makana.gabriel
Nomad
Posts: 115
Registered: 1-10-2008
Location: Honolulu
Member Is Offline
|
|
General battles traffickers in Tijuana
General battles drug traffickers in border city
BY RICHARD MAROSI
Los Angeles Times
TIJUANA - Gen. Alfonso Duarte Múgica unzipped the Louis Vuitton bag and pulled out a skull ring coated with diamonds, a coin medallion and a
gold-plated Beretta handgun engraved with the grim reaper smile of La Santa Muerte.
The gilded narco-gear was once the property of Angel Jácome Gamboa, a suspected drug cartel lieutenant believed to be behind the killings of at least
12 Rosarito Beach police officers. Duarte´s soldiers brought him the war booty after they raided a birthday party and arrested Jácome Gamboa along
with 21 others.
They didn´t bring him the real prize. Duarte wants Jácome Gamboa´s boss, Teodoro García Simental, nicknamed "El Teo."
"This was [García´s] most active kidnapping cell. ... And we caught almost all of them," Duarte said, cracking a proud smile. "We´ve been keeping the
pressure on. ... He´s constantly moving around, changing houses ... He´s worried."
The raid in March was the latest in a series of operations by the military that appears to have weakened organized-crime groups and restored a sense
of relative calm to this border city, at least for now.
After months of beheadings, ransom kidnappings and daylight shootouts, the number of killings in the Tijuana area fell to about 130 in the first three
months of this year. That number is still high, but it´s significantly lower than the total for the last three months of 2008, when there were 447
slayings.
The number of ransom kidnappings, which provided gangs with large revenue streams, also has declined sharply, say authorities and victims rights
groups.
STRIKING BACK
Duarte, a soft-spoken career officer who commands about 1,000 soldiers in northern Baja California, has struck hardest against El Teo, one of Mexico´s
most-wanted men. Believed to be behind a three-year wave of kidnappings and killings, García has narrowly escaped capture at least twice recently.
The general, crisply attired in a tan camouflage uniform in his office at the Morelos Army base, says the hunt for García is nothing personal. He
considers García a dangerous psychopath, but just another crime boss whose career he is duty-bound to end.
Duarte did, however, seem to sharpen his sights late last year after García´s gunmen killed one of his special forces soldiers in a shootout. For the
first time, Duarte publicly identified García as a top Tijuana crime boss and started referring to his associates as "gente del Teo" - Teo´s people.
Since then, the general´s soldiers have killed or captured several of García´s gunmen and lieutenants, among them Jácome Gamboa, a 29-year-old former
soldier believed responsible for a reign of terror in Rosarito Beach, where the violence has all but destroyed the crucial tourism industry.
The military also appears to be targeting symbols of narco culture. Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos said the military was behind the destruction late last
month of five shrines in Tijuana and Rosarito Beach dedicated to folk saints such as Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, whose followers include drug
traffickers.
No one is claiming victory over organized crime in the key drug-trafficking corridors of northern Baja California; the recent tranquillity may merely
reflect a temporary truce between García and his rival, Fernando Sánchez Arellano, nicknamed "El Ingeniero," the reputed leader of the Arellano Félix
drug cartel.
The recent gains have been touted as a much-needed example of progress in Mexico´s war with drug cartels.
´A GOOD IMAGE´
Duarte, a 54-year-old Mexico City native, took command in June. A tall, courtly man who has served at military bases across the country, Duarte
quickly earned the trust of U.S. law enforcement officials for his aggressive tactics and willingness to act on tips provided by U.S. agencies.
On the city´s gritty streets, the general´s actions are met with relief and cautious optimism. Motorists at traffic-clogged military checkpoints
bemoan the delays, but some honk in appreciation at the sight of his heavily armed soldiers.
Local reporters hang on his every word at rare public appearances, usually pomp-filled events at parade grounds on Army bases, where his soldiers haul
captured cartel members before the news media.
Even some human rights groups that warned against the militarization of local law enforcement say the effort thus far shows impressive gains without
the kind of serious abuse allegations that have plagued other military-led anti-drug operations in the country.
"Tijuana society did not have much experience with the military, but so far the Army enjoys a good image," said Víctor Clark Alfaro, director of
Tijuana´s Binational Center for Human Rights.
However, human rights groups recently highlighted a surge in reports of illegal searches, arrests without cause, rape, sexual abuse and torture by
Army personnel in other areas. The bulk of the cases came from Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Michoacán, according to media reports.
The military´s arrival in Tijuana two years ago was less than auspicious. Soldiers disarmed the city´s 2,300-strong police force, long thought to be
compromised by the cartels, and began rumbling down busy streets in public displays of force.
But the toll of killings and kidnappings only accelerated, as rival factions of the Arellano FAclix drug cartel clashed, leaving behind scrawled
threats to each other beside decapitated bodies or barrels of lye with liquefied human remains.
NEW CLASS OF WARFARE
écustomed to marijuana eradication efforts and anti-guerrilla missions in southern Mexico, the Army was ill-suited for urban warfare. The military´s
lumbering fleet of Hummers couldn´t keep pace with the gangster´s turbo-charged SUVs and Ford F-150 trucks. Raids on suspected hide-outs often failed
because corrupt police tipped off targets.
In November, a captured cartel lieutenant began giving up names of police officers on the payroll of organized crime. Duarte´s soldiers swept down on
high-ranking commanders across the city. Some were handcuffed and taken from the downtown police headquarters to the hilltop Army base.
At least 20 officers, including some high-ranking commanders, were charged with having links to organized crime.
The following week, the military purged municipal police ranks in east Tijuana, further weakening García´s protective network. And late last month, 23
more police officers were arrested by the military on suspicion of being linked to organized crime.
The police departments in Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, as well as the state police, are now run by current or former Army officers.
Gone are many of the police informants, or "antennas," that supplied organized crime with intelligence and cleared the streets before cartel
kidnappings and raids, U.S. and Mexican authorities say.
"They took away [organized crime´s] eyes and ears," said one source, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.
BIG FISHING
Recent months have seen a series of blows against organized crime, including the capture in January of Santiago Meza López, the 45-year-old who
authorities say claims to have disposed of 300 of García´s victims by dissolving them in lye.
The biggest catch was Jácome Gamboa, nicknamed "El Kaibil" because he purportedly trained with Guatemala´s elite special forces of that name, known
for their brutal, scorched-earth counterinsurgency campaigns. Jácome Gamboa, adorned in his narco-jewelry, was arrested March 8 in a daring midnight
raid at a banquet hall in east Tijuana.
Duarte, who was interviewed in his office at the Morelos Army base, said the military learned days in advance that the crime boss would be attending a
girl´s "quinceañerO birthday party. When soldiers rushed through the emergency doors, the "norteño" ba
FAITH sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible!
|
|
|
Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
Member Is Offline
|
|
Geez. I posted this same article a few days ago, and got no interest. Sort of like your post.
|
|
|
djh
Senior Nomad
Posts: 936
Registered: 1-2-2005
Location: Earth mostly. Loreto, N. ID, Big Island
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow fellow, plays a yellow cello...
|
|
Thanks for posting !
Good article. Mostly facts without hype from either crowd:
"There is no problem"... (denial) . . . or "There is no hope" . . . (avoidance) . . . or "The sky is falling" . . . media sensationalism.
It is a long, dirty battle to restore both the safety and the trust of the people...
I love Baja and my many friends, and these troubles have not prevented my travels, but they have made me more aware, alert, and cautious... like many
of you, I imagine.
Thanks for posting.
djh
Its all just stuff and some numbers.
A day spent sailing isn\'t deducted from one\'s life.
Peace, Love, and Music
|
|
|
surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
Member Is Offline
|
|
I think we suffer from "cartel" overload.....just too much stuff we have no control over....
Yesterdays news had mention of new police killings in TJ ....first I have heard of in a while....not sure if they had tapered off or if reporting has
slowed down on this subject...
|
|
|
Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
Member Is Offline
|
|
The "good news" is that they had slowed dramatically.
|
|
|
Woooosh
Banned
Posts: 5240
Registered: 1-28-2007
Location: Rosarito Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Luminescent Waves at Rosarito Beach
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajahowodd
The "good news" is that they had slowed dramatically. |
Good news- unless you live here in Bja Norte. The new bad guys are being broken into smaller cells and entrenching themselves into every neighborhood
as they take over. Petty crime and property crime against every day locals is sky high and climbing. The police knocked on all the Rosarito Beach
house doors and told us to lock up and be watchful. Either that or they were just casing our house again.
I heard one of the top local crime bossess was killed Sunday night- so now it's every man for himself. Their easiest targets for quick cash will get
picked off first. JMHO.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
