Montserrat Caballero, the mayor of Tijuana in Mexico’s northern state of Baja California, revealed on 12 June that she is temporarily living in a military base, home to the 28th Infantry Battalion, as a result of security threats.
Analysis:
Tijuana, on the Mexico-US border, has a reputation for high levels of violence linked to drug-trafficking routes operated by criminal cartels. According to the Mexican navy it is currently the number three city by volume of fentanyl seizures, the synthetic opioid that is being smuggled into the US in large quantities. Caballero, a member of the ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party, who has been mayor since 2019, claims that she is the target of threats because of her success in fighting crime.
- At a press conference the mayor asked rhetorically “why am I being threatened?” going on to supply her own answer “because we are getting results [in the fight against crime]”. She claimed Tijuana police have seized more weaponry than any other force, and that “thousands” of local criminals are now in prison.
- On 17 May gunmen opened fire on one of the mayor’s bodyguards who at the time was driving a vehicle unaccompanied. He survived with light injuries from colliding with the windscreen. The case continues to be investigated. While giving little detail, Caballero said that because of other threats received, the national guard (GN) had suggested she should move to live inside the military base until further notice.
- Caballero has nevertheless attracted criticism for off-the-cuff remarks. In 2021 in what appeared to be an ill-judged attempt to promote tourism, she said Tijuana was a place where visitors could if they wanted “get lost in drugs”.
Looking Ahead: With the campaign for nominations in next year’s presidential elections gathering pace, the government led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will be looking for narratives that cast a favourable light on its efforts to combat crime and improve security. But for many analysts the Tijuana story fails to fit the bill. Despite the ebb and flow in crime statistics the cartel presence remains strong: for voters, moving the mayor to an army base could be seen as a sign of weakness rather than strength.
