Two Narco Attacks On The Tijuana Attorney General's Office, AMLO Responds

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

There were two attacks in two different locations on vehicles belonging to the state Attorney General’s Office in the city of Tijuana, in the state of Baja California. A narcomanta warns the current Attorney General that they know he’s allegedly colluding with Sinaloa Cartel’s El Aquiles and Cartel de Arellano Felix’s El Lico.

Attack 1

At approximately 7:50 pm on the night of January 6, 2022, the emergency phone line received a report of a vehicle that was on fire in the parking lot of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) in the Murua neighborhood of Tijuana. Municipal Police officers were dispatched to the scene and discovered a white Ford Taurus Interceptor vehicle was on fire. 

The car was located in the parking lot in front of the Unit against Sexual Crimes and Attention to Victims of the Baja California State Attorney General's Office. 

On the Vía Rápida, or “Fast Track” roadway that was a few feet away from the burning vehicle, a narco message sign had been placed along with a bag. The officers radio-ed up the discovery and requested the presence of firefighters and soldiers from the Army (SEDENA). 

Video of the burning vehicle and the narco message sign, seen below, emerged online and depicts the relative proximity of the vehicle and sign.

Video Source: Vulcano-7

In the footage, police officers can be seen shining a light on a blue cloth bag that had been placed on top of the narco message sign. One of the officers peaks inside and warns his partner that he sees a grenade inside, so both officers take a step back. 

The banner left on the roadway read as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

 

Hiram Sanchez Zamora, 

Keep thinking you’re a hero by supporting Lico from CAF, nephew of the commander Beltran, and Aquiles from Cartel de Sinaloa. 

Get the fuck out of the way so that you don’t have any problems. You already know this here is tough mother fucker versus tough mother fucker. 

Now that Titi Ruiz is no longer here we’ll see who helps you to keep your commitments with the cartels…

Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire of the Ford Taurus, leaving it with partial damage to the rear of the vehicle. The SEDENA soldiers arrived and took charge of safely handling and disposing of the alleged grenade within the bag.

Hiram Sanchez Zamora is the state Attorney General and therefore the head of the FGE. “Titi Ruiz” likely refers to the former head of the FGE, Juan Guillermo Ruiz Hernandez.

"Lico” possibly refers to Cesar Quintero who is allegedly the nephew of Crescencio Beltrán Murillo, alias "El Chencho" according to previous reporting on Borderland Beat. 

“Aquiles” refers to Alfonso Arzate who reportedly leads a Sinaloa Cartel group alongside his brother René Arzate, alias “La Rana”.

Attack 2 

A couple of hours later, at 12:40 am on January 7, 2022, a  Ford F150 pick-up truck belonging to the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) was set on fire while it was parked on Simón Bolívar Street in the Obrera neighborhood of Tijuana. Once reports of the pick-up truck fire were received, fire department personnel was dispatched to the location, which was near where Simón Bolívar Street intersects with Eugenio Mendívil Street.

Their fast arrival time allowed the fire to be quickly extinguished before the flames got out of control. The pick-up was found to have its front driver’s side window smashed, “so it is suspected that an object was thrown through that place to cause the incident,” according to Tijuana en Linea. It was also reported that the patrol car had damage to the windshield on the passenger's side. 

Weekly magazine Zeta Tijuana later reported that the unit belongs to agent Rigoberto Lechuga Sánchez, current chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the FGE.

Telemundo spoke to Guadalupe Javier Notario, a mother of three, who has lived in the city of Tijuana for 38 years about the two incidents and she said "If they [the perpetrators] already have no respect for a government institution, just imagine what could happen to us, who are just citizens, and what could happen to anyone.”

AMLO’s comments 

During the morning conference at the National Palace, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) revealed some new, unreleased details about the first attack on the Attorney General’s office in Tijuana.

The President chose to review 8 different newspapers’ headlines during this particular press conference as he sought to make a point about “biased journalism”, as he describes. 

In the video clip above, AMLO reads out some headlines from Reforma newspaper and then comments “Grenades were thrown at the Tijuana prosecutor's office… Yes, but it turned out that, well, it was a propaganda act, they burned a car and the grenades were toy grenades, plastic grenades filled with salt to give it weight.”

Update 5:00 pm Central: Revised identity of Lico, nephew of Crescencio Beltrán Murillo, to Cesar Quintero. Thank you to commenter D2242. Update Source

Sources: TV Azteca, Zeta Tijuana Article 1, Article 2, Telemundo, Tijuana en Línea Article 1, Article 2, Bajo Palabra, El Imparcial, Official Transcription of Presidential Press Conference, Official Video of Press Conference, Uniradio Informa, AFN Tijuana, Hoy Tamaulipas, Televisa.News, Síntesis TV