Tijuana’s new mayor has a plan to tackle crime

On a recent evening at one of Tijuana’s busiest traffic circles, a sea of ​​black-clad protesters carrying candles marched to the foot of the iconic Cuauhtémoc monument. “We want peace,” they chanted.

Last month’s candlelight vigil, held simultaneously in cities across the state, was organized by a group of businessmen in response to a series of violent crimes in Tijuana and the rest of Baja California, including the killing of the leader of the Ensenada chapter of the national fishing group.

“We have to take back our city,” said Carlos Jaramillo, president of the Tijuana Business Coordinating Council.

“We’re not saying this is new,” he added. “But there comes a point where you have to say no.”

Tijuana — Mexico’s most populous municipality, according to the 2020 census — recorded nearly 1,000 homicides in the first half of 2024, matching last year’s numbers for the same period, state data show. Mexican officials have said the vast majority of the killings are linked to drug trafficking.

Amid this fatigue comes a change in leadership for the border city, where 70 percent of adult residents still feel unsafe, according to the latest National Urban Public Safety Survey. In the June survey, nearly 63 percent said they believe crime will stay the same or get worse in the coming year.

Ismael Burgueño, former leader of the ruling Morena party, will become the new mayor of Tijuana on October 1. Ensuring public safety in the city will likely be one of his biggest challenges.

He takes office on the same day that Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, begins her six-year term. Mexicans will no doubt be watching closely to see if she can put an end to years of violence that have left thousands dead and many more missing.

Burgueño, 40, a Tijuana native and former elementary school teacher, wants to tackle the problem on two fronts: developing a prevention program for youth and equipping the police with more tools and technology. He also wants to bring back a former controversial police chief, retired Lt. Col. Julián Leyzaola.

Leyzaola led the Tijuana police force from 2008 to 2010, when the city was in the midst of a war between drug cartels. Mexican officials say crime in the city dropped under his leadership. But at the time, there were allegations that he had used torture as a tactic during his tenure as top law enforcement official, which he has denied.

In 2015, he survived an armed attack in Ciudad Juárez that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He later returned to Tijuana for failed attempts to run for mayor.

In 2020, the Baja California Attorney General’s Office charged him and his former deputy with allegedly torturing two police officers. His deputy was arrested and released months later while the case was still pending. But Leyzaola remained at large.

In June, Attorney General María Elena Andrade said there was no ongoing case against Leyzaola by the state, only by federal authorities. Since there was no conviction, he would have no problem accepting public office, she said.

Unfazed by the scandal’s taint, Burgueño said he plans to have Leyzaola return to his old job as Tijuana’s secretary of public safety. The former leader was a key figure for Burgueño during his campaign, appearing together in political ads.

“He’s not coming here to learn,” Burgueño said in an interview with the Union-Tribune. “He’s coming to actually implement a security project.” Burgueño said Leyzaola assured him that results would be seen within the first six months.

Technology will be a key part of his security plan, Burgueño said, which includes 360-degree cameras on police cars, body cameras for officers and surveillance cameras around the city so that “when a crime is committed, it’s hard not to know who did it.” He said he was confident there would be a budget for it and that even the private sector had offered to contribute if needed.

Last year, Tijuana’s Secretary of Public Safety Fernando Sánchez said that about 300 police officers assigned to traffic and commercial areas already had body cameras and that they were exploring the idea of ​​adding more to the agency if the budget allowed it, El Mexicano reported.

A significant increase in crime committed by young people is the driving force behind Burgueño’s other public safety priority. In 2023, the number of minors involved in criminal activity increased by 74 percent compared to the previous year, the newspaper El Imparcial reported, citing data from the state’s attorney general. Most of the increase was due to activities related to drug trafficking.

“Unfortunately, and I say this with sadness, it is the youth who have strengthened the ranks of organized crime,” Burgueño said. He envisions programs that engage children and youth in recreational activities as a tool for crime prevention and to ensure that all neighborhoods have access to sports fields and parks.

Outgoing Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero acknowledged in her final State of the City address Wednesday that public safety remains one of the city’s biggest challenges, though she highlighted some progress during her administration. Tijuana’s homicide rate in 2023 is down 9 percent from the previous year, according to state data.

“There is still a lot to be done,” she said.

Burgueño said he wants to improve coordination with state and federal officials to strengthen the police force and add more officers to the department. He said the department currently has 2,400 officers, but the city needs about 7,500.

Burgueño has political allies in Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila and on Sheinbaum’s team, which has also floated plans to provide more resources to young people, much as the current president has done.

Good coordination between law enforcement agencies at the three levels of government is essential in a city like Tijuana, noted former Mayor Karla Ruiz.

“Tijuana is an atypical city,” she said. “We have the sea on one side and the border on the other, the sea is guarded by the navy and the border is the federal government… You have all these challenges where you have to work in a coordinated way.”

Jaramillo, the businessman who organized last month’s peace vigil, urged authorities to take strong action against the violence.

“There is a great opportunity with the new governments,” he said. “We have high expectations that things can get better.”

Meanwhile, the community is demanding answers after a series of violent incidents in the city. In the same week last month, shootings were reported at entertainment venues in Tijuana — including outside a crowded soccer stadium, where one person was killed, and at a water park, where five people were injured.

While international media attention focused on the May murders of two Australian surfers and their friend from San Diego in Ensenada, a case that ended in arrests, Baja California residents also pointed to the hundreds of unsolved murders in the state.

In the commercial sector, some companies have reported that they have been victims of extortion by criminals, who demand compensation in exchange for releasing their activities without threats.

“We can’t let organized crime win and rule,” said Maribel Moreno, who does public relations for restaurants and culinary events. “Our governments have to stop it and put an end to it.”

Originally published: August 11, 2024 at 5:00 AM