Tijuana violence is "El Flaquito" of CAF, against "La Rana" of Sinaloa

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat From Zeta Tijuana 

René Arzate García, "La Rana" Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño, "El Flaco"
 

Translated by "Cruz" for Borderland Beat

The most recent battle between drug dealers has had days with up to 9, 11 and 14 killings in Tijuana. It started since November 15th, when hitmen from a cell belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel at the service of Rene Arzate "La Rana", killed 3 criminal operators belonging to the Arellano Felix Cartel in Rosarito. They belonged to a group of Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño-

On Thursday, November 15th, after 4 pm, the radio station informed that 3 men had been killed by gunfire in Rosarito at a restaurant called Tapanco. Since the beginning, the victims were identified and located as criminals at the service of the Arellano Felix Cartel.

According to the reports by the authorities, Jesus Edgar Ruiz Dominguez has priors since 2012 for smuggling drugs into the US, he was a bodyguard for Pablo Huerta "El Flaquito" and he was arrested for theft. The other, David Leonardo Cardenas Ramirez, had priors for theft between 2005 and 2008 and for possession of a firearm in 2012, which was the year that it was discovered that he was the leader of a cell that distributed drugs in the del Zone Rio (river) in Tijuana, and another arrest in 2014 for selling drugs. Alexy Javier Peinado Leyva, had priors for injuries, damage to private property and for driving under the influence of alcohol.

According to information gathered by the authorities, the victims made periodic trips to and from Mexicali, they had been away from Baja California, they returned on November 11th, and as part of the group another man, a resident of Rosarito was identified, a man by the name of Eric Castellanos. The police found the car and weapons the killers used on the same day of the killings.

"Hitmen working for Rene Arzate "La Rana" killed them, in this case, they are not isolated decisions made by the hitmen, he is the one that is personally controlling the actions of his criminals, he gives electronic instructions all the way from Mazatlan, and he does it to prevent the emergence of local leadership that would decrease his power", was what ZETA was informed.

Although they unofficially investigated the possibility the theft of drugs between the cartels, as far as the motive behind the attacks, the intelligence department a2 the State Security Council did not report a specific situation, "just the fact that they were in Rosarito, for Sinaloa, represents an invasion".

According to data from the Coordination Group, "La Rana" and his people are "bajando"(landing) planes with large shipments of drugs in southern Ensenada and they move it through Rosarito. Currently, he operates independently from his brother, Alfonso Arzate "El Aquiles", who controls -also from Mazatlan- the street-level drug sales in Tijuana and is looking for territorial control in order to facilitate for the cells belonging to Sinaloa, the trafficking through the town.

The people working for Huerta Nuño, who the authorities identified as the leader of a new group of "narco-juniors", knew that they were in the enemy territory even if they also use the town to transport drugs. That is why, Jesús Edgar Ruiz Domínguez, Alexy Javier Peinado Leyva, and David Leonardo Cárdenas Ramírez entered the restaurant to eat armed but it was of little use.

"And the violence by "La Rana's" group, because the main hypothesis in the murder of Alfredo Duarte, deputy police chief in the borough of Primo Tapia, on the afternoon of November 30th, signals that same group. The first clues point to him being killed because the authorities on November 23rd confiscated a clandestine gasoline outlet, some barrels and they searched a cartel house.

"There has been no solid evidence found to date that reveals a relationship between Duarte and some criminal group but unofficial versions indicate that the people belonging to the Sinaloa Cartel were paying protection, and the vengeance was carried out because no one informed them of the operation", was what the source mentioned.

The dispute moved to Tijuana 

Thursday, November 15th was one of the days with fewer killings in Tijuana, 4 victims in 24 hours. That number had elevated to 10 killed on Friday the 16th and on Saturday had reached 12 violent deaths; just this December 4th there was another 12 homicides. "We realized that the situation was changing because the criminals decided to commit the murders without caring that there were police and cruisers close by" detailed a police officer.

Up until December 6th, Baja California amasses 2,924 homicides, of which 2,326 have been carried out in Tijuana, 41 within the first 5 and a half days of this month.

"Is presumed innocent, while responsibility is not declared by the judicial authority. Art. 13, CNPP"

Photos: Courtesy.- In June of last year, the officers captured those who identified themselves as Adrián Raymundo Maciel Juárez, Jesús Alberto Guerra García, Francisco Javier Dadilla Medina and Jesús Alejandro Alvarado Witrón, a the time, were detained in June in the bar known as Mab and were presented under the charges of possession of firearms.

This is how Antonio Sanchez was detained, after trying to kill 3 men -they were injured- at the Rubi Hotel in the North Zone on November 21st. Two other men were detained under similar circumstances, Ángel Rodríguez and Alberto Flores showing up on the criminal organization chart as under the service of the Arellano Felix Cartel, after firing at another man on November 23rd in the same neighborhood.

The authorities captured Ruben Rodriguez Ramos that same week, with priors for kidnapping and drug dealing, in possession of several baggies of meth and 3 molotovs. At the time he was apprehended, he said that they had warned him of the beginning of a strong confrontation between the Arellano and Sinaloa and that they should be ready. A similar version was given by other drug dealers arrested towards the end of November in the North Zone of Tijuana, in La Presa, La Presa Rural and the East side of town, which led Police to modify their patrols and increased the capture of criminals for drug possession.

"To start off, the idea is to avoid them killing and being killed, affecting the criminal incidence", stated a police chief interviewed by this paper.

The untouchable cell of "El Flaquito"

 Currently, the only affectations that the cell of Huerta Nuño is having are the ones caused by the Sinaloa Cartel, even with their operators having been captured repeatedly, the traffickers and hitmen have taken advantage of the benefits of the New Criminal Justice System.

Even though they had been arrested before, it wasn't until after June 5th, 2018 that the members of the Coordination Group identified them as criminals belonging to CAF, after an anonymous citizen reported the presence of armed men in a bar.

Municipal Police elements from Tijuana arrested 4 men as they were fleeing from bar Mab on the strip of subdivision Chapultepec, the same recreation center where on November 21st Salvador Ortega Ruiz "El Reten" was killed -who was in charge of the criminal group that organized the murder of Dr. Angelica Ciani on July 3rd of 2017-, who's homicide was denounced anonymously, with information given by Roque Garcia, one of the leaders of a criminal cell belonging to CAF.

Last June, arrested those who identified themselves as Adrián Raymundo Maciel Juárez, Jesús Alberto Guerra García, Francisco Javier Dadilla Medina and Jesús Alejandro Alvarado Witrón. They confiscated a 223 caliber rifle with a magazine and 3 cartridges; a 38 pistol with a magazine and 6 cartridges; 2 9mm handguns with 2 magazines and 8 cartridges. They were handed over to the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic but they were set free.

During data tracking, Intelligence agents of the Coordination Group realized that 2 of these men had already been arrested and presented before the Federal Public Ministry 2 months prior.

They were apprehended in the neighborhood of Independencia on April 27th, but they gave false names and they were booked under those names. The Approved Police Report states that on that occasion 11 men and 1 woman for the possession of 6 assault rifles, 2 pistols, and a revolver, as well as 11 magazines, 312 cartridges, 6 bulletproof vest and 3 communication radios.

The arrested were identified at the moment as Isaac López Salazar, Jesús Alexis Guerrero Ramos, Ernesto Eleazar Ponce López, Arcadio Valdemar Camarera, Daniel Adrián Sánchez Ángeles, Adrián Contreras Gaytán, Gilberto González, Ángel Ulises Medina Almeida, Erick Bolaños Campos, Jorge Humberto Ochoa Alvarado, Cuauhtémoc Gabriel Saldívar Castellanos and Wendy Rentería.

The most recent capture of members belonging to this cell, data from July 4th, when 8 men were arrested in possession of 3 pistols and a shotgun in the El Chamizal neighborhood. 5 of them had already been arrested in April with weapons: Ochoa Alvarado, Ponce López, Erick Bolaños, Gilberto González and Gabriel Saldívar. The names of Alan Gabriel López, Alfonso Lockbaum Lizárraga and Alfredo Bolaños Campos were added to the list of the criminal group.

All free, because according to NSJP, the crime of firearm possession does not warrant pretrial detention, because they have identified themselves to law enforcement under different names without consequence, and because the Public Ministry has not argued recidivism when presenting the charges before the judges.

BC totals 2,924 executed this year.

Numbers from the Attorney-General of the State reveal up until today there have been 2,924 people murdered, with Tijuana at the helm, with 2,326 victims; followed by Ensenada (243), Mexicali (145), Playas de Rosarito (116) and Tecate (94).

In just one week, an official from the Mexican Social Security Institute was killed in the town of Tijuana and the other received wreath in Mexicali. The motive behind both incidents is unknown. The alert in the institute was generated with the murder of David Mendoza Garcia, then subdelegated of auditing in the area, who was ambushed by unknown men as he was leaving his home in the Santa Fe subdivision in Tijuana. However, the situation changed when a few days after the incident there was an emergency call placed for the safekeeping of another IMSS official but this time in Mexicali. It was pertaining to the person in charge of the subbranch office in Mexicali, Carlos Ignacio Franco Salgado, who -according to authorities- received a wreath at his home. The threatened is hiding in the United States, where he receives special protection on behalf of the authorities.

Tijuana ended November with a total of 201 executed, 6.5% less than in October, meanwhile, up until the close of business today, December climbs to 42 victims.

Here is a recap of the homicides:

Saturday 1. An unidentified male of approximately 40 years of age was murdered with a sharp weapon in Fortin de las Flores. A human head was found inside a cooler in the Emperadores neighborhood. The decaying body of a man which was missing its arms was found; they had written on his abdomen in red the words: "for being a thief". A male cadaver with wires on the neck was found close to the presa El Carrizo. A young man of 25 years of age was executed via gunfire inside a sports club Module 2 in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood.

Sunday 2. 9 people were killed, amongst them: Erick Baez Rios 34, in Infonavit Presidentes; Francisco Rosales Guzman 34, he died later at the General Hospital, and the same happened with Alphonse Joseph 42. Roberto Vargas Adame 36, was executed in El Refugio; Fidencio Zambrano Nuño, in the Batalla Nacional neighborhood; and Jose Antonio Mota Cifuentes 19, in the Pegaso Centenario neighborhood. The rest of the deceased have yet to be identified.

Monday 3. The rotten corpse of a woman was located wrapped in a sack in the 3rd Phase del Rio in the channeling. Jesús Gutiérrez Álvarez 57; José Alfredo García Nieves 48; José Baldemar Rosales Velázquez 30; and Francisco Isabel Angulo Franco 34 all passed away at the General Hospital. All were previously attacked by gunshots. An unidentified male was killed aboard a vehicle in Cumbres del Rubi. A person was found dead due to gunshot wounds in a vehicle that had a pre-complaint in Residencial Del Bosque. The corpses of a man and a woman in a state of putrefaction were found on a dirt road in Baja Malibu.

Tuesday 4. An unidentified male was found dead in El Rubi. A dismembered body was found on a hill in the Cerro Colorado neighborhood. Hugo Daniel Leyva Magaña 20 was killed in Rancho Tres Piedras. The corpse of a man of 30 was located in a plastic bag in Mineral de Santa Fe. Due to a complaint of a bike, 2 men argued and one of them, identified as Luis Enrique Garcia Ramirez 22, died of at least 2 gunshots in the Planicie neighborhood. The severed head of Jesus Anastasio Alzate Garcia 28 was found in Mariano Matamoros. An unknown male of 20 years of age was killed in Paseo Santa Maria. 2 men were arrested on Kirop st. in Villa del Real III neighborhood, borough of La Presa, while they were trying to unload a body. The body of a male was located in Nuevo Milenio. A person was found dead in Niño Artillero. A red suitcase was found in Delicias II, inside were the upper and lower extremities as well as head of a person.

Wednesday 5. Hector Miguel Rodriguez Hernandez 38 along with an unidentified male died at the General Hospital; both had bullet wounds. A body was found in the brush wrapped in a sheet in the Hidalgo neighborhood. The corpse of a 45-year-old female was also found in the previously mentioned neighborhood. Ricardo Gomez Hernandez 40 was killed by a firearm in Tijuana Progreso. There was a shooting reported in the bar La Cueva del Peludo, which as a result had 1 casualty and 1 other injured.

Thursday 6. A severed head was found inside of an abandoned backpack in the Zona Norte.