Tijuana, Baja California – Coordinated armed attacks targeted facilities of the Baja California state Attorney General’s Office (FGE) in Ensenada and Tijuana Tuesday morning, prompting an examination and raising concerns about escalating violence linked to organized crime. Authorities describe the attacks as a direct response to recent law enforcement efforts against criminal organizations.
The attacks come amid reports of increasing cartel activity in the region, with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) reportedly challenging the Sinaloa Cartel for control of key criminal enterprises, including kidnapping and homicide. Agents have alerted authorities to the CJNG’s growing influence.
State Attorney General ma. Elena Andrade vehemently denied any institutional bias in the FGE’s operations, stating, “There is no commitment to anyone here, nor sign up against anyone. The only commitment is to citizens and justice.” She characterized the attacks as “cowardly” and “clearly derived from the work we have been doing.”
So far, three suspects have been detained in connection with the attacks, and searches are ongoing to locate additional individuals involved. According to Andrade Ramírez, the FGE has been conducting arrests of gang members regardless of affiliation, focusing on adherence to the law. “Here you do not act with labels,” she said. “It is not for us to determine to which group they belong to; that is the competence of the federal jurisdiction. But if our state investigation takes us to those objectives, we act according to the law.”
The attacks might potentially be linked to a recent investigation resulting in the arrest of suspects allegedly connected to a quadruple homicide – the deaths of three men and one woman - though officials have not officially confirmed a connection.
the FGE has also been investigating issues including vehicle theft, illicit activities surrounding the Forensic Medical Service (Semefo), and operations involving gambling and wineries dealing in contraband, where financial gain is a key motive.
