Tijuana violence slows, drops from spotlight
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/26/tijuana-viole...
By Sandra Dibble
April 26, 2010
The spectacle of decapitated victims, bodies hanged from bridges and threatening narco messages has been on the wane in Tijuana in recent weeks. The
drug-related brutality that for months dominated headlines has given way to lower-profile killings.
Law enforcement authorities say the detentions of top members of a notoriously violent drug gang this year have changed the dynamics of violence: If
members of organized crime once sought the spotlight, they now appear to be avoiding it.
“They want to handle themselves with greater discretion,” Fermin Gomez, Baja California’s deputy attorney general for organized crime, said in an
interview. “We’re not seeing the previous modus operandi, with very dramatic conditions, with mutilated bodies, cut up and beheaded.”
The drop in the number of deaths follows the detentions of Teodoro García Simental in January and his brother José Manuel García Simental and top
deputy, Raydel Lopez Uriarte, in February. Under their leadership, the gang had been blamed for more than 300 homicides, including dozens of police
officers.
Since then, the killings have continued, though at a slower pace and out of the public eye, and police have not been targeted.
Homicide figures from the Baja California Attorney General’s Office show that after spiking in December and January, with 132 and 120 killings,
respectively, the numbers have fallen in Tijuana.
In February, there were 63 slayings, in March there were 62 and by Friday night, the total for April is 48, the agency said. Gomez said the great
majority of January’s slayings were drug-related, but the proportion in recent weeks has dropped to about half.
David Shirk, a University of San Diego professor who has studied drug-related violence in Mexico, warns against any early celebrations. “The patterns
of violence and peace tend to reflect the dynamics among the cartels more so than the effectiveness of law enforcement,” he said.
Authorities say the killers are using different methods, often opting for smaller weapons such as 9 mm handguns rather than powerful automatic weapons
that draw more attention. Rather than the brash assaults on busy thoroughfares or restaurants, the killings often take place in the city’s periphery,
drawing little notice.
The fight has been for control of domestic drug markets, leading to the killings of many neighborhood drug dealers from both sides, investigators say.
Although the top leadership of García Simental’s group is behind bars, the remnants are still operating, Gomez said.
“It seems that they’ve been keeping a very low profile, so that they can keep doing business without drawing attention,” said Victor Clark, a Tijuana
human rights activist and longtime observer of the region’s criminal trends.
Violence in the region has risen and fallen in recent years as rival groups vie for control of Tijuana region, a key smuggling corridor for illegal
drugs headed for the United States.
Tijuana was long dominated by the Arellano Félix drug organization, but in 2008, a former lieutenant, García Simental, broke away and found backing
from a powerful Sinaloa-based group. The feud between the two groups led to record killings that year, 844. In 2009, the total dropped to 664.
Across Mexico, drug-related violence has soared since President Felipe Calderón declared war on drug-trafficking organizations after taking office in
December 2006, dispatching troops and federal police to hot spots across the country.
The Mexico City newspaper Reforma reported this month 2,904 drug-related deaths across the country during the first quarter of this year, citing a
confidential government report. Leading that list was Ciudad Juarez with 620 drug-related homicides, followed by Culiacan with 193 and Tijuana with
153.
Critics of the Calderón strategy say it has failed to reduce violence in border cities. But unlike in Ciudad Juarez, where the military is being
phased out, the military has maintained public support in Baja California. The head of military forces in the region, Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica, has
forged close alliances with civilian authorities.
Eusebio Villatoro, a military lieutenant colonel who heads the Baja California State Preventive Police, said authorities are aware that other criminal
groups may try to move in, and that could once again change the dynamics. But, he added, “we’re going to work so that this does not happen.”
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Law enforcement authorities say the detentions of top members of a drug gang this year have contributed to a drop in the number of killings. Homicides
in Tijuana in recent months:
December: 132
January: 120
February: 63
March: 62
April (as of Friday): 48
SOURCE: Baja California Attorney General’s Office
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