Tijuana Cartel

The Tijuana Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Tijuana) or Arellano-Félix Organization (Spanish: Cártel Arellano Félix - CAF) is now a small Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana. The cartel once was described as "one of the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico"^[4] however since the 2006 Sinaloa Cartel incursion in Baja California and the fall of the Arellano-Félix brothers, the Tijuana Cartel has been reduced to a small group of scattered cells.^[5]

History

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, the founder of the Guadalajara Cartel was arrested in 1989. While incarcerated, he remained one of Mexico's major traffickers, maintaining his organization via mobile phone until he was transferred to a new maximum security prison in the 1990s. At that point, his old organization broke up into two factions: the Tijuana Cartel led by his nephews, the Arellano Félix brothers, and the Sinaloa Cartel, run by former lieutenants Héctor Luis Palma Salazar and Joaquín Guzmán Loera, a.k.a. El Chapo.

Currently, the majority of Mexico's smuggling routes are controlled by three key cartels: Gulf, Sinaloa and Tijuana —though Tijuana is the least powerful. The Tijuana cartel was further weakened in August 2006 when its chief, Javier Arellano Félix, was arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard on a boat off the coast of Baja California.^[6] Mexican army troops also were sent to Tijuana in January 2007 in an operation to restore order to the border city and root out corrupt police officers, who mostly were cooperating with the Tijuana cartel. As a result of these efforts, the Tijuana cartel is unable to project much power outside of its base in Tijuana.^[7] Much of the violence that emerged in 2008 in Tijuana was a result of conflicts within the Tijuana cartel; on one side, the faction led by Teodoro García Simental (a.k.a. El Teo) favored kidnappings. The other faction, led by Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano (a.k.a. El Ingeniero), focused primarily on drug trafficking.^[8] The faction led by Sánchez Arellano demanded the reduction of the kidnappings in Tijuana, but his demands were rejected by García Simental, resulting in high levels of violence.^[8] Nonetheless, most of the victims in Tijuana were white-collar entrepreneurs, and the kidnappings were bringing "too much heat on organized crime" and disrupting the criminal enterprises and interests of the cartel.^[9]

The Mexican federal government responded by implementing "Operation Tijuana," a coordination carried out between the Mexican military and the municipal police forces in the area. To put down the violence, InSight Crime states that a pact was probably created between military officials and members of the Sánchez Arellano faction to eliminate Simental's group.^[8] The U.S. authorities speculated through WikiLeaks in 2009 that Tijuana's former police boss, Julián Leyzaola, had made agreements with Sánchez Arellano to bring relative peace in Tijuana.^[10] With the arrest of El Teo in January 2010, much of his faction was eliminated from the city of Tijuana; some of its remains went off and joined with the Sinaloa Cartel. But much of the efforts done between 2008 and 2010 in Tijuana would not have been possible without the coordination of local police forces and the Mexican military – and possibly with a cartel truce – to put down the violence.^[8]

The relative peace in the city of Tijuana in 2010–2012 has raised speculations of a possible agreement between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel to maintain peace in the area.^[11] According to Mexican and U.S. authorities, most of Tijuana is under the dominance of the Sinaloa cartel, while Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano of the Tijuana cartel remains the "head of that puppet empire."^[11] To be exact, experts told InSight Crime that the peace exists because Joaquín Guzmán Loera wants it that way, and argued that his organization—the Sinaloa Cartel—has spread too thin with its wars with Los Zetas and the Juárez Cartel that opening a third war would be inconvenient.^[11] The Tijuana cartel, however, has something their rivals do not have: a long-time family with business and political connections throughout the city. InSight Crime believes that this could explain why the Sinaloa cartel has left Sánchez Arellano as the figurehead, since it might be too costly for El Chapo financially and politically to make a final push.^[11] Moreover, the Tijuana cartel charges a toll ("piso") on the Sinaloa cartel for trafficking drugs in their territory, which serves as an illustration of the Tijuana cartel's continued hegemony as a local group.^[12] Despite the series of high-ranking arrests the cartel suffered throughout 2011–2012, its ability to maintain a highly centralized criminal infrastructure shows how difficult it is to uproot cartels who have long-established their presence in a community.^[12]

Organization

The Arellano Félix family was initially composed of seven brothers and four sisters, who inherited the organization from Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo upon his incarceration in Mexico in 1989 for his complicity in the murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. The brothers' death and arrests during the 2000's did impact the Arellano Felix cartel, however they did not dismantle the organization. Today the group is led by the Arellano's nephew, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano.^[13][14]

The Tijuana Cartel has infiltrated the Mexican law enforcement and judicial systems and is directly involved in street-level trafficking within the United States. This criminal organization is responsible for the transportation, importation, and distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana, as well as large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine.^[15]

The organization has a reputation for extreme violence. Ramón Arellano Félix ordered a hit which resulted in the mass murder of 18 people in Ensenada, Baja California, on September 17, 1998. Ramón was eventually killed in a gun battle with police at Mazatlán Sinaloa, on February 10, 2002.

The Arellano Félix family has seven brothers:

• Rafael Arellano-Félix† (born 24 October 1949) - Captured(1993), released(2008), murdered on 18 October 2013^[16]
• Benjamín Arellano-Félix (born 3 December 1952) - Captured on March 9, 2002, extradited on April 29, 2011^[17]
• Carlos Arellano-Félix (born 20 August 1955) - Not currently wanted.^[18]
• Eduardo Arellano-Félix (born 11 October 1956) - Captured on October 26, 2008, extradited on August 31, 2012
• Ramón Arellano-Félix† (born 31 August 1964) - Deceased, shot by police in February 2002
• Luis Fernando Arellano-Félix (believed to be born 26 January 1966) - Not currently wanted
• Javier Arellano-Félix (born 11 December 1969) - Captured in August 2006

They also have four sisters, of which Alicia and Enedina are most active in the cartel's affairs.

Eduardo Arellano Félix was captured by the Mexican Army after a shootout in Tijuana, Baja California, on October 26, 2008;^[13] he had been the last of the Arellano Félix brothers at large. Enedina's son, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano, took over the cartel's operations.^[19] His two top lieutenants were Armando Villareal Heredia^[20] and Edgardo Leyva Escandon.^[21] Fernando Sanchez Arellano was arrested by Mexican police in June 2014^[22] Leyva remains at large and Villareal was captured in July 2011.^[23]

On November 5, 2011, Mexican troops arrested cartel lieutenant Francisco Sillas Rocha,^[24] who was reported to the cartel's number two leader,^[24] and some of his close associates.^[24] Experts argued that Rocha's arrest put the Tijuana Cartel "on the ropes,"^[25] though some differed on whether or not the arrest put "the final nail in the coffin" for the Tijuana Cartel.^[25]

Activities

The Tijuana cartel is present in at least 15 Mexican states with important areas of operation in Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate, and Ensenada in Baja California, in parts of Sinaloa^[26] and Zacatecas. After the death in 1997 of the Juárez Cartel's Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Tijuana Cartel attempted to gain a foothold in Sonora.^[4] The Oaxaca Cartel reportedly joined forces with the Tijuana Cartel in 2003.

Fourteen Mexican drug gang members were killed and eight others were injured in a gun battle in Tijuana near the U.S. border on Saturday, April 26, 2008 that was one of the bloodiest shootouts in the narco-war between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. On December 1, 2011, William R. Sherman, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's office in San Diego, announced that the cartel had been annihilated and the Sinaloa Cartel now controlled a large number of the drug routes the Tijuana Cartel once had.^[27] On December 12, 2011, Tijuana Police Chief Alberto Capella Ibarra also announced that captured cartel lieutenant Francisco Sillas Rocha had confessed that the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel had formed a truce and that the Tijuana Cartel was seeking to merge with the Sinaloa Cartel^[28] After Benjamin Arellano-Felix pled guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to launder money on January 4, 2012, it was accepted that the Tijuana Cartel had greatly lost influence.^[17] It was also reported that the cartel had lost their former Tijuana hotbed to the Sinaloa Cartel.^[17] The clan of the Arellano Felix continues, although diminished after the capture of their leaders.

Captures and trial

In October 1997, a retired U.S. Air Force C-130A that was sold to the airline Aeropostal Cargo de México was seized by Mexican federal officials, who alleged that the aircraft had been used to haul drugs for the cartel up from Central and South America, as well as around the Mexican interior. Investigators had linked the airline's owner, Jesús Villegas Covallos, to Ramón Arellano Félix.^[4]

On August 14, 2006, Francisco Javier Arellano Félix was apprehended by the United States Coast Guard off the coast of Baja California Sur. On November 5, 2007, Francisco was sentenced to life in prison, at ADX Florence, after pleading guilty in September 2007 to running a criminal enterprise and laundering money.^[29][30]

Benjamin Arellano Felix, who was arrested on March 9, 2002 by the Mexican Army in the state of Puebla, Mexico,^[31] was extradited to the United States in April 29, 2011 to face charges of trafficking cocaine into California.^[32] He later pled guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to launder money, and was sentenced to 25 years in jail on April 2, 2012.^[33] Once that is served, he will be sent back to Mexico to finish another 22 years for a conviction there.^[34]

On August 31, 2012, Eduardo Arellano Felix was extradited to the United States to face trial for racketeering, money laundering and narcotics trafficking charges in the Southern District of California.^[35] He pled guilty to money laundering and is serving 15 years.

Los Palillos

Los Palillos ("The Toothpicks") was a group operating within Tijuana Cartel, who worked as the armed wing of the Tijuana Cartel in the United States, for the control of the criminal activities in the United States specially California and Nevada.^[36][37]

They were a criminal organization that operates from San Diego to Los Angeles and other California and Nevada cities. To avoid constant confrontations with the police and police interest reducing his wealth Ramon Arellano Felix began bribing almost any official possible. Ramon received money from members of the criminal group and local criminals to "kick up" money from their illegal activities such as kidnapping and contract killing take the half of the money and give it to the Tijuana Cartel to launderning it. That was way the Arellano Felix brothers operation include other clans in Tijuana and Los Angeles.^[37][38]

Presence in Colombia

The Tijuana Cartel is believed to have ties with the FARC a Colombia guerrilla group that also has ties with some other Mexican drug Cartels. In 1990's, the Tijuana Cartel concluded that expanding their market opportunities in Colombia, in exchange drug for weapons. Then in the 2000s they formed an alliance with the Cali Cartel and Norte del Valle Cartel to have new allies for the cocaine business.^[39]

Current status and new generation

The Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano new generation organization of the cartel is believed to be one of the newest leaders in it to begin shipping cocaine from Colombia, particularly from Los Rastrojos and Other Colombian dealers. The cartel was involved in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in Baja California area. Operating out in Tijuana, the cartel is now believed to make other activities such as Kidnapping, People smuggling and Bribery from a network of cells of local members. The Tijuana border region where the drugs are stored prior to shipment. The Tijuana Cartel has lost power but is growing more alliances in foreign countries.^[37][40]

In popular culture

There are several Mexican-folk (norteño) ballads (narco-corridos) that narrates the Tijuana cartel exploits.

A fictional "Tijuana cartel" headed by a character named Obregon was featured battling a fictional "Juarez cartel" in the 2000 motion picture Traffic.

See also

• Mérida Initiative
• Mexican Drug War
• Narcotrafficking in Colombia
• War on Drugs
• List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords

References

Bibliography

• Longmire, Sylvia (2011). Cartel: The Coming Invasion of Mexico's Drug Wars. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0230111378. 

Further reading

• Fatal Shooting in Logan Heights May Have Been Gang-Related - San Diego, California News Station - KFMB Channel 8 - cbs8.com
• 10 Indicted in Tijuana Cartel Case - Los Angeles Times