Tijuana, Baja California: Sánchez Taboada And Playas, The Most Violent Areas; Santa Fe, With Fewer Murders

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat 

The five most violent districts of Tijuana are Sánchez Taboada, Playas, La Presa Rural, Centro and Natura. From January to July, the municipal police have come to answer 1,154 calls involving murders

Although most of the murders in Tijuana continue to occur in the East Zone of the city, the violence has migrated to other municipal districts that were previously considered "quiet," such as Playas, the Centro district, or La Presa Rural.

According to figures from the Secretariat of Security and Municipal Citizen Protection (SSPCM) of Tijuana, elements of the Municipal Police have gone, so far in 2021, to 1,154 reports of deaths, which occurred in the fourteen districts into which the city is divided. 

And it should be noted, that number does not represent the total number of intentional homicides that have happened, but only those where the presence of the municipal police has been required.

According to these figures, these are the statistics of the most violent areas of Tijuana:

First, Sánchez Taboada delegation.- From January to July 2021, 146 people were killed in this district. Right there, May turned out to be the most violent month, 27 intentional homicides were recorded.

Second place, Playas.- In this area, one of the quietest in past years, in the first seven months of this 2021, 127 people were killed. 

The most notorious acts of violence occurred in the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood, such as the case of Andrea Ibarra, 24, who was killed when she arrived home; that of the young Emilio Espinoza Criollos and Antonio Peraza, when they were aboard a vehicle, and that of the Japanese restaurant owner, Taro Yoshira.

Third place, La Presa Rural.- There were 116 homicides in the first months of 2021, in January a total of 29 violent deaths were recorded, being the bloodiest month for the inhabitants of that area.

Fourth place, Central Zone.- In total, from January to July 2021, municipal police have attended 107 murder reports. Although it hasn’t been characterized of being a quiet area, given that drug trafficking cells are reported in the northern zone of the initial account, this delegation is already one of the most violent.

Fifth place, Natura.- One of the most conflictive areas of the city reaches fourth position with 97 violent deaths, with July being the month in which the most homicides happened, with 24 in the count.

Murders are increasing.

The following positions on the board are located as follows:

Sixth.- Florido-Mariano, with 92 murders.

Seventh.- Los Pinos, with 81 cases of intentional homicides.

Eighth.- La Presa, with 70 people killed.

Ninth.- Mesa de Otay, with 64 violent acts.

Tenth.- San Antonio de los Buenos and Cerro Colorado, both districts with 61 homicides each.

Eleventh.- Centenario with 55 murders.

Twelfth.- La Mesa with 42.

Treceavo.- Santa Fe, with 35 deprivations of life.

Natura is on the rise

According to the same SSPCM, in July 2021, elements of the Municipal Police dealt with 174 reports of homicides in Tijuana and it was in the Natura district where there were more cases.

There were 24 deprivations of life in Natura, of which 9 were committed in the subdivision of the same name, 4 in the Arboledas neighborhood, and the rest in the other colonies.

The Sánchez Taboada Delegation was the second most violent with 19 cases; of which 5 occurred in the Camino Verde neighborhood, 3 in the Sánchez Taboada neighborhood, 2 in Colinas de Cortez and the rest in the other colonies.

Third place was located in the Playas de Tijuana Delegation with 17 homicides, of those 4 were reported in Punta Bandera, to which federal agents attended, and the rest were distributed in 13 colonies of that delegation.

The Centro Delegation was fourth place with 16 murders, of which four occurred in the Zona Norte, in the Castillo and Zona Centro neighborhoods two murders were committed respectively, the rest in other colonies.

In fifth place was the Centenario delegation, where they took the lives of 14 people, 2 of those people were in the Las Torres neighborhood and in 12 colonies they committed 1 respectively.

In the SSPCM they detailed that of the 174 homicides committed in July, 31 of them occurred on Thursday; 29 on Sunday; 27 on Saturday, 26 on Monday and Friday; 20 on Wednesday as well as 15 on Tuesdays.

It was also reported that most of the murders were reported to 911 around 10 p.m. and 59 percent of them were committed with a firearm.

Of the 174 homicides, 136 of the victims were men, 14 women and 24 of them their sex is still unknown due to the condition of the bodies.

Finally, it was reported that of the 174 murders that were committed in July, 96 of them were committed on a public road, 43 of them inside a home, 32 in an unpopulated area and 3 within a business.

August follows a bloody pattern

According to figures from the Attorney General's Office (FGE), the locations of the executions did not change during the month of August, until the 23rd a total of 128 homicides had been committed in Tijuana. 13 were committed in the different colonies that make up the Sánchez Taboada Delegation, making it the bloodiest so far this month.

Secondly, two delegations are tied with 12 homicides each, the first of them is the Presa Rural , as well as the delegation of the Central Zone, in the Playas Delegation of Tijuana there are 10 murders.

In an exclusive interview with ZETA, Hiram Sánchez Zamora, Central Prosecutor of the Attorney General's Office (FGE) announced that 75 percent of homicides committed in Baja California are committed because they are related to drug retailing.

"It fluctuates from City to City - the motives of murders - but we can establish that throughout the state 75 percent of the motives are drug retail and crime, 10 percent will be for personal, passionate, the personal relationships of the victims and the rest are for other crimes," said the Central Prosecutor.

Zeta Tijuana