Monday, January 21, 2008
Tijuana, Cartel Gunmen and Mexico’s
War against Crime
By Barnard R. Thompson
Even though many of the facts are yet to be known
about the horrendous three-hour gunfight that took place in Tijuana, Baja California, on January 17, when gangsters fired
on police and the military, the Mexican print and electronic media have heightened speculation regarding a story that has
been circulating for days as to who the cutthroats behind the latest upsurge in killings might be.
As the theory goes, on January 5 three agents of Mexico’s
Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI) were accused of kidnapping a Tijuana businessman for ransom and arrested by local authorities. Soon thereafter Tijuana police officers, who had been party to the arrests and detentions,
began to receive death threats – one at least of the officials being a subdivision chief who, along with his deputy,
was then shot dead the night of January 14 by a “commando” team. And
next, in the early morning hours another subdivision chief was gunned down in his home, with his wife and two young daughters
also killed.
Parenthetically, on November 1, 2001 then President
Vicente Fox ordered the creation of the AFI to replace the tainted Federal Judicial Police (PJF). The AFI, which is under Mexico’s Attorney General (PGR), is designed to be a modern and professional
investigative agency, similar to the FBI. According to its official description,
the AFI is an agency that guarantees efficiency and effectiveness in fighting criminal structures and impunity, while helping
to gain an expeditious system of justice.
Back in Tijuana, the community grapevine is that AFI
agents are involved in the kidnappings and other crimes, a taken for granted “fact” that pundits say is being
covered up in order to keep from defiling the name and reputation of the PGR.
Conversely, some of the same commentators acknowledge
that the criminals may be crooks and killers masquerading as police.
Or maybe it’s some of both?
In less speculative actions, the Mexican Army has
suspended the master permit that allows police in Rosarito Beach to carry weapons. This,
according to the Second Military Zone commander General Sergio Aponte Polito, because Rosarito Beach police “are responsible
for most of the robberies and kidnappings from Tijuana to Ensenada.” The
General offered no proof however, acknowledging only that two criminal investigations involving Rosarito Beach police are
underway, in a Frontera newspaper piece (January 11).
Earlier reports cited police involvement in
the commando-like attack on the Rosarito Beach Police Station on December 18, when gunmen using assault weapons tried to
murder security director Jorge Eduardo Montero Alvarez (one of his bodyguards was killed, and three people were wounded).
Subsequently the entire
Rosarito Beach police force was suspended and their weapons seized by the Mexican military for ballistic checks and registry
verification.
With the number of Rosarito
Beach police officers under investigation now pared down to ten, the remainder of the force is back on duty. However, on January 17 the Mexican television evening news reported that a number of the police officers
were refusing to go on patrol unarmed, considering what had taken place in Tijuana earlier in the day. The Rosarito Beach officers also complained about being partnered on patrol with state and federal police,
who they described as arrogant and uncaring in their attitudes and actions towards the people of Rosarito Beach.
Security director Montero,
when first asked about some officers refusing to leave the station, knew nothing about the work stoppage. However in a subsequent interview during the same news broadcast he said that he was working on the problem,
and that he would do everything possible to get the Army to reactivate the requisite weapons permit for local police.
Near week’s end there was a new threat against
the Rosarito Beach police. This when three beheaded doves, adorned with black
ribbons, stuffed with five peso coins and in a plastic bag, were left at the doorway to police headquarters.
(Also see
Crime and Counteroffensives in Baja California, Mexico, by Barnard R. Thompson, MexiData.info, January 14, 2008.)
In closing, as of this writing on January 18 Mexico’s Secretary of Public Security,
Genaro García Luna, said during a Radio Formula interview in Mexico City that organized
crime hit men are betting on a tactic of extreme violence, this following the January 17 gunfight in Tijuana. García told interviewer Joaquín López Dóriga that “the presumed cartel gunmen, first of all, want
to generate intimidation among the people and the police, and to drive authorities back with high-powered [weapons] fire.”
Warning lawbreakers that Mexico will not cower or be intimidated by vicious acts of criminal
violence, García added that authorities in Baja California “will not give ground.”
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Barnard Thompson, editor of MexiData.info, has spent 50 years in Mexico and Latin America, providing multinational clients with actionable
intelligence; country and political risk reporting and analysis; and business, lobbying, and problem resolution services. He can be reached via e-mail at mexidata@ix.netcom.com.
