Drug Cartel Revenge: One Man Hanged and Another Dismembered

The fierce criminal struggle for territorial control between organized crime groups vying for control of the municipality of Tecate and the eastern zone of Tijuana has revealed that there are no limits to the level of violence they are willing to perpetrate to sow terror and force the retreat of their rivals and the general public.

According to investigators of these crimes, the fight that is claiming lives is for control of the main drug trafficking routes in the border area with the world’s largest consumer of narcotics and supplier of weapons, the United States.

With the motto of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” the cartels and their members are waging war in the so-called “Magical Town”; among the main victims are young people under 25 who were part of the ranks of each of the cartels, and who have been executed with high-powered weapons, dismembered, hanged, disappeared, or buried in clandestine graves.

On Wednesday, January 14, 2026, people traveling on the Tecate-Tijuana highway witnessed the placement of a narco-banner and the disposal of a male body, tied to a chain, from the highest point of the bridge. The body was left hanging at the entrance to the satellite city of Valle de San Pedro.

The banner, signed with the initials of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), read: “What’s up, little faggot… I’m still leaving your people here, “Cabezón,” the ones you send with your piss-soaked RANCHERO. Sincerely: CJNG” [sic].

Investigators said the incident was a settling of scores stemming from events that occurred less than a month ago, when two young men were kidnapped in Tecate on December 21, 2025.  They were identified as José Eduardo and Carlos Fragozo, ages 18 and 20, whom investigations by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) place as part of the structure of Alejandro Castañeda, “El Cando,” one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS) in Tecate, until he was executed in the early morning of November 1, 2025, allegedly on the orders of Franklin Ernesto Huezo, alias “El Ranchero.”

According to the investigating agents, after Cando’s execution, José Eduardo and Carlos responded to the criminal orders of Oscar López, “El Chicho,” who, according to the Security Table’s analysis, met with his criminal associates, Salomón Barragán, “El Salo,” and José Ángel Flores Ayala, “El Siete”; the three allegedly decided to break ranks with the Sinaloa Cartel, where they had been operating since 2021, following the execution of Dany Ortiz Covarrubias, “El Moreno,” who had headed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel structure in Tecate since 2019.

In the analysis of the criminal organizational chart, they explained that, within the Jalisco cartel structure, El Moreno was positioned as “plaza boss” until he was gunned down inside a barbershop in front of his bodyguards, supposedly for “generating unnecessary tensions within the criminal group’s structure due to his mental instability,” investigators said. Upon his death, El Siete, Salo, El Chicho, and El Cando took control of the main drug, arms, and human trafficking routes, but within the structure of the Sinaloa Cartel.

According to investigators, on December 19, 2025, the aforementioned individuals instructed their subordinates to take control of Tecate. Two days later, José Eduardo and Carlos, who were part of their organization, were kidnapped and used to deliver a message to the subordinates, as revealed by the official analysis.

Carlos Alejandro was found five days later on the side of the Tecate-Mexicali highway, near the La Hacienda neighborhood, better known as San Pablo. His body had been dismembered, showed visible signs of torture inflicted before his death, and his limbs were placed in black plastic bags that were abandoned on the side of the road.

Next to them was a cardboard sign that read: “OSCAR LORE LOPEZ EL CHICHO OR EL TROMPAS, JOSE ANGEL FLORES AYALA EL 7 OR EL PATITAS, SALOMON BARRAGAN EL 10 OR JOTA THIS IS HOW THOSE WHO FOLLOW THESE THREE TRAITORS WILL END UP Tecate STILL BELONGS TO MR. AQUILES” [sic]. The message was signed by “LOS KBEZONES”.

On January 8, 2026, a second warning message was delivered by the so-called Kbezones, when they hung banners on pedestrian overpasses on University Boulevard, this time with images of the three leaders, and warning municipal police officers to refrain from supporting this group in Tecate. This threat was signed with “SINCERELY JESÚS EL CABEZON, MOB OF MR. AQUILES”.

In retaliation, the now Jalisco-based group, recently allied with the Arellano Félix Cartel (CAF), kidnapped two members of the Sinaloa Cartel cell, two young men who were acting as lookouts between rural villages and San Pedro, according to information gathered from social media profiles used by criminal groups. Investigators revealed to ZETA that both young men were tortured and kept alive for at least 36 hours, bound hand and foot. One of them was then dismembered and placed in a plastic box with a yellow lid, which was abandoned about 100 meters from the bridge in the direction of El Refugio, Tijuana. The other was hanged from the bridge known as San Pedro.

Regarding the extreme violence committed against the two young men, investigators revealed that 80 percent—if not more—of the criminal structure based in Tecate, which comprises nearly a hundred members, is made up of young people under 25 years old, recruited by the now CJNG-CAF alliance; some are even under 15 years old, some as young as 12. These minors not only carry out surveillance activities but also use digital radios to report any incidents and even carry firearms in both the urban area of ​​Tecate and in rural areas such as Valle de las Palmas, Nueva Colonia Hindú, La Rumorosa, and Luis Echeverría “El Hongo.”

AUTHORITIES FORTIFY TECATE, BUT DO NOT INTERVENE

Representatives from the three levels of government, who have convened at the Security Roundtable in the municipality of Tecate, assure that the so-called “Magical Town” has been fortified.

The area from El Hongo to La Rumorosa has been placed under the protection of the Secretariat of Citizen Security, under the command of General Laureano Carrillo.  There, the general himself reported, they are conducting patrols in conjunction with federal and municipal authorities on the main access roads to the mountainous area that connects with Ensenada.

A permanent operational base has been established in La Rumorosa, where state agents are stationed and respond to any high-impact incidents in that area; this, the general stated, has reduced crime rates by up to 90 percent, preventing daylight homicides, shootings, and house fires—events that sowed terror among residents during 2024 and 2025. The strategy is led by young officers recently graduated from the academy, reported Security Secretary Laureano Carrillo, under an operational scheme they call PROTEO 4-25, which is comprised of 70 officers.

Also from the state, Regional Prosecutor Genaro Guzman announced that a reinforced tactical unit is available to protect the urban and rural areas, if necessary; this vehicle has already been used in incidents involving armed confrontations, raids, and arrests. As part of a “sweep” strategy, areas considered to be hubs of criminal activity will be targeted; the first area targeted was the informal settlement in the San José neighborhood, where investigations revealed not only the presence of drug trafficking but also of firearms. “Following the appearance of the drug cartel banners, we are conducting a thorough investigation. We have already made significant progress in identifying the individuals responsible for placing the banners; security has been reinforced with more than 200 security personnel from all three levels of government, and this number may even increase due to the movements constantly carried out by the Mexican Army,” said Genaro García.

Meanwhile, the Tecate Municipal Police, under the leadership of former commander of the Baja California State Public Security Force, José Luis Sarmiento Arce, has divided the municipality into sectors and implemented a plan that allows for two units to patrol simultaneously and in staggered shifts throughout the city’s neighborhoods.  The officers’ safety has also been enhanced with tactical equipment and approximately ten newly acquired patrol cars.  The force has also been joined by recently graduated officers from the Police Training Institute, increasing its operational capacity, and especially its ability to respond immediately.

Complaints against officers regarding corruption have decreased by up to 70 percent during Sarmiento’s time at the head of the municipal police force, while the recovery of stolen vehicles through inter-agency coordination has increased by 40 percent.

Despite the increased security measures in the designated “Magical Town,” members of civil society organizations report that, despite the improvements, there is no police presence when incidents are reported in real time, such as shootings, executions, or chases.

Outside of the government’s efforts, search teams continue to locate clandestine graves and hand over bodies to forensic teams, who then process the crime scenes and conduct the necessary tests for identification. During the last week, remains were again found inside a clandestine grave in the Nueva Colonia Hindú district, on the property known as Rancho Las Creaturas. From December to the present, more than six clandestine graves containing both male and female bodies have been found in the area; four of them have already been identified.

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Cartel insider Archives