fernando Arellano Flix (believed to be born 26 January 1966) not currently wanted, This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 17:10. Unfortunately, what we have seen over the past 10 to 15 years is a lot of repetition of the same go-to strategies, which consists largely of military deployment, said Stephanie Brewer, Director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA. [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. Moses Zazueta Ramirez is back at work after taking two days off out of fear of more cartel violence. According to Balderas, the CJNG is present in the capital, especially in certain poorer neighborhoods to the north of the city, but it has not succeeded in becoming a main criminal actor as of yet. Shiny SUVs rest curbside. Los Palillos ("The Toothpicks") was a group operating within Tijuana Cartel, who worked as the armed wing of the Tijuana Cartel in the United States, for the control of the criminal activities in California and Nevada. [38][39] It was later reduced to .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}23+12 years in 2015 and he will be released soon. Many of the group's members live in and around the state capital, Guadalajara, and the city is also one of the CJNG's main centers for money laundering. There is also the Gulf Cartel headed by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra (Jesus Ochoa) and Juan Garca Abrego (Flavio Medina). This would suggest that the CJNG and Sinaloa organizations have more common interests than differences. 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. ", 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.". 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. They try to rule through brutality, by being more brutal than anyone else, she said. El 24 de noviembre de 1993, seis meses despus del Intento de homicidio contra Joaqun Guzmn Loera, los sicarios del Crtel de Tijuana intentan asesinar a Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias El Seor de los Cielos y lder del Crtel de Jurez, en el restaurante Ochoa Bali-Hai de la Ciudad de Mxico. Morelos and the State of Mexico offer plenty of criminal economies, including human trafficking, kidnapping, microtrafficking and drug trafficking, especially heroin. "A large part of Veracruz is now controlled by the CJNG," Balderas said. Despite all of the evidence that shows us that this military deployment is not an effective strategy, it has remained at the centerpiece of the Mexican federal governments response to crime and violence, she added. The first cartel war ever in Mexico!! 1993 Guadalajara International Airport shootout. 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. Tijuana residents take part in a peaceful rally outside a military base during a visit by Mexico's president. The rumor about the cartel imposing a curfew on Tijuana wasn't true, but the 23-year-old decided to skip his work at a local restaurant that weekend anyway and stay at home with his girlfriend. 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. Thats when the U.S. pressured Mexican leaders to go after them. At the end of season 3, Chapo and Mayo control Sinaloa together. The unfortunate shooting was part of the battle between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel. This act led to war between the two families. Sinaloa cartel, international crime organization that is among the most-powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. At the beginning of season 3, Sinaloa is inarguably the worst-performing organization among all four major cartels active in Mexico. [52] The impact on the United States was so significant that heavy involvement by the American government was required. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR In 1989, the ambitious Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin Guzman Loera approached the brothers Benjamin and Ramon Arellano Felix, the leaders of the Tijuana Cartel, and offered to work with them in the drug trade. Le cartel de Tijuana, aussi appel Organisation Arellano Flix, bas dans la ville du mme nom en Basse Californie ( Mexique ), est une organisation criminelle spcialise dans le trafic de stupfiants, qui tait mene par sept frres et quatre surs Arellano Flix, qui ont dfray la chronique par leur brutalit et cruaut 1. [46][47], The Tijuana Cartel is believed to have ties with FARC, a Colombia guerrilla group that also has ties with other Mexican drug cartels. El Chapo. In Baja. On December 1, 2011, William R. Sherman, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's office in San Diego, announced that the cartel had been annihilated and that the Sinaloa Cartel now controlled a large number of the drug routes the Tijuana Cartel once had. There cannot be one single dominant criminal actor in a country as politically, economically and criminally diverse as Mexico. "It's an unfortunate question of culture, narcos culture," she told NPR. Felbab-Brown has studied the difference between how each cartel operates. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR Both cartels emerged from the disbanded that began with the dissolution of the Guadalajara Cartel. Authorities hope the arrests prove they are in control and that they make people feel safe. 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. "Puerto Vallarta is completely theirs," Balderas said. Moses Zazueta Ramirez is back at work after taking two days off out of fear of more cartel violence. 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. The port of Chetumal is a gateway for chemical precursors used in the production of synthetic drugs. Pea is tapping into a sentiment felt by many. Presumably one of the criminal groups of a coalition could win, Felbab-Brown said. Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, the founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, was arrested in 1989. The drug cartels had flexed their power in Tijuana in a way not seen for more than a decade and reignited fear and debate over who is it that really wields influence in the country: the government or the gangs.