Thread: Mexico shootout kills 15

Massive gunbattles break out in Tijuana; 13 dead, 9 wounded
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer
Sun Apr 27, 8:11 AM ET

TIJUANA, Mexico - Massive gunbattles broke out between suspected drug traffickers who fired at each other while speeding down heavily populated streets of this violent border city early Saturday, killing 13 people and wounding nine.

All of the dead were believed to be drug traffickers, possibly rival members of the same cartel who were trying to settle scores, said Rommel Moreno, the attorney general of Baja California state, where Tijuana is located.

"Evidently this is a confrontation between gangs," Moreno told reporters.

Eight suspects and one federal police officer were injured in the pre-dawn shootings, none gravely, said Agustin Perez Aguilar, a spokesman for the state public safety department. The suspects are being held on suspicion of weapons possession among other possible charges.

Police recovered 21 vehicles, many with bullet holes or U.S. license plates; a total of 54 guns; and more than 1,500 spent shell casings at various points in the city where the battles broke out, Perez Aguilar said.

At one point, the alleged traffickers fired at one another as their sport utility vehicles sped down a busy six-lane boulevard lined with restaurants, car repair shops, medical offices and strip malls.

Bullet holes could be seen in the walls of a factory building and on the perimeter wall of a housing complex along the road, but no bystander deaths were reported. It was not clear how long the gunbattles lasted.

A mall security guard who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals said he heard hundreds of gunshots fired, some of which passed near him.

"I hit the ground," the guard said. When he got up again, he said he saw bullet holes in the wall behind him, a dead man lying in a pool of blood and 11 abandoned, bullet-ridden SUVs on the street.

The first shootout claimed seven victims. Three subsequent gunbattles — one outside a hospital — claimed five more, police said. The body of a man police believe to be the 13th victim turned up at a city hospital.

Tijuana, a sprawling metropolis just across the border from San Diego, California, is pervaded by frequent violence, much of it blamed on drug cartels battling for control of lucrative trafficking routes. The city is home to the Arellano-Felix drug cartel.

In January, eight people died in a gunbattle at a Tijuana safe-house apparently used by drug hit men to hold kidnapped rivals. In that confrontation, hit men holed up inside the house battled police and soldiers with automatic weapons for three hours.

Published Monday | April 28, 2008
Reports: Mexico shootout kills 15
The Associated Press
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1 ... d=10320534

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - Mexico's military posted soldiers around a major hospital Monday to guard suspects wounded during weekend gunbattles that raged across Tijuana.

Two more deaths raised the toll to 15 from the pre-dawn Saturday shootouts in the violence-plagued Mexican city across the U.S. border from San Diego, local news media reported.

All of the dead were believed to be drug traffickers, possibly rival members of the same drug cartel, Baja California state Attorney General Rommel Moreno said.

He refused to specify the cartel. The Tijuana-based Arellano Felix gang has been shaken by the arrests or deaths of many of its key leaders.

Police did not identify any of the dead or wounded.

In one of the shootouts, gunmen exchanged fire between sport utility vehicles speeding down a six-lane boulevard in Tijuana.

The first shootout claimed seven victims. Three subsequent gunbattles - one outside a hospital - claimed five more. Police said the body of the 13th victim turned up at a city hospital, and local news media reported the deaths of two others who were hospitalized.

The attorney general's office said eight suspects were being treated at the heavily guarded hospital, and local newspapers said it canceled outpatient services and laboratory work. Hospital officials could not be reached for comment.

In 2007, gunmen opened fire on state police guarding the same hospital, where gang members were being treated for gunshot wounds.

The suspects are being held on suspicion of weapons possession among other possible charges.

Published Tuesday | April 29, 2008
Tijuana drug violence threatens hospital
By ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1 ... d=10322777

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - Soldiers held Tijuana's main hospital in a virtual lockdown Tuesday as doctors treated eight drug traffickers wounded in running shootouts in this border city.

Even in Mexico's most violent city, jaded residents feel caught in the crossfire between drug smugglers and federal troops sent in to stop them. Hospitals, schools, and even taco-and-beer tourism are suddenly on the front lines of a raging turf war.

The latest bout of violence exploded on Saturday, with rival gang members killing each other all over Tijuana in simultaneous, pre-dawn attacks that left at least 13 dead.

Three days later, the Hospital General de Tijuana is surrounded by camouflaged federal troops with machine guns guarding locked gates. Outpatient services were halted, visits from family and friends were severely restricted and anyone without an emergency was told to go elsewhere.

"There isn't any other way," said Miguel Marin, a 28-year-old day laborer who missed the birth of his second daughter because he wasn't allowed to accompany his wife inside.

The soldiers guarding the hospital hope to prevent cartel gunmen from shooting their way in to rescue their colleagues - or finish them off. A year ago, a drug gang sent hit men into the hospital to rescue a wounded criminal, leaving three people dead and hundreds of patients and staff trapped for hours.

Mexico's drug cartels had long divided the border, with each controlling key cities. But over the past decade Mexico has arrested or killed many of the gangs' top leaders, creating a power vacuum and throwing lucrative drug routes up for the taking.

President Felipe Calderon, who took office in December 2006, responded to the increased violence by deploying more than 24,000 soldiers and federal police to areas where the government had lost control. And that sparked even more violence from the gangs, who now behead their rivals and recruit soldiers with billboards.

Calderon admits the crackdown hasn't reduced violence yet, saying it will take years to seize back control of large parts of Mexico from the drug gangs. That leaves many people impatient.

"Other countries - even Iraq - have strategies against violence," said Dr. Ruben Corral, emerging from the hospital gates. "What is our Plan B? We don't know what the government's strategy is. Closing a hospital is not the answer."

But some officials say the strategy is working by turning traffickers against one another. Agustin Perez, a spokesman for the state public safety department, applauded Saturday's violence because traffickers killed one another but didn't threaten innocents.

"We hope there are more events" like it, he said.

That said, much of the violence has put ordinary citizens at risk as well.

A shootout in January forced the evacuation of a Tijuana preschool, with live television footage showing children fleeing ricocheting bullets. The border city's once-boisterous tourist discos and shops are quiet. The U.S. State Department recently warned the few Americans still visiting Tijuana to be especially careful.

At the hospital, doctors said they would be terrified as long as the drug suspects remained inside.

"We're in a constant state of anxiety," said one doctor, too terrified of the cartels to give his name. "There is no peace - not during the day, not at night."

Authorities have said little about who was behind Saturday's attacks. Rommel Moreno, the state attorney general, called them a "confrontation between gangs."

His office said ballistics tests showed links between the 60 guns and more than 1,500 spent bullet casings recovered, and previous high-profile crimes including the slayings of two Mexican government border agents last month, the ambush of a police officer in 2006 and an assassination attempt on the Playas de Rosarito police chief in December.

Most believe drug smugglers are battling for Tijuana after the city's dominant gang, the Arellano Felix cartel, was weakened six years ago by the killing of Ramon Arellano Felix and the arrest of his brother Benjamin. Others say factions within the Arellano Felix gang may be battling one another.

There are also allegations of government complicity in the drug trade, including a letter last week by a Mexican general naming dozens of officials he claimed were involved in organized crime. On Friday, Calderon called the general to a meeting with top state and federal officials.

But some say the violence might actually be an indication that such involvement is on the decline.

"There have been agreements between governments and drug traffickers for many years, but it seems there is no agreement now," said a plastic surgeon at Hospital General, who feared he'd be killed if he gave his name.

The violence has taken a large toll on doctors. At least one doctor is kidnapped each week for ransom, according to Tijuana doctors association president Jose Patino, and police are increasingly sending dangerous suspects for treatment at Hospital General.

"We wish we had a jail that had a hospital, but we don't," said Luis Humberto Lopez of the state attorney general's office.

Hundreds of doctors protested outside City Hall two weeks ago to demand an end to the kidnappings, and several doctors said Tuesday they were considering work stoppages to protest the dangerous criminals sent in for treatment.