Mica for cartelinsider.com
In 1989, the authorities of Mexico and the United States dealt a hard blow to drug trafficking. On April 8 of that year, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo was apprehended, which caused the official dissolution of his criminal organization: the Guadalajara Cartel. As happens in other cases, two large cartels, Sinaloa and Tijuana, were born from fragments of this criminal group. The latter was responsible for multiple threats against communicators and journalists, some of which became a reality.
Even though today it no longer holds the same power it had in its early years, the Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix Cartel, became one of the most well-known organizations due to the fierce war it waged against the Sinaloa Cartel, led in its beginnings by Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán.
It is also identified by the extreme violence that it displayed in Baja California, its stronghold, whose population suffered the consequences. Among those affected by the presence of the Arellano Felix Cartel is a Mexican newspaper founded in 1980, which was a victim of threats and attacks against its members: it is the ZETA weekly.
“The border newspaper based in Tijuana and founded by Jesús Blancornelas, Héctor Félix Miranda and Francisco Ortiz Franco – and circulated in several cities of Baja California such as Tijuana, Tecate, Rosarito and Ensenada – suffered the first attack orchestrated by the Arellano Félix in 1997.”
Since its beginnings, the weekly publication has been characterized by covering news about organized crime, drug trafficking and corruption, which caused the anger of the main organization present in Baja California.
The danger that those who covered any of those topics faced became tangible when Jesus Blancornelas was ambushed by members of the Tijuana Cartel after publishing an article about Ramon Arellano Felix, the main leader of the organization.
The reports indicate that during the attack, more than 180 shots were fired against Blancornelas, who despite the level of aggression managed to survive, although with serious injuries to the abdomen. His driver, Luis Valero Elizalde, was not as lucky.
Seven years later, Francisco Ortiz Franco, co-founder of the ZETA weekly newspaper, became the second victim of the Arellano Felix brothers. On June 22, 2004, three men intercepted him while he was driving with his daughters and fired three shots at him.
The murder of Ortiz Franco remains unsolved, even though it was revealed in 2011 that the responsible for said event was Javier Arellano Félix. It was reported that the crime occurred following the publication of an article about his family, as well as the first and only known photographs of all the members.
On their part, the first direct threat against the entire editorial staff was recorded on November 25, 2016, following the publication of edition 2226.
According to the same edition, on that occasion several photographs and names of the most wanted criminals in Baja California were published, including members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).”
As a result, ZETA pointed out that one of the listed individuals, Israel Alejandro Vázquez, also known as ‘El 50’, ordered a group of individuals to attack the facilities with grenades “as a form of retribution.”
The second one occurred on April 5, 2017, when “a binational intelligence group in pursuit of drug trafficking” alerted the executives of ZETA about the danger they were in.
According to the weekly magazine, the threat came directly from José Roque García, alleged leader of a cell of the Arellano Félix Cartel. The objective of the criminals was clear: “to put an end to the ZETA weekly magazine” through a bomb that would be placed in the building or nearby.
However, both events were promptly reported to the authorities and after that, no incidents were recorded.
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Mica
Email: mica@cartelinsider.com
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