Is Tijuana Going to Lose Another Police Chief?

By Matt Bowler
San Diego, CA March 21, 2011

On this week's Tijuanapress.com Week In Review

A cable Wikileaks about Tijuana
Murder on the rise in March.
Tijuana is going to Lose Another police chief?
And a special interview about Tijuana's business or tourism

View cable 09TIJUANA732, POLICE MURDERS SHOW THE DIFFIUCLTY OF BRINGING DOWN THE DRUG


R 141729Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL TIJUANA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9011
INFO ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY MEXICO
AMCONSUL TIJUANA
216573
2009-07-14 17:29:00
09TIJUANA732
Consulate Tijuana
CONFIDENTIAL

R 141729Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL TIJUANA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9011
INFO ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY MEXICO
AMCONSUL TIJUANA

C O N F I D E N T I A L TIJUANA 000732

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/14/2019
TAGS: SNAR KCRM MX
SUBJECT: POLICE MURDERS SHOW THE DIFFIUCLTY OF BRINGING DOWN THE DRUG
CARTELS IN TIJUANA

CLASSIFIED BY: Amy Radetsky, Econ , Pol/Econ, State.
REASON: 1.4 (b)

¶1. (C) The evening of July 6, two municipal police officers,
one from Tijuana and one from Rosarito, were killed and a third
policeman was injured in four separate attacks by presumed drug
traffickers (a fourth police officer escaped unharmed). One of
the bodies was found with a note threatening to kill five
additional police officers each day until Tijuana Municipal
Secretary for Public Security Julian Leyzaola resigns. The
next day, another police officer, the partner of the injured
officer, was killed while keeping guard outside the Red Cross
facility where her partner was being treated. (Post has no
information regarding additional policemen being killed after
July 7). Drug traffickers also sent a message over police
radio offering one million dollars for Leyzaola's head
(literally). Leyzaola has publicly insisted he will not step
down in the face of threats.

¶2. (C) Attacks against municipal police are not uncommon in
Baja California, particularly in Tijuana, and are usually
assumed to be linked to the victim's own involvement in drug
trafficking or, sometimes, their refusal to be corrupted.
However, in the July 6-7 incidents, like another attack in April
2009 in which 13 police officers died, the victims seem to have
been randomly selected, and the attacks appeared to be
coordinated and aimed at sending the message that the cartels -
and not the city's political leadership - control the municipal
police force.

¶3. (C)The attacks on municipal police, at first glance, seem
odd considering that the large numbers of arrests of cartel
members and drug seizures have not been the work of city police
but rather the Mexican Army, the State Preventative Police, and,
to a lesser extent, the Federal Police (PFP). However, the
dueling factions of the AFO which still operate in Tijuana and
Rosarito rely on the cooperation and protection of local law
enforcement. Since coming to office six months ago, Leyzaola
has fired a number of policemen with links to AFO lieutenant "El
Teo", and the April and July police killings are likely a
reaction to these efforts. Moreover, according to ARSO-I
contacts, Leyzaola, a former military man, has tipped off the
Army prior to its arrests of AFO members (an additional eight
AFO members linked to "El Teo" were arrested by the Army July
8.) Killing municipal police - a much softer target than the
well-armed convoys of military and federal police that patrol
city streets - was an easy way for "El Teo" to express his
anger.

¶4. (C) It is tempting to see Leyzaola as the good guy
fighting the corrupting influence of the drug cartels, and he
does indeed seem intent on modernizing the Tijuana police
force, and no one has suggested that Leyzaola himself is
corrupt. Unfortunately, though, the picture is a bit murkier.
According to some Post contacts, Leyzaola has gone after "El
Teo's" allies with such enthusiasm only because he made a "look
the other way" agreement with one of "El Teo's" rivals within
the AFO. He may believe that the only way to bring peace to
the city is to defeat the undisciplined "El Teo" faction in
favor of the faction which he believes will be more discreet in
conducting its business.

HAAS

Cable 09TIJUANA732 appears in this article: Leyzaola negotiated with El Teo's Rivals
(Leyzaola pactó con los rivales de El Teo)