Dismembered Body Parts Spread Across Tijuana Along With Narco Message Signs

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Narco message signs threatening two specific members of the Tijuana Municipal Police were found in different parts of the city of Tijuana on November 18 & 19, 2021.

Warning: Graphic images below this point. 

November 18, 2021

At 1:47 pm on the afternoon of November 18, 2021, police received a report of human remains being discovered on the sidewalk in the Maurilio Magallón neighborhood of the La Mesa delegation. When officers arrived they found a white narco sign with a pair of human legs and a few meters away another sign and a pair of human arms.

A few hours later, another narco message sign threatening the same two officers was found, this time accompanied with a human head laying on top of a clear plastic bag. It was located at the power substation on Del Benitez street.

They read as follows: 

This message goes out to the Municipal Police Officers Padilla and Guadarrama. 

Calm the fuck down for your own well being or otherwise blood will run here, you fucking thieves.  

Sincerely, 

La Mera Verga

November 19, 2021

Then in the early morning hours of November 19, 2021, the emergency phone line received a report of a narco message sign that was left on the pedestrian bridge near Federico Benitez Boulevard and Castro Street in the Yamilé neighborhood. Police officers arrived at the location and confirmed a white cloth sign had been placed along with a black plastic bag that contained a dead dog. 

Later a sign reading the same was left at Libramiento Rosas Magallón in the Manuel Paredes II neighborhood. And then a third one appeared on the Américas bridge and Vía Rápida Oriente in the Buena Vista neighborhood. These narco signs varied ever so slightly in message from the ones found the day before, reading: 

This message goes out to the Municipal Police Officers Padilla and Guadarrama. 

Calm the fuck down for your own well being or you will get your fucking asses killed.  

Sincerely, 

La Mera Verga

The Cartel Landscape of the Area

The cartel organizations in the city of Tijuana are very interested  in placing the police officers who are on their payroll in key positions of power. Each mayoral election has major implications for the power balance of the cartels because the mayor appoints the Secretary of Municipal Security and Protection (chief of police) as well as the director of police.

As previously written on Borderland Beat, in the last month the leadership structure of the Tijuana Municipal Police has gone through a series of upheavals. The previous mayor, Arturo González Cruz, retook his position from the interim mayor for just 44 hours and appointed a new chief and director who made over 120 changes to the positions of officers. 

Then on October 1, 2021, the brand new mayor, Montserrat Caballero Ramírez, took office and her new chief and director of police have been undoing some but not all of the 120 last minute changes that were made. 

With this context in mind, certain police drug seizures or arrests may seem to go against what a local cartel expected to happen. 

In this case the two officers mentioned in the narco message signs, Officers Padilla and Guadarrama, may simply be going against grain and genuinely working to fight crime. Or they may have found themselves stuck in a position where they had to make certain arrests or seizure due to circumstances beyond their control. Alternatively, Officers Padilla and Guadarrama could also be on the payroll of a rival cartel and be taking actions on behalf of this rival organization. 

The messages were signed by everyone’s-favorite-and-yet-least-identifying moniker “La Mera Verga” or “The Big Dick”.

As background, the city of Tijuana is divided into 8 delegations. These November 18 and 19, 2021 narco message signs were placed within the La Mesa delegation. To get a better idea of just how ambiguous the title is, here are just some of the recent examples of messages signed by “La Mera Verga”:

• On July 10, 2021, a Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) member was caught carrying a message signed by “La Mera Verga” on Abelardo L. Rodriguez Street in the Presidentes neighborhood of Cerro Colorado delegation. (Source) 

• On August 1, 2021, a dismembered right hand was left on top of a narco message sign threatening “Hectorin” and “Chaparro”, signed by “La Mera Verga” on Dibujantes Street in the Otay Indeco neighborhood of Otay Mesa delegation. (Source)

• On October 27, 2021, a printed banner was hung threatening the director of the Homicide group within the Prosecutor's Office, signed by “La Mera Verga” on Diaz Ordaz Boulevard in the Chapultepec California neighborhood of the La Mesa delegation. (Source) 

In each of these cases a different cartel leader could be the supposed “La Mera Verga” in question as Zeta Tijuana weekly has written about different cartel groups being present, with different leaders in charge in each of these delegations. 

At this point, signing a message with this moniker is the cartel equivalent of “anonymous” as so many leaders claim the title that it ceases to have any meaning whatsoever.

Sources: Zeta Tijuana Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4, Article 5, Article 6, Tijuana Sin Censura