VZCZCXRO9641
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS
DE RUEHTM #1275/01 3512359
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 172359Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL TIJUANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9650
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 6594
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHTM/AMCONSUL TIJUANA 2441

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIJUANA 001275 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/TIA/PII, AND MEXICO CITY FOR RSO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC KCRM PINS SNAR MX CASC
SUBJECT: WAR BETWEEN CARTELS FLARES WITH A VENGEANCE: SURGE IN 
VIOLENCE AND SHOOTING INCIDENTS IN TIJUANA 
 
TIJUANA 00001275  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.    (SBU)  SUMMARY AND CG COMMENT:  The relative restraint 
that the two principal organized crime cartels struggling for 
control in Baja have shown for the past half-year was shattered 
this month by an apparent breakdown in the truce between "El 
Teo" and "El Ingeneiro".  The renewed wave of grisly 
assassinations and kidnappings has increasingly dominated the 
headlines of media both in Tijuana and in southern California, 
and the mood among the general population has lapsed back into a 
level of apprehension not seen since 2008.  Police and military 
forces here are visibly tense as they try to keep up with 
multiple homicides every day, some of which are directed against 
their own personnel.  Below is a synopsis of some of the major 
developments compiled by Congen Tijuana's Law Enforcement 
Working Group.  END SUMMARY AND CG COMMENT. 
¶2.    (SBU) U.S. Consulate General Tijuana's Law Enforcement 
Working Group (LEWG) reports recent increased incidents of 
shooting and violent homicides during the last month in the 
Tijuana area.  Mission personnel were not involved in the 
incidents, but some occurred within blocks of Consular 
facilities and where Mission personnel work and live. Provided 
are statistics demonstrating increased violence.  Following are 
details of recent incidents either in close proximity to 
consular facilities and residences, or which indicate challenge 
to host country authorities providing protection to our staff. 
¶3.  (SBU) The crime wave that has hit Tijuana in the last month 
is due to a battle between organized crime cells. This past 
week's surge in homicides included five decapitated, one hanged 
from a bridge over a highway, and various narco-messages found 
with the bodies. Killing by one cartel of a rival cartel's 
members, then retaliation, may have motivated some of the 
killings. For example, one narco-message on decapitated bodies 
indicated that minors should be respected, after prior discovery 
of two dead minors allegedly related to "El Teo" cartel (led by 
Teodor GARCIA-Simental). 
¶4.  (SBU) Tijuana Municipal Police Chief, Gustavo Huerta, 
asserted that the killings this week are due to a power battle 
between drug trafficking cells in the city fighting for the 
`plaza', (control over drug distribution territory of the Baja 
region).  Allegedly, the "El Teo" drug trafficking organization 
has aligned with "El Chapo Guzman", for support to push "El 
Teo's" rival, "El Ingeneiro" out of the Baja plaza.  "El Chapo 
Guzman" is from the "El Mayo" Zamboda cartel which is based in 
the Northeast Mexico region (Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Monterrey). 
"El Chapo Guzman" has established in eastern Baja California, in 
Mexicali, and seeks as his ultimate goal to control the Baja 
region. 
¶5.   (U) In the last 36 hours there have been 18 violent 
homicides.  Since the start of December 2009, sixty-six (69) 
violent homicides have occurred, according to the state level 
attorney's office (PGJE-Procuradurma General de Justicia del 
Estado).  Over the weekend, 12/11-13/2009, there were 26 violent 
deaths. PGJE reported the violent homicides for the year 2009 so 
far are 696, compared to the 2008 total of 849.  The 2007 year 
ended with estimated 335 homicides, before the start of the 
cartel battles in April 2008. 
¶6.   (SBU) On 11/28/2009, at 1316 hours, a notable shooting 
attack was aimed at Mexico military officials.   Military 
personnel were attacked by a group of armed men as they were 
filling up vehicles at a gas station.  Although cartels are 
known for attacking local municipal police and federal 
preventative police (PFP) periodically in Tijuana in drive-by 
street shootings, this incident shows increased boldness as they 
opened-fire on Mexico military in broad daylight.   One soldier 
was injured in the leg, and the attackers withdrew when the 
soldiers fired back at them.  The injured soldier was rushed to 
the hospital, and then taken back to the military base for 
better safety, as follow-on attacks at hospitals are common in 
Tijuana.  An impressive deployment of soldiers and police 
officers raided the surrounding area, and two subjects were 
detained.  Also three vehicles were seized, one of which was 
camouflaged as a fake military vehicle. 
¶7.   (SBU) This daylight attack on military was a presumed 
reprisal as it took place after the detention of six members of 
the "El Muletas" organized crime cell on 11/27/2009.   Six men 
from the crime cell led by alleged drug-trafficker Raydel Lopez 
Uriarte, aka "El Muletas," were arrested in Tijuana in 
possession of a large amount of weapons.  On 10/31/2009, 
Military had also seized several vehicles from this group "El 
Muletas" which were painted "cloned" to look like military 
vehicles, foiling an alleged plot to use the fake military 
vehicles to kill Tijuana Public Safety Security Lt. Col. 
Leyzaola. 
¶8.    (U) At 1100 hours on 11/30/2009, local municipal police 
engaged in a fire-fight near the Centro de Gobierno, Zona Rio 
within one mile of the Tijuana NIV Annex building, and military 
responded to assist.  Six persons were detained and military 
continued to search for more, blocking a major road for over an 
hour.  As a possible related reprisal against police, just after 
 
TIJUANA 00001275  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
midnight on 12/1/2009, an armed group of six persons overcame 
security at a nearby vehicle dealership in Zona Rio, and 
destroyed 37 new municipal police trucks.  The group threw 
Molotov incendiary devices, exploding and setting fire to the 
vehicles, causing total damage.  The new vehicles had been 
recently acquired and were being customized by the dealership 
for the police department, and had already been painted with 
municipal police signs and logos.  The incident was interpreted 
by the business sector as a challenge and direct threat to 
police authority by the cartels, as publically announced the 
next day by the Tijuana Chamber of Commerce president Mario 
Escobedo who stated, "We are at War". 
¶9.    (U) On 12/1/2009, the "Secretary Particular" of the 
anti-kidnapping unit (PGJE-state level attorney's office), Josi 
Luis Vazquez, was killed as he was leaving his office in Playas 
de Tijuana.  He was shot while driving, from a moving vehicle, 
and his vehicle went into a ravine in Playas de Tijuana, the 
impact severing his head. 
¶10.    (U) On 12/2/2009, Mexican Social Security Institute 
(IMSS) union leader in Tijuana, Dr. Iran Cota Cota, was 
kidnapped by an armed group at 2046 hours, from his home and in 
the presence of his family. The kidnappers contacted the 
victim's family demanding a significant ransom for his release. 
On 12/4/2009, more than 1,000 Social Security Institute (IMSS) 
union workers marched to the Baja state government building in 
Zona Rio, demanding the release of their leader. 
 
¶11.   (SBU) On 12/13/2009, Dr. Cota was freed by police after 
being held for eleven days, in good health; and two presumed 
kidnappers were detained.  State Attorney General (PGJE), Rommel 
Moreno, stated that the Anti-Kidnapping agents raided the safe 
house where the doctor was being held in Tijuana, Colonia 
Hipodromo Burocratas. Detainees during their initial testimony 
claimed to have been hired by two inmates from the `Reclusorio 
Sur' prison in Mexico City, and telephone records showed calls 
made from the prison.  Baja Attorney General (PGJE), Rommel 
Moreno, asserted that the ransom demand phone calls made to the 
victim's family were made from inside Reclusorio Sur in Mexico 
City.  The State Attorney confirmed that the main suspect in 
planning the kidnapping is Juan Carlos Avitia Bringas, aka "El 
Software," detained in March 2007 for kidnapping.  RSO notes the 
safe house was in a middle-class neighborhood adjacent to 
Mission Residences. 
 
¶12.    (SBU) On 12/3/2009, the brother of a Tijuana Consulate 
employee was murdered by gunmen in his law office.  The locally 
employed staff member (LES) in the Consulate's fraud prevention 
unit (FPU) was notified that gunmen entered the law office as 
clients seeking a criminal defense attorney, then the 
receptionist heard arguing and shots fired.  This same LES 
employee's father, who was a well-known lawyer and formerly a 
federal police officer (PGR), had been killed by drive-by 
machine-gun fire on 8/8/1986.  RSO notes that one month 
previous, 11/3/2009, another Tijuana LES employee's father, an 
active PGR officer, was shot and killed while driving. 
¶13.    (SBU) On 12/7/2009, an anonymous tip led police to a 
corpse, shot twice in the head, in a parked car within one block 
of the Consular Mission residence neighborhood. 
¶14.    (U) On 12/14/2009, in Tijuana's La Mesa district, at 1740 
hours, a state Ministerial agent driving his car, was injured 
after being shot by drive-by shooters with high-caliber rifles. 
The officer survived and was treated by Red Cross paramedics 
after he drove himself to the medical facility located a block 
away from where he was assaulted.  Tijuana Red Cross 
Coordinator, Fernando Esquer, revealed that in the last four 
days the Red Cross has provided medical assistance to an average 
of eleven people injured by gunshots every 24 hours.   Esquer 
said that the numbers are similar to those by the end of 2008, 
when work `was very heavy for paramedics.' 
¶15.    (U) Today's reporting from the state level attorney's 
office (PGJE-Procuradurma General de Justicia del 
Estado)informed that another Ministerial agent was kidnapped 
from his home in the early hours of 12/17/2009. His whereabouts 
remain unknown. 
¶16.  (SBU) Drug cartel or organized crime groups attacks on 
Mexico municipal level, state, and federal police agencies, and 
now military, have been increasingly bold and visible in the 
last six months in Tijuana.  RSO and Post's law enforcement 
representatives (LEWG) plan to monitor local contact information 
and local law enforcement counterparts for sharing of any 
details of investigations or future threat information. Post 
will continue to monitor developments. 
KASHKETT