Six arrested in Sinaloa for alleged involvement in Tijuana violence
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Tuesday the arrests of six people allegedly involved in various acts of violence in Tijuana on Friday when vehicles were set on fire in a dozen locations, people were forced off public transportation at gunpoint and roads were blocked.
The arrests happened Monday in Los Mochis and Culiacan in Sinaloa state, López Obrador said Tuesday during his regularly scheduled morning news briefing, called the mañanera.
“Many of those who participated in these acts have already been arrested. Yesterday an arrest was made of those who participated in Tijuana; they were arrested in Sinaloa, between [Los] Mochis and Culiacan — two, three leaders, and apparently the bosses,” he said.
Things appeared to return back to normal as the hours-long traffic to go through border checkpoints to the United States were back.
Baja California state leaders have said there have been 17 people detained within the state in connection with the vandalism and violence, but it remains unclear if some of those who were arrested during the weekend have since been released. Federal authorities said 12 were transferred to Mexico City for interviews and to continue the federal investigation. No further information was released about their identities or potential motives.
During the mañanera, Mexico’s president went on to partially blame conservative politics for benefiting from news of the events last weekend, during which at least 30 vehicles were set on fire across Baja California, essentially shutting down commerce and travel for a few hours Friday night into Saturday morning.
Messages circulating on social media, purportedly from the Jalisco New Generation cartel, declared that the cartel was implementing a curfew. The posts told residents that they should go home or risk being attacked.
With virtually no independent journalists left inside and foreign reporters banned from entering, Nicaragua has become ‘an information black hole.’
“The arrests will continue, and of course there was propaganda from these groups, the burning of vehicles, ... and there was also propaganda from the right, from conservatism,” said López Obrador.
The comments are in keeping with López Obrador’s pattern of making combative assertions, mostly aimed at political rivals and journalists he accuses of trying to derail his transformation of the government.
He said that, although it cannot be proved that this was a “concerted action,” he had no doubt that “both criminal groups and the conservative bloc propagandized,” according to Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias, which first reported on the president’s comments.
Life seemed to return to normal Monday in the border region with people going back to work, school and other activities in Tijuana and across the state. However, an additional four vehicles were set on fire Tuesday morning in Ensenada.
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