AT LEAST 38 people have been killed since Friday, nine of them decapitated, in escalating drug-related violence that appears to have left in tatters a Mexican military offensive launched two weeks ago, writes RICHARD MAROSIin Tijuana
The killing spree marked the end of the tenure of the city's top law enforcement official, secretary of public security Alberto Capella, who was removed from his post on Monday evening after a year marked by upheaval in the police ranks and increasing violence.
Hundreds of soldiers and federal agents patrolling the eastern part of the city have failed to stop the killings between rival drug cartels, which continue brazen and brutal attacks across the city.
Three of the nine decapitated bodies discovered in an empty lot on Sunday were those of police officers, according to the Baja California attorney general's office.
On Saturday night, two brothers, four, and 13 years old, were gunned down along with their father outside a grocery shop.
The nephew of Baja California's tourism secretary, Angel Escobedo, was found fatally shot inside his car on Saturday morning. In nearby Rosarito Beach, police over the weekend discovered a dismembered body in a car outside a taco stand and another outside a small church.
Since the latest military-led operation began on November 18th, at least 70 people have been killed in Tijuana, according to the attorney general's office. More than 350 have died since rival drug gangs began battling in late September.
At a news conference here, Mexican authorities claimed progress, saying local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are showing increasing levels of co-operation.
They cited as evidence the arrest of Luis Ramirez Vasquez, an alleged key member of the Arellano Felix cartel, as well as large seizures of weapons and the recent destruction of five tons of marijuana.
Over the past several weeks, federal forces have fanned out across the eastern part of the city to replace about 500 police officers who were sent out of the city for retraining.
The move was an attempt to weaken crime boss Teodoro Garcia Simental, who allegedly controls drug trafficking in much of eastern Tijuana.
Critics say the situation has deteriorated; crime rates have increased in the areas patrolled by the federal forces because they are unfamiliar with the city, they say.
And because the soldiers patrol in Hummers and other slow-moving vehicles, the forces are unable to chase down cartel gunmen, who travel in convoys of souped-up sport utility vehicles and late-model trucks, they say.
Mr Capella, a lawyer and former victims' rights activist, repelled an attack on his home by armed gunmen a few days before taking the job last year, and his reputation for honesty generated hope among residents.
But he was unable to gain control of a department plagued by corruption.
He had submitted his resignation recently because he was not receiving enough resources to improve the force, according to law enforcement sources. - (LA Times-Washington Post service)