The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana issued a travel alert warning U.S. citizens to be cautious when visiting the popular city of Mexicali due to undisclosed cartel threats. Mexican news outlets are reporting that the threats are tied to the Rusos cell of the Sinaloa Cartel planning to attack police buildings.
The warning went out on Monday night, set to take effect Tuesday, advising people to avoid government buildings in Mexicali and to be aware of their surroundings.
While details of the threat are not listed in the warning, news outlets in Mexico are pointing to intercepted communications about the Los Rusos cell of the Sinaloa Cartel planning attacks on the Mexicali police buildings and buildings from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office in that city.
In recent weeks, Mexican federal forces have been active in targeting members of Los Rusos and just last week seized 120 kilograms of fentanyl pills from the criminal group. The Rusos are described as an enforcement wing of the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by Juan Jose “El Ruso” Ponce Felix, an accused drug trafficker wanted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The warning comes at a time when the Baja California region in Western Mexico continues to see high levels of cartel violence as rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel wage a fierce turf war amongst others, as well as with cells of Cartel Jalisco New Generation. Most of the violence in the region has manifested itself in targeted killings and forced disappearances rather than large-scale gunbattles between rival cartel armies.
In response to the warning, the Baja California government issued a statement claiming that local, state and federal police forces were working with Mexican military forces in increasing patrols and enforcement actions in an attempt to dissuade any violence.
The warning in Baja California comes just weeks after the U.S. Department of State issued a similar warning in the state of Michoacan. As Breitbart Texas reported at the time, the threat at that time was linked to Jose “El Abuelo” Farias, whose hideouts had been outed and several of his allies had been arrested in the days prior. At the time, El Abuelo had sought to put a bounty on military forces and U.S. agents targeting him. The move was counterproductive, as the U.S. pulled all its employees from the area, including avocado and citrus inspectors, temporarily freezing a major part of the state’s agricultural economy.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s 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 News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.