On Aug 12, 2022, the calls started coming into the police station shortly after sunset. Criminals had stolen a public bus and set it on fire. Then they stole a taxi, and then another bus. Within minutes, flaming vehicles were all over the city, paralyzing traffic and even shutting down the border. By midnight, 42 vehicles were aflame. The culprits used social media to spread their message: “We’re the Jalisco New Generation cartel. We don’t want to hurt good people, but it’s best they don’t go outside. We’re going to attack anyone we see on the streets these days.” The gang was sending the message that they control Tijuana and don’t want the government interfering in their operations.
Tijuana had over 1,900 homicides last year, making it the deadliest city in North America. (Chicago, America’s deadliest city, had 723 homicides though it has a half-million more people). When the fentanyl trade shifted from China to Mexico a few years ago, Tijuana became its most prolific hub, leading to turf wars and a soaring homicide rate. Justice is largely non-existent—only about 2% of homicides are solved, and it can take weeks to get a search warrant—long enough for drugs to be moved and culprits to flee. Each month, thousands of pounds of confiscated drugs are taken from a storage warehouse to the desert and burned; the warehouse is refills quickly. Traffickers will often commit a crime, be arrested and then released.
In Tijuana, cartels rival the city government in power. In principle, this should not be the case—a chiefdom (cartel) is inherently weaker than a nation-state (government). This situation only happens when there is rampant corruption, a lack of state institutions, and a general insouciance toward rule-of-law. Mexico’s progress depends upon it establishing a foundation that can bring its errant elements under control.
Interestingly, things work when officials want it to, even in Tijuana. When the US became interested in the death of a journalist, Mexican authorities suddenly found the killer. When internal pressure to perform replaces external pressure, Mexico will have moved forward.
Source:
Kevin Sieff, “Three Worlds Overlap in Tijuana,” Washington Post, 18 December 2022, A1; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/tijuana-mexico-fentanyl-crime/
Tom Schuba and Andy Grimm, “In Chicago, a Year of Few Shootings and Murders but Little Sense of Being Safer, WBEZ, 30 December 2023, accessed from https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-sees-fewer-shootings-in-2022-but-still-feels-unsafe/6a14e601-f5dc-4aad-8027-f39a6fac8d87
“Tijuana Population 2023,” World Population Review, accessed on 17 January from https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/tijuana-population
“About Chicago,” Chicago city government, accessed on 17 January 2023 from https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/about/facts.html
Photo: Mexico News Daily
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