Living in Hell: "Pueblo Magico" Tecate, Baja Ca Thanks to CJNG

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Zeta

    Tecate BC: CJNG leader and assassins prison sentences will add up to 214 years in convictions

The six members of his cell of assassins, "El Felipillo", "El Chato", "El Chabelo", "El Nata", "El Coyac" and "El Vaca", with this purge the sentences together with those of "El Fer ",  result in 214 years in prison.

Zeta Investigations:

With the arrest of Fernando "El Fer" Rada Paco, identified as the leader of the cell of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel in Tecate, Baja California, state authorities managed to identify various people linked to the criminal group. "El Fer" Rada Paco is credited with at least 26 homicides, now serving a sentence of 83 years in prison.

The Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, CJNG, is the first cell to dispute the control that Sinaloa has maintained for years in the designated "Pueblo Magico" of Tecate, Baja California and a cell has been dismantled by the PGJE after they committing a series of kidnappings and homicides. 

Between 2016 and 2018, Jalisco maintained the struggle for the plaza for the sale and distribution of drugs, mainly crystal meth. Thus it filled the city with executed victims, burned bodies and severed heads; the murders reached historical figures, with 228 intentional homicides in that period. The general population has called this time period: "Living in Hell". 

Along with his assassins , Fernando "El Fer" Rada Paco committed at least 26 homicides in Tecate in two years, according to authorities. The leader of the CJNG cell was in charge of supervising the sale and distribution of drugs in the municipality, this under the orders of Javier López Ríos ,"Torbellino", but also with orders to assassinate those who were his rivals, as well as those who had stolen packages or loads of drugs.

"El Fer"  kidnapped his victims with a vehicle, forced them to climb in and when he reached a little traveled road, he executed them with a Cuerno de Chivo, ie, an AK47. In other cases, the murdered  ended up being burned or decapitated.

For one of these kidnappings and homicides, the State General Attorney's Office of the Municipality of Tecate achieved one of the highest sentences in the common jurisdiction in Baja California, 83 years and nine months in prison against Rada Paco, also linked to the criminal process  for another homicide. While the prosecutor's office integrates other investigative files for deaths and kidnappings, his sentence could increase by 20 to 50 years.

"Pueblo Magico", Tecate, Baja California, the only Mexican border town that has been granted that status. The "Pueblo Magico" federal program has recently been annulled. It was a program designed to spruce up towns, ie pueblos, to attract tourism. It is a program about 10 years old (approx)

                                                 Also home of the Tecate Beer Brewery   

The public hearings that were held for almost two years in the criminal courts of Tecate allowed Justices to hear the voice of witnesses and the Public Prosecutor's Office learned how one of these murders occurred and to know more about the operation of the CJNG.

The Story of "El Neto": Stealing of Meth plus an Arsenal = Death

The bad streak that Ernesto "El Neto" went through for days ended with his death. His father was brutally beaten, police seized his vehicle and arguments with his girlfriend became more frequent.

But the root of these problems came back to almost three months before his murder, perpetrated by "El Fer" Fernando Rada Paco on March 3, 2017.

Accompanied by an accomplice, "El Neto" Ernesto Zatarain Cisneros entered an address in the Rincón Tecate neighborhood, which was used as a warehouse by the CJNG.

Together they stole several tambos, ie barrels, filled with methamphetamines, as well as two AK47s, a 22-caliber revolver, a shotgun and a 9-millimeter pistol.

The criminals sold part of the drugs and weapons. With the money he got, the 27-year-old "El Neto" bought a 1990 Honda Accord car , but almost all the profits went to the purchase of meth ounces that he quickly consumed with his partner and friends.

However, the house where the drugs and weapons were kept had surveillance cameras installed and captured the moment of the theft. For the traffickers it was easy to identify Ernesto "El Neto". He had a large mole on his forehead, almost in the middle of his eyebrows.

The cell in the charge of "El Fer" Rada Paco began to ask among the criminals in the area if they knew someone with that characteristic, that's how the identity of "El Neto" came about.

This led the assassins to the home of Ernesto Zatarain Altamirano, the father of his target, where "El Neto" had moved after separating from his wife and losing his job.

The assassins came to the house located on XIII Ayuntamiento. They started hitting the 46-year-old man and asking him about the stolen drugs and his son. The father said he did not know anything, but the assassins found the barrels with the drugs and took them away. With a fractured arm, the man managed to escape, but not before being warned that his son would be done in by CJNG.

"El Neto" also heard the threat, because he arrived at the house while his father was being tortured. After hearing blows and insults, he peeked through a hole and observed the armed and hooded commando, and fled for his life.

Ernesto did not spend another night in that house. One of his friends, nicknamed "El Nelo", rented him a room in his house, on Cuitláhuac street of the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood, where he lived for a few months with his girlfriend.

Days before his death, "El Neto" tried to sell his car, but ended up in a fight with the potential buyer. Then after he suffered a car chase with his girlfriend he began to carry a knife to defend himself.

However, on February 28, municipal police detained him in his vehicle for not respecting a stop sign. Ernesto not only lost his vehicle, the agents found him the knife when he was searched, they sent him to municipal jail where he stayed until he was released on March 3, 2017, the same day he was murdered.

Unofficial versions indicate that from the inside of the Municipal corporation, notice was given of his departure to those who sought it.

Early on Friday, March 3, "El Neto" arrived at the room he was renting and after asking a pair of shoes from his girlfriend, he left and returned in the afternoon. At 1pm, while Ernesto was eating a soup that his girlfriend had prepared for him, he noticed a white Honda truck was parked in front of the house.

Two men got out of the car.  "El Neto's" girlfriend recognized "El Fer", who was accompanied by two more men, one who did not get out of the car and another who stayed on the sidewalk watching with a long gun..

With an AK-47 rifle in hand, "El Fer" opened the gate toward the house, walked through the courtyard and reached the couple. "You are ''El Neto''?", the hit man asked; recalled the victim's girlfriend -who was a witness in the case.

Ernesto said no, but "El Fer" insisted until he got a yes. "You really over did it," Rada Paco answered and took his victim by force.

                                        The place where the victim was kidnapped from

The body of  "El Neto" Zatarain Cisneros was found 17 kilometers away from where he was violently taken, behind the Rancho Ojai in Ejido El Encinal. He had half his face disfigured by the eleven shots he received. His relatives recognized him at the facilities of the Forensic Medical Service, when they heard from his girlfriend how he had been kidnapped.

The Victims of "El Fer" and his CJNG Cell:

On June 10, 2017, the State Preventive Police complied with the arrest warrant against Fernando "El Fer" Rada Paco in the Villa Fontana subdivision in Tijuana, where he lived.

The General Deputy Attorney General of the State of Tecate Zone had obtained the arrest warrant from May 30, 2016, after collecting testimonials and test data to verify the participation of Rada Paco in the kidnapping and murder of "El Neto".

What followed was a process of one year and nine months until the conviction of the hit man. Despite hiring different private attorneys for his defense, "El Fer" Rada Paco was found guilty of the crime of aggravated kidnapping.

On April 2, 2018, the judge in charge of the sentence sentenced the 33-year-old man to 83 years and nine months in prison, as well as to pay a fine of 962,497 pesos to the victim's mother for repair of damage to their dwelling.  Since then, he is interned in Cereso "El Hongo".

Shortly after "El Fer" was arrested, the father of "El Neto" was murdered. On July 7, 2017, the body of the man was found on the street 13 de Septiembre in Colonia XIII Ayuntamiento, where he lived. At the scene eight .223 caliber casings and five 9 mm casings were found.

Second Case against "El Fer" plus Open Investigations:

The other criminal case that Rada Paco is currently facing is for the murder of Miguel Ángel Celaya Guevara, found dead on March 5, 2017, only days after "El Neto".

The 40-year-old man received three of six shots that were fired from an AK47. He was attacked on  Mercedes street of the Colonia Sandoval colony, but he managed to make it alive to the General Hospital, where he subsequently died.

Among other homicides related to "El Fer", include the sub commander of the Tecate Municipal Police, Aaron Reyes Herrera, and José Alfredo Pereira González, sicario/ hitman of the Sinaloa Cartel whose head was left ten meters from the house of the director of Public Security of Tecate, Francisco Castro Trenti.

The first crime occurred on May 3, 2017. Reyes Herrera, 34, was riddled with an AK47 while driving his vehicle at Kilometer 5 of the Tecate-Ensenada freeway; aka the "Scenic Route" "El Ruta de Vino", where there were seventeen percussion casings, seven of which that left the sub commander dead in his Suzuki vehicle .

The decapitated head of "El Churumbelo" was thrown on First Street of Colonia Encanto next to a cardboard manta with the following message: 

"AKI ARE PELAN THE VERGA AKI MANDA THE NEUVA JENERACION ATT. LLA SABES KIEN CONTINUES SENDING JENTE AKILES AYTA YOUR SICARIO VERGERO ".

"Here you will jerk me off. The New Generation is in charge here. Sincerely, You already know who. Keep sending people Aquiles. Here’s your fucking worthless sicario."

big thanks to Sol Prendido for the translation !

The rest of his body was found the next day in the Rincon colony. He had received several shots and was sexually tortured and violated before being beheaded.

The list of victims is long, another two men were burned to death at Rancho La Carreta in the town of Loma Tova, found on June 3 when firefighters put out what was reported as a forest fire.

The Sicarios of the Cell:

As for his accomplices, Felipe Acosta Ramírez "Felipillo" and Héctor Iván Villegas Chaparro "El Chabelo" were found guilty of the kidnapping of Luis Alberto Barrera Barrera, committed in 2016.

The judge sentenced "Felipillo" to 62 years and eleven months in prison for the crime of aggravated kidnapping, while "El Chabelo" received nine years in prison for attempted homicide.

Three of the assassins were convicted of the murder of Omar Alejandro Soriano Sánchez, also perpetrated in 2016: Viviano Tavarez Cedillo ,"El Vaca", Carlos Alberto Soriano Gonzalez, "El Coyac" and Víctor Manuel Álvarez Velarde, "El Chato", all sentenced to 15 years of prison.

For his part, Natanael Martínez Flores "El Nata" received 15 years in prison for the murder of Simón Aloy Cabrera Contreras, perpetrated in 2016.