Baja Safari NOW Archives

Baja Safari NOW! Editor Receives Exclusive Interview with PAN Governor of Baja Norte At the San Diego International Auto Show, on Friday, December 28th.
 
The Governor of Baja Norte walked, without security, through the nations largest auto show,the San Diego International event this past weekend.

The States top official told Baja Safari NOW! the security situation in Baja Norte is being addressed. He lamented the situation currently facing Baja Norte Mexico. Commandos hitting targets throughout the state for over a year. But, he itemized positive developments the Federal government is taking, to control the situation. He told Baja Safari NOW!, “Over a period of several weeks police in Baja’s five cities will turn over their weapons and undergo a screening process, these actions will be taken in different scales in Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada, Rosarito Beach and Tecate”.

The Governor continued, “The effort will be supervised by Baja Norte State Preventive Police, headed by Daniel de la Rosa. An equal number of state and federal police will provide law enforcement for Rosarito, under the direction of the city’s new Secretary of Public Safety, Jorge Eduardo Montero, a 41-year-old retired Army captain. Efforts have been undertaken periodically by the military, including in Tijuana about a year ago. The military is responsible for issuing all guns to police, but recent concerns with security and crime have prompted these direct State and Federal Military actions”. “Crime is rampant in Rosarito, both Rosarito Beach City security and the quality of the police need to be improved,” newly elected Mayor Torres said recently.

The Governor has faith these new efforts will result in improved security conditions in Baja Norte.

The Baja Safari NOW! interview ended when the NOW! Editor reminded the top State official, “where was the State when the Rosarito Police Department was routinely stealing vehicles owned by International travellers? Where was the State when American kidnappings blasted into the press during the summer of 2005? Where was the State tourism department when Baja Safari representatives pointed to unbridled crime against travellers ten years ago? Baja Safari remains vigillant. Baja Norte, from Tijuana to Ensenada IS NOT SAFE for International travellers.

Only when conditions change, will Baja Safari suggest to travel. Many Mexican Nationals in Mexico do not want International travellers in Baja Norte now. We have been advised by inside sources, the situation in Mexico will get worse, before it gets better.

Baja Safari NOW! EXCLUSIVE!

“TIJUANA, Mexico, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Mexican troops disarmed the entire police force of a town near the U.S. border on Friday after a failed attempt to kill the police chief raised suspicions it was infiltrated by drug traffickers. Troops and police from the state of Baja California took over the beach resort town of Rosarito, just south of the sprawling border city of Tijuana, near San Diego, California. The force’s 200 guns will be checked to see if any were used in the mid-December attack on Rosarito’s chief of police in which one of his bodyguards died. “We recognize that the enemy is inside our house and for this reason we are purging the ranks,” Baja California state police chief Daniel de la Rosa told reporters. “We need to have confidence in our police.” Since taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent some 25,000 troops to bring order to areas where drug gangs are strong, such as along the U.S.-Mexico border and in the western state of Michoacan. Despite these actions, about 2,500 people have died so far this year in turf wars among different drug gangs.”

Avoid all travel to the Tijuana-Rosarito-Ensenada region, advisory valid to January 19, 2008. 

UPDATE! December 20, 2007 UT Story

“They are more powerful than the government”
“They showing they are…ABOVE THE LAW”

ROSARITO BEACH – A day after gunmen stormed the Rosarito Beach police station, killing one officer and wounding another, dozens of soldiers stood guard around the building and work crews started repairing the broken glass and bullet-nicked walls. The attack’s apparent target, Public Security Director Jorge Eduardo Montero Alvarez, was being shuttled around the city under heavy guard as funeral arrangements were made for his fallen bodyguard, Officer Guillermo Castro Corona, 35. Montero’s other bodyguard, Leonel Pizaña Trip, was recovering from the attack. Information on the conditions of two other injured people, unidentified civilians, were unavailable yesterday.

Tuesday’s attack occurred at 12:40 p.m. It was the third attack in recent weeks against people who were named to high-level public security positions in new administrations in Rosarito Beach, Tijuana and Tecate. Rosarito Beach Mayor Hugo Torres was in Mexico City attending a scheduled meeting with other Baja California mayors and federal authorities about improving the state’s security. His second-in-command, General Secretary Javier Hernández Tovalín, denounced the attack yesterday morning at City Hall. “These acts are a result of the work that is being done in public security . . . which will continue until we reach the goal of living in a safe city,” he said. Little additional information about the attack was available yesterday. Bernardo Cisneros Medina, spokesman for the city’s Police Department, said earlier reports that Montero wasn’t in the building were incorrect. Montero was inside, he said, and escaped injury.

As many as four carloads of [commandos] may have been involved in the attack. Cisneros said police were able to repel the gunmen, who retreated. The motive of the attack was unclear. The post of public security director is similar to that of a police chief in the United States. Some here see a connection between the recent violence and election-year changes in Baja California’s government.

A new governor was sworn in Nov. 1, and new mayoral administrations took power Dec. 1. On Nov. 27, assailants attempted to force their way into the Tijuana home of Alberto Capella, who was then a candidate for Tijuana secretary of public security. Capella fired at the assailants, apparently catching them off guard, and escaped injury. His nomination was confirmed several days later. On Dec. 4, a group of men gunned down an officer in Tecate, Juan Jose Soriano Pereira, inside his home. Soriano had been named second-in-command of the Tecate Police Department shortly before the attack. “It appears the drug traffickers are reaffirming their power over the territory they dominate,” said Victor Clark, director of the Binational Center of Human Rights in Tijuana. “They are showing that they continue controlling the zone and have power above the law.”

The Arellano Félix cartel has controlled the region’s drug trafficking for several decades. Many of the cartel’s top leaders have been arrested in the past few years, though it remains a major force along this section of the border. Competing drug groups are posing a larger threat to them, however, and the additional players could create havoc in police agencies where traffickers typically form alliances with certain officers. Hector Gomez, 29, who heard the shooting Tuesday from his home, said the boldness of such attacks is a reminder of the forces that corrode law and order in Mexico. “For them to do this in the police station means they were very determined to die or to kill,” he said. “It doesn’t bother them to confront the government because they are more powerful than the government.”

Black Commandos Attack Rosarito Police Headquarters!

Assault on police station leaves one officer dead UNION-TRIBUNE December 19, 2007 TIJUANA: A group of armed men opened fire inside Rosarito Beach’s police station yesterday afternoon in an attack that left one officer dead and another wounded, Baja California authorities said. Two unidentified civilians were also wounded during the assault at 12:40 p.m., according to a news release from the state Attorney General’s Office. The officers worked as bodyguards for the city’s public security director, state authorities said. The director wasn’t in the building during the attack. The dead bodyguard was identified as Guillermo Castro Corona, 35. The wounded bodyguard was identified as Leonel Pizaña Trip. Authorities later found four abandoned cars believed to have been used by the assailants.

From the Mexican Press Account:

With the intention to massacre to the High Commands of Beach the Municipal Police of Rosarito, a armed commando entered the facilities of the Direction of Municipal Public Security and opened fire against all, the officials repelaron the aggression. Guillermo Castro Corona, escort of the Director of Municipal Public Security, passed away at the time of facing the armed group, also the escort, Leonel Pizaña Trip, as well as two civilians, were wounded, wounded who is not of consideration. According to same the personnel of the Municipal Police, around the 12:45 hours of the aggressors arrived yesterday at the facilities of the Direction of Security on board of four light trucks, lowered armed with rifles of assault, they were introduced and they begun to shoot. Who were inside the facilities, they indicated that in all sides there were bullet impacts, but was evident that the attack went directed to the High Commands then its offices were destroyed completely. After the aggression, the armed group approached the light trucks again and fled, leaving them to little distance of the command, a GMC Yukon, two Chevrolet Tahoe and one Suburban. Maximiliano Rodriguez Lizárraga, ordered of the office of the Suboffice of the judge advocate general in Rosarito Beach, informed that inside the light trucks were two shippers supplied with cartridges 223 as well as other articles of assault. He added that in place were 30 cartridges calibrates 223, 100 of caliber 7,62 and 23 of the caliber 9 millimeters, the government official indicated that that was what they threw the first inquiries and will be continued investigating the serious attack against the police corporation.

Baja Safari NOW! Editor

Criminal paramilitary war rages in Baja California, Mexico

The situation is out of control. It started over a year ago. Put bluntly, everyday money buys off the local Baja California cops. This is why one year ago Mexican President Calderon launched a combined military and police offensive against the cartels and associated gangs. Calderon judged, correctly, that the Mexican military was the most professional and reliable force in Mexico. The multi-state strike force included task-organized federal police units that Calderon’s government also rated as reliable, Calderon’s government decided to fight the “war on the cartels” as an insurgency. This was a smart decision.

The cartels employ paramilitary forces that in many respects operate as “the armed wings” of classic political insurgencies. Though there is no convincing evidence that the cartels have co-opted political rebel organizations, there are plenty of rumors. When the money is right, gangsters cooperate with political rebels in the Balkans, South America and in the Middle East. Afghanistan is an example of this phenomenon, where Taliban religious zealots also protect opium smugglers.

A recent statement by the Mexican attorney general’s office reiterated a common complaint that Mexico needs US cooperation to defeat the gangs. This complaint serves a political purpose in Mexico, but the statement isn’t pure spin. Smugglers bring US weapons into Mexico – that’s a fact. The big fact is that the US has a huge appetite for illegal drugs. Critics point out that the US and Western demand for drugs often supports anti-Western guerrilla organizations (Afghanistan, again). Mexican Marxist outfits like the EPR are definitely anti-US. The Gulf drug cartel isn’t anti US in a political sense (though it’s anti-FBI and DEA), but organized crime is a destructive force in American society.

As far as the Mexican government is concerned the illegal narcotics market in the US is financing the “drug insurgents.” The Mexican military now has around 22,000 soldiers and sailors involved in the counter-insurgent war. During the past 12 months the military has at times deployed as many as 30,000 troops in at least ten Mexican states, including Baja California (Norte) The military operations began in several western Mexican states the moved north and finally to Mexico’s east coast.

On December 12, 2007: The military announced that troops arrested three senior members of the Gulf drug cartel. One of the men was identified as Marco Ramirez, allegedly the commander of the cartel’s “hit team” (paramilitary strike force).

On December 7, 2007, some are calling this, “political shaping of the battlefield.” president Felipe Calderon has told Foreign Ministry consuls in the U.S. to try to counter-act what he called “anti-Mexican” attitudes expressed by presidential candidates. One quote in Calderon’s statement was particularly striking: Calderon said he wanted to “neutralize this strategy of confrontation and discrimination…” Calderon said that he does not want animosity to harm the “U.S. and Mexican bilateral relationship.” Calderon is worried that Mexicans will react very negatively to the highly-charged U.S. presidential campaign debate over illegal immigration. That negative reaction will make it harder for him to cooperate with the U.S. on what he believes are key bi-lateral security issues. He also thinks (knows) this will harm U.S. border security efforts. During the most recent Mexican presidential race, Mexican presidential candidates belittled the United States on a daily basis. No wonder why many Mexicans distrust Americans and many look the other way when Americans are victimized while visiting Mexico.

On December 4, 2007, a police commander in the town of Tecate was murdered by gunmen. Mexican officials suggested the murder may have been linked to a police operation that discovered a “drug smuggling tunnel” that ran under the Mexico-California border. The Mexican police commander had played a central role in finding the tunnel.

Baja Safari NOW! Editor

Crime Wave Spreading to the U.S.

A U.S. Border Patrol Agent in Tucson, Arizona, was apparently the victim of a failed assassination attempt Dec. 9. Four men broke into the agent’s house early in the morning and at least one of the suspects fired on the agent, who was able to recover his own weapon and shoot one of the assailants. The intruders fled, with one subsequently found shot to death. Police later apprehended a second suspect. There is reason to believe the incident was not a random home invasion, but rather that the agent was targeted by some group linked to Mexican organized crime. If this was indeed an assassination attempt, it would mark a spread of tactics associated with Mexican cartels into the United States. Mexico’s drug cartels are notorious for violent killings of police officers and army personnel throughout Mexico in attacks carried out by highly trained and heavily armed former military members employed by the cartels. In this case, however, the operation probably was carried out by a local gang affiliated with a Mexican group. The assailants, who were identified as being around 19 and 20 years of age, apparently were inexperienced given that they fled.

Other forms of criminal activity similarly have been exported across the border from Mexico, including extortion, kidnappings and threats to journalists. Over one year ago, during the Spring of 2006, similar kidnappings were happening in the San Diego-Tijuana area. Baja Safari boycotted travel to Baja Norte for several months and pushed a public information effort to make travellers aware of the growing crime wave in Baja California, Mexico.

Crime Wave Notables since the Hall Crime

* The corpse of an unidentified man was found in the back of a vehicle with California plates in Tijuana, Baja California state. The man had been shot behind his right ear.
* A businessman was kidnapped in Tijuana, Baja California state, after he was chased down in his car for about 2 miles by armed assailants in three vehicles.
* Two U.S. citizens were arrested in Mexicali, Baja California state, in connection with a September quadruple homicide in the United States. The two men are believed to be members of the Tortilla Flat gang of Compton, California. The two have been engaged in drug-dealing in Mexico since fleeing the United States.

Baja Safari NOW! Editor

Baja Safari broke the inside story on the BLACK COMMANDOS in Baja California. NOW! Mexico City is sending in counter-forces as they have in other parts of Mexico, recognizing the real threats. Here NOW! is the first story out of Tijuana on whats happening on the ground.

Tijuana newspapers are reporting that there is a growing super secret government operation in the Tijuana area called “Commando Blanco.” They are supposedly going after those involved in organized crime. Possibly, a direct counter to the recently exposed ‘Black Commandos’.

“A group of special forces works against the organized crime. “White Commando” “Raises to criminal members of bands of kidnappers, cells of the narcotics detective and other groups with the purpose of “cleaning” to the city of Tijuana of violence and insecurity. It is a frontal attack of the Government towards the base of the structure of the organized crime, although of concealed way. Still denied by the Secretary of Security of the State of Baja California, Víctor of the Shod Heron, has confirmed the presence of a special group against the organized crime operating at least in Tijuana. A “White Commandos”. Confirmed to three members of different corporations, and even by members of the enterprise sector, this special group of attack against the organized crime, is a copy of strategies that have been carried out in other states like Sinaloa, where the previous governor Juan Sigfrido Millán, used special equipment and anonymous to lower to zero the statistic of secuestro.La participation of this group elite of special forces also agrees with the intentions of the Elect Governor, Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millán, to throw to walk a project of this nature to end executions and kidnappings mainly. The primary target is to clean the street of delinquents smaller than contracted by the Mafias kidnappers or sicarios try to become. To destabilize the structure of the cells of narcotics traffickers and the bands of kidnappers. The “White Commando” the brought personal Integra of the interior of the Republic, without economic interests in the zone, enabled to control crisis situations and to repel aggressions of the crime. He was not decided to include local police agents due to the degree of infiltration and corruption that is perceived in the federal corporations, state and municipal in Baja California. Due to this, the elements of this special group have a deficiency: They do not know the situation real Tijuana, to his residents and they either do not know to distinguish between those who show to have a legal work and that does it like product of the organized crime. This condition has taken them to even stop people by mistake. Nevertheless, they prefer to continue with this acting since they do not trust the federal agents integrated to the Group Coordination in the border city, who have been denounced “to lower” to money to narcomenudistas and other criminal groups. In fact the bajacalifornianas police also are investigation subject. One inquired into the presence of this special group, and how agents infiltrated in high state governmental spheres, would have provided this information to the members of the organized crime. one triggered the violence that left deads, shootings, missing and many kidnapped there. This is the exact same thing they did in Acapulco year’s ago, sent in the Special Police to end the Murders and Robberies. After the local bad guys were either shot or left town they then settled in and took over.”

Baja Safari NOW! Editor

The pedestrian crossing from Tijuana to San Ysdro continues to be a major problem AVOID CROSSING ON FOOT.

Here is a recent experience:

“I go to TJ for dinner once a week and to visit friends and it definetly had an effect on my visits… I don’t go as often and when I do, I leave before dark. I went down for dinner and to vist friends and have a cigar at Rudy’s like I usually do. I left to go back home later then usual. I got to the pedestrian bridge over the lanes of north bound traffic. It was very dark and I noticed the 2 police officers on the side, dimly lit by what little light was around. They stopped me, asked me where I lived and what I was doing down in TJ. I politely told them and they then asked if I had any illegal drugs on me. I replied” what are you kidding me…no of course not! They said to have a nice evening. I took a step away from them and he stopped me again. This time he said I want you to think very carefully about your answer…If I search pockets now, will I find any illegal drugs. Again I said no, a bit more annoyed now. He asked if he could check and I told him to not touch me, my pockets or my wallet and to get a supervisor here right now. He then said to ahve a nice evening and I left. I was pretty annoyed now and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw that they said nothing to a group of 4 americans coming back but again stopped another guy traveling alone and they already were patting him down.”

Recently, an administrator for ‘Mainly Mozart’ was robbed by the Tijuana Police at the same crossing. The hired security at the line, in the pedestrian walkway, have reported these events are now daily and commonplace.

Baja Safari NOW! Editor 

UPDATED!

INSIDERS REPORT:
BAJA SAFARI GOES PUBLIC ON THE REAL RISK IN BAJA TRAVEL

Paramilitary criminal groups target American racing interests in Baja, Mexico .

Widely known public routes, schedules and personalities make big targets, bigger.

Since 2005, organized groups of men, associated with the Mexico drug cartels have become criminally militarized in order to survive, to extend their criminal territories and are using paramilitary-style enforcement techniques. These techniques are becoming promulgated to other drug trafficking organizations seeking to create their own paramilitary-style enforcement groups for self-defense and other purposes.

These groups are reaching out to the Mexican military and foreign paramilitary and possible insurgent organizations in order to acquire human and material support to fend off advances by competing drug cartels and various law enforcement groups. One of the results are much higher risks to International travelers in Mexico in general and an increasing amount of victimized American tourists in Baja California, Mexico, directly.

In Baja California , infusion of military/paramilitary actors in the region and power surges to reclaim criminal territory, impacts of the removal of Federal/State police commanders and the absence of a centralized cartel organization will continue to foster in-fighting between drug families and the interruption of distribution networks & access locations.

The criminal results are dire. Visitors must know the risks. Expect to encounter military

tactics used by criminal rings/cells/groups. Tactics used by members of these criminal groups have been reported to be highly practiced and of a ‘sophisticated criminal enterprises’. Transnational criminal gangs, operating in Baja California, Mexico , reportedly are well financed and equipped.

All visitors to Baja California should remain alert to the high potential for violence. Expect an increase in transferred aggression towards American citizens. Varying allegiances within Mexican police agencies will continue to fragment, forcing any assistance from police entities as useless. Continued crimes against visitors and violence, including kidnappings/homicides must be anticipated considering the fast decline in the overall security situation.

Until a prominent US citizen is abducted, the problem will not receive much attention in the media or from the public. The more kidnappings that gangs conduct, the finer they develop their criminal skill sets. With the ‘Hall crime’, they have already graduated to higher value targets in higher economic communities. Mexico is now the No. 1 country in Latin America for kidnappings. 1000 victims since 2005 of which 43 have died in captivity. Higher than Colombia , which had been the world leader.

Kidnappings go unreported in Mexico due to fear that victims will be killed. Victims are reluctant to involve the authorities because they do not trust them. Many rely on local US authorities for reporting purposes. Most have NOT practiced vigilance and situational awareness while in Mexico . Abductions occur in plain view in a public place. Victims are beaten, shoved in a vehicle, and taken. Physical beatings progress and continue while victims friends/family are contacted to extort money. After payment, victims are dumped and left to find their own way home or to the border. Many totally disappear.

KIDNAP GANG STRUCTURES

Many groups are made up of former and current law enforcement officers as team members with selective gangs with former Mid-level drug traffickers resorting to kidnappings due to declining narcotics access and high violence associated with

warfare within cartels. Disenfranchised and Independent teams acting randomly are also factors. Cartel teams using former military deserters trained in extractions, assassinations, and assaults have been identified. Affiliated domestic US streetgangs serving multiple cartels as independent contracted kidnappers have also been identified.

MEXICO LAW ENFORCEMENT INVOLVEMENT

Tijuana Municipal police corruption is now widely known. Recently, a lead executive with the ‘Mainly Mozart Festival’, was robbed by Tijuana cops at the notorious taxi drop-off at the San Ysidro port of entry. The drop-off point is a well known crime location for Tijuana police robbing and extorting international travelers, attempting to re-cross into the US .

Rosarito Municipal police, for years, have been involved in car theft and more. So much so, that eight years ago, Mexican insurers seriously considered not covering any vehicle theft losses in the city and environs of Rosarito. Ensenadas Municipal police, “Comando Negro”, with active Municipal and State Judicial Police Officers known as the “Black Commandos” were arrested for their links to organized criminal activities in Ensenada , which was dismantled in August of 2005.

PARAMILITARY CRIMINAL ACTIVITES

The Assistant Director of Mexico ’s Organized Crimes Investigations Unit (SIEDO), Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, confirmed that former members of the Mexican military special forces have formed alliances with Mexican drug traffickers about three years ago. They simulate use of legitimate law enforcement, they are equipped and operate as police. They use dashboard lights and police-style road blocking methods to impede the path of vehicles during kidnapping operations.

These criminal groups are known to wear military/AFI/ police uniforms, carry official looking credentials to disguise themselves as police officers or federal agents when carrying out operations. They use these tactics during drug cartel enforcement and kidnapping operations. Their group communications are sophisticated and diffucult to penetrate. These groups are adaptive in their responsibilities for logistical and operational duties. They provide security, conduct surveillance and counter-intelligence, logistical support, weapons procurement, conduct enforcement operations and recruit new members or associates from local populations. These criminal groups are multi-functional.

Mexico media sources list the number of these operating individuals at 2000, in the entire Republic of Mexico . They are distinguished by their military background (although not an absolute) and the extent to which they participate in the more critical enforcement and security operations for the drug cartels, they are providing increasing services. Recently, a kidnapping group comprised of six men and two unidentified women were taken into custody. Two members were current / former Mexico police officers. Two unidentified kidnapping victims were freed as a result of the operation. The detainees admitted they had been involved in six kidnappings to extract payment of fees for various criminal activities conducted in the Tijuana and Mexicali regions. Some have used ‘holding cells’ in residences. Many of the victims were murdered.

Another abduction/murder team was captured by the Baja California Public Safety Coordination Group. The arrested group members were former Ensenada, BCN State officers (Policia Ministerial del Estado/PME) were among the three other members who were arrested. Another arrested group in 2006, a kidnapping and abduction team, involved in possibly 11 separate kidnappings was found with various weapons. Seized were five AR-15 rifles, one machine gun, two handguns, one grenade, 1641 cartridges and 22 magazines. Authorities seized eight rifles, two handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, several police radios, including a unit of the MATRA system, twelve cellular telephones, bulletproof vests and three vehicles.

Data contained in this report and views presented are those of the Baja Safari Now Editor after redacting by the Baja Safari Mexico Club. A portion of the data presented in this report was derived from various articles of interest, publications that consist of selective Mexican news media publications.

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Baja Safari NOW!