At least 19 vehicles, including private cars, public transport and cargo units, were allegedly set on fire by organized crime groups, this Friday in the Mexican state of Baja California, bordering the United States, giving way to the wave of violence that this week it hit several states in Mexico.
The blockades and the burning vehicles, which occurred almost simultaneously, occurred on main avenues in cities such as Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Tecate and Ensenada, all in Baja California, as reported by social network users through videos.
Given such actions, the governor of the state of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Ávila, regretted the events and announced that there were already some detainees.
“I condemn the violent events that occurred this afternoon in our state. At this time I am meeting with the Security Table. There are already detainees responsible for the events that occurred. It is important to remain calm, we will keep you informed,” Ávila said in a message on Twitter.
Dozens of citizens began to report on social networks the presence of groups of armed and hooded men in various parts of the city of Tijuana, where they stripped drivers of their vehicles to set them on fire.
The Secretary of Public Security of Tijuana, Fernando Sánchez, confirmed in an official broadcast that there were 12 cars set on fire in Tijuana, which were attended by firefighters and that so far there have been no reports of people injured or killed.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Tijuana, Montserrat Caballero, said in a message on social networks that as authorities they will not allow “no single Tijuana citizen to pay the consequences of those who did not pay their bills.”
In addition, she sent a message to organized crime: “We tell you that Tijuana is going to keep taking care of the citizens and we also ask them to collect their bills from those who did not pay their debts, not the families or the citizens.”
The events in Tijuana and other cities in Baja California occurred one day after the violent day in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, which left 11 dead, 12 injured and several businesses and vehicles burned, in the same week in which those events were recorded. violent acts in the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato.
Precisely in Guanajuato, this Friday there were again roadblocks and burned vehicles in several municipalities of the state after a confrontation between police and criminals.
This series of events reflects the wave of violence in Mexico, which registered 33,315 homicides in 2021 after the two most violent years in its history, under the mandate of López Obrador, with 34,690 murder victims in 2019 and 34,554 in 2020.