1 of 1 TIJUANA (Mexico) Aerial view of almost empty avenue Paseo de los Heroes in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP TIJUANA (Mexico) Aerial view of almost empty avenue Paseo de los Heroes, in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP
Montserrat Caballero, mayor of the Mexican city of Tijuana, has decided to move to a military barracks after facing threats from organized crime, Mexican officials said Tuesday.
“She has already been protected for about 15 days because of threats and it was decided to protect her,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said during a news conference.
The 40yearold mayor belongs to the same party as President Morena. It was the federal government that, after the threats, suggested that she be accommodated in a military facility.
In a statement published on her Facebook page, she said the situation is not easy, especially because she has a family and a child.
President López Obrador also said the government will assess the situation to decide whether the mayor will continue to live in a military garrison.
The city is on the drug trafficking route
Caballero has ruled Tijuana since October 1, 2021 and says he has received threats because his government is fighting drug cartels and other criminal groups.
Tijuana is part of the routes used by cartels to smuggle drugs into the United States, often through tunnels. As a result, the city has problems with organized crimerelated violence.
The city is in the state of Baja California, the third most violent in the country, with 945 murders between January and May last year, according to official figures.
Since the launch of a controversial military antidrug offensive in December 2006, more than 350,000 murders and about 110,000 enforced disappearances have been registered in Mexico, most of them attributed to criminal organizations.