Tijuana residents were still on edge Monday morning following the mayhem Friday, when drug cartels terrorized the city and other parts of Baja California by setting dozens of vehicles ablaze.
Graciela Ramirez owns a restaurant near Avenida Revolución. She closed early on Friday after seeing a car burned down as the sun set. She saw three more fires during her ride home.
“I was scared,” she said in an interview Monday. “I heard they were burning down businesses. I left not knowing if I’d ever see it again.”
Despite Friday night’s chaos, no one was badly hurt or killed, said Tijuana Mayor Monserrat Caballero during a Saturday morning news conference.
“The problem is serious but not grave,” Caballero said, adding that 3,000 troops and 2,000 police officers had been deployed throughout the city to keep the peace. “We will protect Tijuana.”
Nonetheless, Tijuana residents were shaken.
“They wanted to scare us, well they actually did scare us,” said a man named Martin who has lived in Tijuana for 20 years. “I stayed home and didn’t go out.”
Martin, who did not want his last name used, viewed Friday’s chaos as a message from the cartel to the government.
“They showed that they can shut down the city if the government doesn’t give them what they want,” he said.
On Friday night, several businesses and the city’s public transportation system shut down. Cruise lines scheduled to dock in Ensenada canceled. And several people with medical appointments also canceled their visits.
The attacks were part of a larger coordinated action by the New Generation Jalisco cartel. Officials said it may be in response to the arrest of a high-ranking member.
Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, TX., saw much more violence. Eleven people were killed there, including a minor and four adults who were shot at random.
As Monday morning wore on, Tijuana showed increased signs of normalcy.
The pedestrian border crossing was filled with thousands of people who had attended the Baja Beach Fest music festival. Some waited as much as four hours to cross the border.
Ramirez felt safe enough to reopen her restaurant. “There are more people out now, more people on the streets and cars on the road,” she said.
Several police vehicles drove around the block as she served a seafood-based soup.
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Matt BowlerThe city began returning to normalcy Monday, two days after members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel set vehicles on fire throughout Mexico. -
Tijuana continues to recover from a traumatic weekend which saw many businesses close and residents shelter in place from threats of violence from drug cartels.
