Tijuana: A Snapshot of the Killings
The killings in Tijuana have quietly and devastatingly passed 1400, with 181 in October. I say quiet, because this is nearing Juarez levels of violence, and yet it remains mostly out of the public eye. In the colonias, the sprawling concentrated pockets of urban poverty, and relentless violence, they are anything but "quiet".
The blue and red lights of various authorities assigned to "clean up" after the killings pierce many windows, and reflect off graffiti smeared walls, sidewalks, small businesses, taquerias, mariscos stands, teinditas. The image is a surrealist nightmare, a never ending fever dream of killing.
This is an incomplete and partial collection of the latest killings, throughout Tijuana, and including one in Ensenada:
11/1: A man and a woman found dead in a river canal, with gunshot wounds, along Avenue Campos del Parejes del Valle
11/1: A man behind the wheel of a free taxi, found executed, in Camino Verde, Sanchez Tadoaba.
10/31: A woman's body found in a suitcase, in colonia La Mesa
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| Scene of murder of free taxi driver |
10/30: A man's body found in plastic bags and blankets, in the downtown area, 5 others were found murdered across the city, the same day.
10/28: A woman's body is found in a trash container outside the "BLVD" bar on Costero Street, Ensenada.
10/23: Two found "encobijado", one on Blvd 2000, wrapped in a mattress, stabbed to death, another in El Florido, wrapped in a blanket, that had been strangled to death.
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| BLVD, a woman's body found in container oustide |
10/21: Three killed in a gunfight in Los Mariscos Paisa in Camino Verde, one included a retired US citizen, who lived in Puerto Vallerta, and was planning to visit San Diego, (as reported by the San Diego Union Tribune)
10/21: The body of two women were found encobijado, one in colonia Ciudad Jardin, one in Villas del Campo.
Mornings begin daily with the announcement of multiple bodies found across the city, in the first few hours of daylight, exposing the dead. The shot, the executed, the strangled, the stabbed, the beaten, bruised and bloody, broken bodies, and ejected shells litter the streets, bodies that cannot speak for themselves. Nevertheless, the bodies send a message of despair, greed, and the banality of killing under the sun in another day in Tijuana.
Sources: AFN Tijuana
San Diego Union Tribune: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/sd-me-tijuana-killed-20171030-story.html