Tijuana Mayor Flees To Army Base As Crime Chaos At Border City Worsens

The ongoing bloodshed in Tijuana, resulting from cartels battling for control over drug smuggling routes into the US, has transformed the border city into one of the most dangerous places in the world. After receiving multiple threats, things escalated recently when the mayor was forced to seek protection at a military base on the edge of town. 

On Tuesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Mayor Montserrat Caballero has been “protected since about two weeks ago. We agreed to help protect her and will continue to do so.”

Caballero publicly announced her decision to seek protection at a local army base on the southern edge of Tijuana, about 5 miles from the city, after a pickup truck of seven dead bodies was found on Monday. 

“I have received threats, so I am going to live at the base,” she said. 

Threats directed at the mayor by cartels are in response to her administration’s weapon seizure of 1,700 guns plus the arrest of 56 people. 

“They are angry,” she said. “And that’s why I’ve been receiving threats.”

Lopez Obrador said the threats were also directed at the governor of the border state of Baja California. 

The fight over drug smuggling routes by cartels comes as Biden’s border crisis persists. Killings in Tijuana, just miles from San Diego, are up 9% over the last 12 months. Tijuana has more homicides than any other city in Mexico and is one of the most dangerous places in the world. 

The mayor has made the right decision. As for all those San Diegan who cross the border for cheap beer and tequila and the occasional inexpensive Airbnb rental in Mexican beach towns, considering the wartorn conditions, saving a couple of bucks is probably not worth risking your life. 

Perhaps this all means violence is set to erupt in the summer months.