The Arellano Flix family has seven brothers: They also have four sisters, of whom Alicia and Enedina are most active in the cartel's affairs. Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, the founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, was arrested in 1989. A member of the National Guard stands watch over the Gran Tenochtitlan neighborhood of Tijuana. They have a lot of soldiers who are vicious, loyal, and effective. Bloodbath predicted if Sinaloa Cartel boss detained or killed Ruiz was wanted in connection with several murders including a double-homicide last July where the victims were . If there was a concern, the cartel pivoted and used the. Yet Farfn-Mndez questioned whether increased military force was the answer, and she pushed back against the focus on cartels. Vicente Zambada: Prison releases signal the return of Mexico's drug One man was found tied by his feet while the other two were hung by the neck. At the beginning of season 3, Sinaloa is inarguably the worst-performing organization among all four major cartels active in Mexico. Mexico cartels: Which are the biggest and most powerful? - BBC News [17], Despite being a shell of what it once was in the early 2000s along with the capture of several top suspected members of the Tijuana Cartel, the group appears to retain significant control in the state of Baja California.[18]. When hes not working - and even sometimes when he should be - Gustavo is surfing on both sides of the border. The Tijuana Cartel failed in its goal of killing Guzman, but Guzman would be arrested in hiding in Guatemala, and he was accused of the murder of the cardinal. Both Los Viagras and the Cartel del Abuelo have profound strategic advantages over the CJNG, which include a deep knowledge of the land and loyalty among the local population. [20][21], The Tijuana Cartel has infiltrated the Mexican law enforcement and judicial systems and is directly involved in street-level trafficking within the United States. El 24 de noviembre de 1993, seis meses despus del Intento de homicidio contra Joaqun Guzmn Loera, los sicarios del Crtel de Tijuana intentan asesinar a Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias El Seor de los Cielos y lder del Crtel de Jurez, en el restaurante Ochoa Bali-Hai de la Ciudad de Mxico. Members of the National Guard patrol a beach in Playas de Tijuana on August 16. And theYucatn Peninsula is an increasingly popular zone for drug shipments moving in by land, sea and air. The gang war was marked by several gang shootings, bombings, and atrocities, and it was brough to an end in 2002 when the Tijuana leaders were taken down by both the Sinaloa Cartel and law enforcement. When the second season of 'Narcos: Mexico' ends, Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo (Diego Luna) is in jail and his Guadalajara Cartel has splintered into three independent cartels: the Tijuana Cartel under the leadership of the Arellano family; the Sinaloa Cartel controlled by Chapo (Alejandro Edda), Palma (Gorka Lasaosa), and Azul (Fermn Martnez); and the Jurez [] Mexican authorities claim El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel was behind the killings after video footage showed them interrogating rival members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (JNGC) days earlier. Six people have been arrested in the week since, according to the president. They try to rule through brutality, by being more brutal than anyone else, she said. And thats by design. Please support our mission investigating organized crime. Guzman proceeded to anger them by trafficking drugs through their territory without informing them or giving them a cut of the action. These battles for territorial control have caused violence to flare up. Founded by the Arellano-Flix family, the cartel once was described as "one of the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico". [9] However, since the 2006 Sinaloa Cartel incursion in Baja California and the fall of the Arellano-Flix brothers, the Tijuana Cartel has been reduced to a few cells. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR Now there is another battle. Zaoona zostaa przez siedmiu braci Arellano Flix. A member of the National Guard stands watch over the Gran Tenochtitlan neighborhood of Tijuana. hide caption. "Puerto Vallarta is completely theirs," Balderas said. According to Balderas, pockets of resistance to the CJNG still remain in certain municipalities of Guanajuato, such as Villagrn, but these are not believed to be highly strategic for organized crime groups. [10] This alliance has since dwindled as the Tijuana, Jalisco New Generation, and Sinaloa cartels all now battle each other for trafficking influence in the city of Tijuana and the region of Baja California. We go into the field to interview, report and investigate. But the CSRL has been severely weakened by repeated government assaults, and the CJNG has managed to seize control of criminal economies in these three states, although not without spilling blood. There cannot be one single dominant criminal actor in a country as politically, economically and criminally diverse as Mexico. Despite attempted shows of strength on the fringes of the Golden Triangle, this remains the part of Mexico where the CJNG lacks any real influence. The region of Tierra Caliente, covering parts of the states of Michoacn, Guerrero and the State of Mexico, is home to arguably Mexico's most complex criminal panorama. Its battles against a Zetas splinter group, known as the Old School Zetas (Zetas Vieja Escuela), have ended in massacres. Investigators say the attack was carried out by Los Salazar, a Sonoran-based criminal group affiliated with Los Chapitos, the sons of infamous Sinaloa Cartel drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.The people they targeted worked under Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano ('El Omega'), a local drug kingpin. Tijuana streets flow with the blood of rival drug cartels To comprehend whats happening now, you need to understand the history of the Mexican cartels, said David Shirk, director of the Justice in Mexico program at the University of San Diego. But to date, it still appears to have less influence there than rivals such as Los Salazar, a powerful cell of the Sinaloa Cartel, andLa Lnea, an increasingly powerful faction of theJurez Cartel. It begins in the 1970s with the Guadalajara Cartel. Police stand guard as people take part in the peaceful rally outside the military base. As a result, the Tijuana Cartel reversed their branding back to Cartel Arellano Flix and arranged the assassination of Cabo 33 the Jalisco Cartel's head of operations in Baja California, after effectively removing the Jalisco Cartel's influence in Baja California the Tijuana Cartel has further engaged the Sinaloa Cartel for control of Tijuana plaza and its surrounding areas. And even then, it wont be a lasting peace. Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garca, the man many believe to have the most control over the Sinaloa cartel, has spent five decades in the drug trade.While El Chapo is widely described as the cartel's leader, that notion obscures the fact that Sinaloa operates more like a federation with multiple leaders who form something analogous to a board of directors. Here, InSight Crime zeroes in on the main regions in which CJNG operates and the resistance they face: In the Golden Triangle -- a crucial drug-producing region composed of the states of Sinaloa and Durango, as well as large parts of Chihuahua -- the Sinaloa Cartel continues to be the major criminal player. [50] In its most successful era of drug distribution, the Arellano-Felix Organization was solely responsible for a significant portion of the cocaine distribution to the United States. And the people just walk past and come out with bags full of drugs. Pea is tapping into a sentiment felt by many. Could more local solutions work. In June 2020, reports emerged that the CJNG might be making further incursions into Tamaulipas through an alliance with Los Metros, a rising faction of the Gulf Cartel. With such sophisticated precautionary measures, the Arellano-Felix brothers proved difficult to counter. El Ingeniero), focused primarily on drug trafficking. Presumably one of the criminal groups of a coalition could win, Felbab-Brown said. Furthermore, the city has numerous smaller street gangs, whichcontrol much of the microtrafficking. U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez also imposed a $50,000 fine. Yet, a couple of things are clear. When these groups weakened and fractured, it took years for another criminal organization to assert control over this strategic zone. [15] With the arrest of El Teo in January 2010, much of his faction was eliminated from the city of Tijuana; some of its remains went off and joined with the Sinaloa Cartel. Now, the Old School Zetas have a presence in only certain municipalities such as Coatzacoalcos andMinatitln, but Veracruz's strategic points are held by the CJNG. Cartel henchmen set up roadblocks throughout Baja California and the government imposed a curfew. There is no way to know for sure whether the recent violence is a sign of things to come or if it was an outlier, the experts say. The US Treasury Department has included on its blacklists various businesses connected to the cartel in the city. Chihuahua City, where the old Juarez cartel now known as La Linea is trying to expel Sinaloa cartel proxy Gente Nueva, had a higher murder rate with 42.87. They try to buy off government officials to amass political influence and offer free food and social programs to poor communities. Mexico Travel Advisory - United States Department of State In the aftermath, the Guadalajara Cartel split into three different criminal organizations that controlled different territories in Mexico, he said. Body count from drug cartel wars earns Mexican cities - BorderReport Grupa pocztkowo bya potna, obecnie mocno osabiona przez ataki si rzdowych i konkurencyjnych karteli. The president downplayed recent violence and said the Mexican National Guard is taking care of the issue. Shiny SUVs rest curbside. Boca Del Rio Massacre- On september 20, 2011, gunmen from Los Matazetas working at the time under orders of the Sinaloa Cartel dumped the tortured bodies of 35 men and women along a city highway in Boca Del . In Baja. Tijuana has seen a methamphetamine-fuelled murder epidemic which produced a record 2,518 murders in 2018 and looks set to cause even more this year. The cartel and its origins have also been portrayed in the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico. [32], In February 2020, senior cartel operator Octavio Leal Hernandez, also known as "Chapito Leal," was arrested with seven others by Tijuana police for stealing cars from a used-car dealership at gunpoint and possessing marijuana.[33][34]. Their brother, Francisco, is arrested by Walt Breslin, which, combined with other events, prompts Enedina to launch attacks against all their enemies. Areas predominantly controlled by the Tijuana Cartel shown in purple, List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords, "El crtel de los Arellano Flix contina: PGJE", "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border", "Violence the result of fractured arrangement between Zetas and Gulf Cartel, authorities say", "Femme Fatale Kidnapper Of CAF Members Has Appeal Denied In US Court", "Los Cabos Leave Ice Chests With Remains and Threats for CAF in Snchez Taboada, Tijuana", "Mexican drug runners may have used C-130 from Arizona", "Expert Says Weakened Sinaloa Cartel Under Attack by Rivals", "Mexico: The Price of Peace in the Cartel Wars", "Tijuana's New Calm Shows Benefits of Local Policing in Mexico", "Leyzaola pact con los rivales de El Teo", "Tijuana Cartel Survives, Despite Decade-Long Onslaught", "Why the Jalisco Cartel Does Not Dominate Mexico's Criminal Landscape", "History of DEA Operations DEA History", "Asesinan a Francisco Rafael Arellano Flix en Los Cabos", "The Business Arellano-Felix Cartel Drug Wars FRONTLINE PBS", "Mexican Drug Cartels: Government Progress and Growing Violence", "U.S. charges top leaders of Tijuana-based drug cartel", "DTO 101: The Arellano Felix Organization", Mexican drug cartel boss Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellano nabbed, "Mexico captures US-born Tijuana drug lieutenant (July 11, 2011)", "Mexican troops arrest Tijuana drug cartel boss", "Tijuana's Uneasy Peace May Endure Despite Arrests", "Arellano Flix cartel operator "El Chapito Leal" arrested in Tijuana", "Tension high in Tijuana following the arrest of "El Chapito" Leal - the San Diego Union-Tribune", "Mexico's Drug Cartels (CRs Report for Congress)", "Latest drug tunnel, pot seizures may reflect rise of Sinaloa cartel", "Captured Tijuana Cartel Boss Confirms Sinaloa Truce", "DEA CONFIRMS CAPTURE OF BENJAMIN ARELLANO-FELIX", "Mexico home to record 1,400 drug-related deaths in April", "Mexico cartel boss Arellano Felix jailed for 25 years", "Eduardo Arellano-Felix Extradited from Mexico to the United States to Face Charges", "Mexican officials warn Americans to stay away", "Sources: U.S. informant oversaw killings", "Juarez murders shine light on an emerging "Cartel in California", "Sources: La Historia de Los Arellano Felix", "Last of Tijuana cartel's Arellano Felix brothers jailed", "Business - The Arellano-Felix Organization | Drug Wars | FRONTLINE | PBS", "Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations", "Tijuana new Generation of Cartel "New Tijuana Cartel", Fatal Shooting in Logan Heights May Have Been Gang-Related - San Diego, California News Station - KFMB Channel 8 - cbs8.com, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tijuana_Cartel&oldid=1131119244, Luis Fernando Arellano Flix (believed to be born 26 January 1966) not currently wanted, This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 17:10. Its like shadow puppetry. Crtel de Sinaloa - Wikipedia A man believed to be the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Tijuana was arrested in the border city on Tuesday. However, its control has not gone uncontested. GTA-based Sinaloa cocaine cartel manager granted full parole "Federal authorities say there was no terrorism, but we say we had terrorism here in Tijuana," he told NPR. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article. SEE ALSO: The Slow Death of Mexico's Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. This criminal organization is responsible for the transportation, importation, and distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana, as well as large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine.[22]. Los Pelones, for example, are dedicated to extorting tourist businesses. Unfortunately, what we have seen over the past 10 to 15 years is a lot of repetition of the same go-to strategies, which consists largely of military deployment, said Stephanie Brewer, Director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA. Wage theft is commonplace in San Diego. Today, the CJNG appears to have done so but at a terrible cost. According toscar Balderas, a Mexican journalist and expert in organized crime, Tamaulipas is divided between the Northeast Cartel (Cartel del Noreste)and the New Blood Zetas (Zetas Sangre Nueva), as well as the remnants of the Gulf Cartel. The Guadalajara Cartel had sole control of drug trafficking in Mexico until members killed a DEA agent in the 1980s, Shirk said. As a result of these efforts, the Tijuana cartel is unable to project much power outside of its base in Tijuana. One mother at the rally outside the military base said violence had become a part of life in the region, but the scale of the attack last week still surprised her. El Crtel de Tijuana - Los Arellano Flix - febrero 2023 - Narcos Famosos 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. It's easy for politicians to say the violence is just gangs fighting each other, she said, when there were other indicators of problems like homicides being more common in poorer neighborhoods, and rates remaining stubbornly high for women. The war between the Sinaloa and Tijuana cartels may have set the stage for later wars between the Beltrn Leyva and Zetas crime syndicates, but it was the first great narco conflict. hide caption. But, for those who study the cartels, the actions were part of an all-too-familiar pattern. How a DEA agent tracked a town's fentanyl crisis to the Sinaloa cartel The squad discovered that Benjamin Arellano Felix was hiding at a safehouse in Puebla with his henchman Charalito, and Conrado Higuera Sol - now operational director of the federal police - oversaw the operation that led to Arellano Felix's capture. Quin es Eduardo Arellano Flix, lder del cartel de Tijuana que SAN DIEGO - An indictment was unsealed today in federal court charging 60 members of a San Diego-based international methamphetamine distribution network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel with drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms offenses. En Bolavip te decimos quines sern los futbolistas que protagonizarn el partido de este domingo 26 de febrero entre Xolos de Tijuana vs Pachuca por la Jornada 9 de la Primera Divisin de . After Archbishop Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo is killed in a shootout between the two cartels, the Mexican and US governments form a joint task force to fight the cartels. TheSinaloa-Tijuana war was a bloody gang war fought between the rival Sinaloa and Tijuana Mexican drug cartels in the states of Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Jalisco, Guerrero, Michoacan, and Oaxaca from 1989 to 1993 and from 2001 to 2002. El Teo) favored kidnappings. Thats when the U.S. pressured Mexican leaders to go after them. Its front line runs through Tijuana, the gateway to San Diego and the. Control was difficult as the Arellano-Felix Organization focused on strategic coordination, protection, and security. The fact that a cartel was able to bring Tijuana to a standstill by burning a few buses and blocking off roads makes the government look weak, experts said. And on Friday, Mexico's President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador visited and gave a national address from a military base, flanked by senior defense officials. The Tijuana cartel was further weakened in August 2006 when its chief, Javier Arellano Flix, was arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard on a boat off the coast of Baja California. Their protection strategy and preparations have been described as "paramilitary in nature" by Mexican enforcement officials. Toya Sarno Jordan for NPR It's not for lack of trying. We want to sustain Latin Americas largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources. "I think we should really abandon these narco narratives that, even though they can be very sexy and very appealing, do very little in serving us to understand why is it that a place like Tijuana has not been able to reduce levels of violence," she said. [28] Fernando Sanchez Arellano was arrested by Mexican police in June 2014. Guzman told his followers (including the Juarez Cartel and his Sinaloa Cartel men) that those who did not stand with the federation stood against it, and that the federation would monopolize all criminal enterprises in the country. September 8, 2021 2794 The internal differences of the Sinaloa Cartel, between El Mayo Zambada and the sons of Chapo Guzmn, exploded in a border town of Baja California and Sonora. There is no region where the CJNG can be said to enjoy total dominance but there are zones where it has consolidated its position as the most powerful criminal actor. Below are some of the most brutal murders or gun battles that Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel has been responsible of played a major role in. This mother says violence has sadly become expected for residents of Tijuana. El Crtel de Tijuana y El Crtel del Golfo. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador addressed last weeks violence during a pre-scheduled visit to Tijuana Friday. His downfall ended the war between the two cartels. On 8 November 1992, several Sinaloa Cartel hitmen in police uniforms massacred several Tijuana Cartel members and partygoers at the Christine nightclub in Puerto Vallarta, where Benjamin Arellano Felix was having his birthday party. InSight Crime believes that this could explain why the Sinaloa cartel has left Snchez Arellano as the figurehead, since it might be too costly for El Chapo financially and politically to make a final push. "I think these events should encourage us to really think seriously, precisely about what are these structural conditions that allowed this violence to take place.