Tijuana bloodshed continues

Executions continue in Tijuana

Far from Hollywood studios and lounges where execs, stars and their handlers casually discuss movie rights and casting directors, far from a nation captivated by the celebrity interview, the executions continue on the streets of Tijuana.

A few encojibados to start the year, again wrapped in a green blanket, and bound with industrial yellow rope, bound at the knees, and neck laying in the dirt.  Human life returned to the fetal position Another found just before last weekend. 

On Sunday morning, three were murdered in separate incidents, one man executed inside a tattoo shop, another a 'free taxi' driver gunned down in Colonia Libertad, another 31 year old man was murdered outside his apartment complex.  Two were executed on Saturday, in different areas of the city. 

The bodies are anonymous, often without name in the news, and this story is no different.  Their deaths are like a grim Greek chorus that sweeps through the city, through it's streets, the taco stands, the sex shops, funeral parlors...yet they continue.  And they devastate the families, the loved ones, the children, and yet it continues. 

Failures to pay quota, paying the wrong quota, drug debts and blood feuds fuel the violence....families in the retail drug trade cut a bloody path through their communities, the deaths lack cinematic flair lately, a few bullets to the head from a cheap pistol, carried by a young gunmen, maybe paid 10,000 pesos.  As the peso continues to slide in value, so does the value of that payment for human life.  It's about $500.  

Convenience store workers quit behind the counter and take up the task of cleaning Zona Norte of rivals, leaving at least a few targets in the street, before they are captured, displayed, and sent to prison.  Their victims are crumpled on sidewalks bleeding out.  Their employers shrug, and hire another, order more drinks and women for their entourage, in Revolucion bars. 

Sources: AFN Tijuana