One of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels is attempting to impose a curfew on the border city of Tijuana. The move comes as Tijuana continues to experience a spike in violence as various drug cartels fight for control of lucrative smuggling routes into California.
The main turf war for control of Tijuana is tied to cells of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation (CJNG) fighting with the Sinaloa Cartel as well as the remnants of the once-powerful Arellano Felix Cartel. In recent days, a cell claiming to be tied to CJNG said they would be patrolling the streets hunting for rivals after 10 p.m.
In the 15-second video shared on social media and published by Infobae, a group of four gunmen with masks and weapons claim that after 10 p.m. they will be hunting rivals and cops in the city.
The gunmen end the video saying “Pura gente de Mencho” or only Mencho’s people, a reference to the leader of CJNG Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes
The fighting in Tijuana is linked to the lucrative trafficking of narcotics into the U.S. — with fentanyl becoming a major product. As Breitbart Texas reported, the state of Baja California is fifth in national rankings as far as criminality. In August, the Mexican Army released a list of 115 cartel members who are linked to most of the crimes in the region.
Most recently, cartel gunmen began dumping bodies with various messages threatening each other. In one of the messages left next to a body inside a large drum. The message threatened two CJNG leaders named Jesús Alfonso “El Trapos” Trapero Ibarra and Samuel “El Primo” Vaca García who are allegedly operating in Baja California.
El primo is reportedly originally from Michoacan and is a financial operator with CJNG, Infobae reported.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
C.P. Mireles from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.
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