The Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali along with Rosarito and Ensenada were hit by gang violence that included burning vehicles and blocking roads. The US consulate in Tijuana ordered its employees to “evacuate until further notice” around midnight because of the violence late Friday. It was the third time this week that Mexican cities have seen widespread arson and shootings by drug cartels. Gangs appear to target shops, vehicles and innocent bystanders in response to disputes or attempts to arrest gang members. Baja California state officials said a total of 24 vehicles were hijacked and burned in various locations across the state: 15 in Tijuana, three in Rosarito and two each in Mexicali, Ensenada and Tecate. Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero blamed it on feuds between drug gangs and called on them to end the violence. Caballero made a public appeal to “organized crime,” the term used in Mexico for drug cartels, to stop the growing trend of targeting innocent citizens. “Today we are telling the organized crime groups that commit these crimes that Tijuana will remain open and take care of its citizens,” Caballero said in a video, “and we are also asking them to settle their debts with those who have not paid those who owed, not with families and hard working citizens”. The extent of the violence was still unclear Saturday. Late Friday, the US Consulate General in Tijuana said in a statement that it was “aware of reports of multiple vehicle fires, barricades and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada and Tecate.” On Saturday, few people took to the streets in Tijuana and many of the bus and passenger van services stopped operating, leaving some residents unable to get where they were going. “Let them fight it out with each other, but leave us alone,” said Tijuana resident Blanca Estela Fuentes as she searched for public transportation. “So they kill each other, they can do whatever they want, but the public, why is it our fault?” Later Saturday, Caballero, the mayor of Tijuana, said some bus and van routes had resumed service. The federal public safety department said one person was injured in the violence and that federal, state and local forces arrested 17 suspects, including seven in Tijuana and four in Rosarito and Mexicali. It said some of the suspects were identified as members of the Jalisco cartel, the group blamed for burning down shops and shooting people earlier this week in the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato. The area around Tijuana, which borders southern California, is a profitable drug-trafficking corridor long dominated by the Arellano Felix cartel, but has since become a battleground between various gangs, including the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels. The mayor’s comment that Tijuana remains open was an apparent reference to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across the street from El Paso, Texas, where some classes and public events were canceled after similar violence on Thursday. Alleged gang members killed nine people, including four radio station employees, in Ciudad Juarez after a fight between rival gangs at a local prison left two inmates dead. On Tuesday, armed drug cartel gunmen burned vehicles and businesses in the western states of Jalisco and Guanajuato in response to an attempt to arrest a high-ranking leader of the Jalisco cartel. Oxxo, a national chain of convenience stores owned by Femsa, the country’s largest bottling company, said 25 of its stores in Guanajuato – which borders Jalisco, home of the cartel of the same name – were completely or partially burned on Tuesday. Speaking about the violence in Ciudad Juarez on Thursday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said: “They attacked the civilian, innocent population as a kind of revenge. It wasn’t just a clash between two groups, but it got to the point where they were shooting civilians, innocent people. That is the most unfortunate thing about this case.” The shooting killed four MegaRadio station employees who were broadcasting a live promotional event outside a pizza shop in Ciudad Juarez. Such random violence is not without precedent in Mexico. In June last year, a rival faction of the Gulf Cartel entered the border town of Reynosa and killed 14 people the governor described as “innocent civilians.” The army responded and killed four suspected gunmen.
