CDS Cell in the Murder of Commander Israel Ortiz

Although the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) maintains that the murder of its operational commander, Israel Ortiz Castillo, could be related to the search conducted to apprehend municipal police officer Martín Ibarra Páez, there are indications that a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS) may be involved in the armed attack.

With this crime, Ortiz joins the list of five officers murdered in recent years, including Hiram Rivera Lizárraga, Manuel Avendaño Rojas, Edmos Sánchez Lizárraga, Daniel Federico Villalvazo (assigned to the Tijuana Anti-Kidnapping Unit), as well as Cristian Urías García in San Quintín, and Cristian Armando Mouet Quiñonez.

The murder occurred at approximately 10:55 p.m. on Saturday, January 16, on Faisanes Street in the La Joyita neighborhood of Ensenada. The commander was shot while inside his patrol car, sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.

Following the attack, authorities located two burned vehicles obstructing a lane at the end of Ruiz Avenue: a Honda and a Hyundai Elantra.

Since the day of the murder, the Attorney General’s Office, in coordination with state and federal agencies, has executed at least 11 search warrants with the aim of finding evidence that will lead to the perpetrators.

In one of these operations, a red RAM pickup truck was seized, allegedly used to set fire to the vehicles used during the armed attack against the officer.

The official version, presented by Attorney General Ma. Elena Andrade Ramírez, indicates that the possible connection between the homicide and the operation in which municipal police officer Martín Ibarra was arrested is being investigated. Ibarra was implicated in the disappearance of five people in the Valle de Guadalupe, which occurred in March 2025. During this operation, which took place on January 13, 21-year-old Erick Ibarra González, the son of the arrested municipal officer, was killed.

According to the official account, that night the young man allegedly attempted to help his father escape from a building, hiding him in the trunk of a vehicle while his sister Karla drove.

The officers participating in the raid claimed that Erick, who was riding in the passenger seat, pointed a weapon at them (which later turned out to be a toy gun) and that for this reason they fired a high-caliber weapon at the back of the vehicle, striking him in the back.

In response to Erick’s death, the young man’s family asserted that there was never a toy gun and alleged that it had been planted to justify the homicide.

According to information contained in the case file, there are indications that Israel Ortiz was allegedly affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel and that he was obligated to report on any operation carried out by the police force, “without exception.”

Sources indicated that, in his capacity as commander, Ortiz was in charge of coordinating the surveillance team, the same team that carried out the raid the night Erick Ibarra died, an event that allegedly triggered the murder of the state agent.

Among the evidence being analyzed by the investigative team are Ortiz’s last messages and communications, with the aim of establishing who he was in contact with prior to the attack.

“That operation got out of control. They planted a plastic gun on the victim. The young man wasn’t carrying anything,” said investigative agents consulted on the matter.

THE CDS’S CONNECTION TO DISAPPEARANCES IN VALLE DE GUADALUPE

On the night of March 2025, a group of municipal police officers in the Valle de Guadalupe was captured on video arriving in patrol cars at a ranch located at the intersection of Tierra Santa and Monte Parnaso streets, in the El Porvenir ejido.

There, according to information from the Security Directorate, the officers arrested six people in possession of weapons and drugs, allegedly methamphetamine. All of them were identified as workers from Sinaloa and Tijuana.

Among this group was officer Martín Ibarra, who hadn’t been arrested because he had obtained injunctions protecting him.

The situation became complicated because five men who were inside the property couldn’t be located: Rigoberto Rivera Rangel, 22 years old; Josué Fernando Tiznado Vidaca, 19; Rubén Efrén Ray Ordaz, 18; Juan Edgar Mayorga Pérez, 29; and another unidentified individual.

A month later, officers from the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), the Mexican Navy, and the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) executed more arrest warrants against four other members of the Special Operations Group (GOE) who were working for the Sinaloa Cartel.

They are Ricardo Dávila, 30 years old, and Brayan Isaac, 25; as well as Misuky Jazmín Saray Wuinkler and her partner, José Francisco Vea Terán. All were charged with abduction.

THE DSPM HAD 20 YEARS OF IMPUNITY

Regarding the death of citizen Erick at the hands of an FGR (Attorney General’s Office) officer, Attorney General Ma. Elena Andrade Ramírez responded that the moment one of her officers sees a weapon, it’s impossible to distinguish whether it’s real or a prop, which can provoke an immediate reaction.

She also added that the vehicle accelerated with the intention of fleeing, which prompted the officers’ actions.

The night the young man died, they were looking for his father, a municipal police officer who was being investigated as a suspect in the disappearance of six young people, some of them possibly minors, approximately between 18 and 20 years old.

That day, she said, a previously requested search warrant was to be executed, “since we had information that the suspect might be at his home, located in a boarding house.” This information dates back to last year (2025).

“Somehow, this person tried to evade justice by hiding in the trunk of a private vehicle.  Seeing themselves surrounded by the officers who were already ready to enter the residence, they fled in the vehicle.”

“During these events, the young man pulled out what appeared to be a firearm, which was later determined to be a prop weapon. Unfortunately, during the intervention, the young man died, which is a deeply regrettable event,” she emphasized.

The head of the agency defended the actions of her officers, stating that the investigation is being carried out transparently and is in the hands of the Internal Control Body itself, with the objective of determining any responsibility.

She added that it is very regrettable that a person accused of the disappearance of six young people made the decision to put his children in harm’s way. “As police officers, we know that multiple situations can arise in an operation, even when the corresponding protocols are followed,” she said.

“It was definitely a terrible mistake to have put the children at risk,” she warned. “It must be considered that there is evidence of intervention at a ranch where the young people disappeared, at least as far as current investigations allow us to determine.”

“It’s unacceptable that an active-duty officer of the Municipal Police or any other law enforcement agency, using official patrol cars and uniforms, would participate in the disappearance of citizens, whether young people or people of any age.”

“Currently, we have arrested eight municipal police officers, out of a total of 12 identified, who were on active duty and working, with evidence that they were providing support to hitmen using official vehicles. It had been more than 20 years since a police force had been intervened in this way,” she concluded.

Source: Zeta Tijuana