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| Courtesy El Mexicano |
In their article, "The SSPM insists that narcomenudo is the cause of the killings", El Mexicano reports that Police Chief Alejandro Lares Valladares met with the Comision de Regimen Interno for four hours explaining the actions implemented by the authorities to fight the violence and crime on the streets of Tijuana, a presentation professionally accompanied with video and graphics.
The Chief explained that there are parts of the city under "Operativo Alamo" which engages the Army, Judicial and State Preventative Agents that have shown a reduction in crime. However these areas were neither identified nor were comparative statistics presented (at least to the public at large). It was noted that the strategies of OA are subject to change due to the changing nature of crime.
The Chief explained that it is nearly impossible to control the violent homicides that occur in places which are "closed" - like homes and restaurants. He noted that the authorities have established constant communication to access information out on the streets as well as implementing constant changes within the Police Department by evaluating the Commanders of areas. Those Jefes who do not meet expected results will be dismissed.
The Chief said that for the best results, he will need more resources. Since the report's title inferred that that the Chief once again attributed the narcomenudista (retail drug sales) to the over the top violence in Tijuana, we assume he also made that familiar remark. Interesting comment after this article pertaining to the Commanders in the field.
The presentation to the Comision de Regimen Interno did not exactly go over with a bang and certainly did not convince the members. One member of the Sindico Social, Barnabas Esquer Peraza, has called on Chief Lares to reappear in fifteen (15) days with a better review and results. Otherwise says Esquer Peraza, he has to go.
According to Esquer Peraza there is no strategy or framework for Tijuana's safety and wants to see greater coordination and better results. Prior to this criticism and demand, the Council did give Chief Lares a vote of confidence but now says they have withdrawn their confidence in him - the results so far are not what the citizens want which is peace and quiet in Tijuana. Esquer Peraza added that '...now our families are fearful because the violence has returned to restaurants and public places.'
The Cabildo (Council) is not objecting to allocating resources to the Police Department, but
Esquer Peraza cited at least one negative result - giving the Chief more than one million two hundred thousand pesos to repair the Police Helicopter, but it still doesn't work and now they need a new one. So, the Chief who recently received an award from the FBI (for the arrest of El Veneno) and gave a presentation in D.C. regarding El Bordo is under the microscope. But ultimately it will be the Mayor who will have to dismiss him, and right now Chief Lares says he is not worried.
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The end of the "narcomenudista" mantra?
Zeta has come out and said what many people have been thinking for months and what Zeta has been questioning the authorities about for over a years time (actually almost two and a half years time) - is the CJNG in Baja California?
According to Zeta it is the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG who are fighting for territory in the city of Tijuana which accounts for the high rate of violence. This following article overlaps just some of the violent episodes covered on this blog, plus adds more with more details which I haven't been able to keep up with. (Squirrel funerals, etc.)
The article also reports impunity, the toll taken on public restaurants where killings have taken place, the lack of arrests, innocent bystander victims, corruption, and a comparative analysis of executions this year's month of August to 2014.
Most importantly an example of the lack of confidence in the authorities as expressed by Esquer Peraza as enabling unhealthy and downright scary speculation: - One person saying to me today, "...do you think these are really extrajudicial killings?" The answer is plainly stated:
"Again Tijuana is the territory of a bloody war between cartels. Sinaloa against the Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG)"
ZETA TIJUANA
Asesinato en Comecios
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Still many questions have been left unanswered:
- Will there be spill over violence in the other Municipalities as we saw during the Sinaloa-CAF conflict - or is it already happening ?
- What became of the CAF and El Melvin's boys ? Did they form an alliance with the CNJG or are they gone? I know it sounds like a dumb question but the thirteen narco mantas displayed last spring signed by the CNJG and the so-called New Tijuana Cartel - the authorities told us those were fakes. In March and April last spring, Zeta reported these battles were between the CAF and Sinaloa with hostilities even within the Sinaloa cartel.
- How much longer will this war between the Sinaloa Cartel and the CNJG last - what kind of a time frame can we expect ?
- Who controls either cartel operations in our region ? New faces and personalities?
- Who killed El Mono ? And, did he approve of this CAF-CJNG alignment prior to being executed or did he disapprove? How about El Melvin's brother ?
- Who will the big money promoters and investors side with, the Mexican authorities who call this a fight between narcomenudistas or Zeta's expertise?
- Who's winning right now - Sinaloa or CJNG ?
- Is there any possibility that Sinaloa and CJNG might even merge somewhere down the line?
- Will the US MSM report Zeta's observation - or totally ignore it ?
- Are either the US or Mexican governments involved as cooperators or collaborators with the Sinaloa cartel ? Or, for that matter - other cartels ?
- Oh here's a good one - is the San Diego media still manipulating the internet and pushing only their news of Tijuana and Mexico ? If this is true, why are they doing that ? Many people thought matters like this would have improved after the LA Times bought out the SD Union.
- Will Mexican journalists who cover these violent war events reporting point blank that this is a war between the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG to the chagrin of the Mexican authorities be branded - in American terms as "Unprivileged Belligerents?" (or worse)
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UPDATE/edit 08/28 7:35PM:
On 08/27 Frontera reported there are 416 dead in the city of Tijuana alone. This is the official number from January 1 through August 27, 2015 and does not include the numbers from the other Municipalities. Frontera compares this 416 number in one months time to past years . This number includes the one man shot and killed in colonia Canadas del Florido II (La Presa) where 38 (!) shell casings were found at the scene. Same night (Wednesday) one man wounded by gunfire in Sanchez.
end edit.
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