Sunday, June 29, 2025

Presumed leader of Arellano Félix Cartel captured in Tijuana

One of the presumed leaders of the powerful Arellano Félix Cartel, historically based in Tijuana, Baja California, was detained by state police in the border city yesterday.

Felipe Avitia Sarellana, better known by his nickname “El Boca de Bagre” (Catfish Mouth), was captured in the Valle Verde neighborhood in an Audi that a police patrol identified as having been stolen in the United States. Police also secured four firearms, three kilograms of methamphetamines and ammunition.

According to state police, Avitia had been threatened on several large narcomantas hung from overpasses in the Sánchez Taboada neighborhood, which is hotly disputed by rival drug gangs.

Tijuana and its valuable access to the border was the undisputed territory of the Arellano Félix Cartel in the 90s until 2010 when it became embroiled in violent conflict with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel and later, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel under the command of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.

This year, the Mexican nonprofit Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice gave Tijuana the dubious title of being the world’s deadliest city based on 138 killings per 100,000 residents, an average of seven murders a day.

Source: Infobae (sp), Zeta Tijuana (sp), Fox News (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Multicolored tents in the Zócalo

Street protests in the capital: A timeless feature of life in Mexico

6
The recent tent city that sprang up in the Zócalo is just the latest in a centuries-long and legally protected tradition of protest in Mexico City.
A person touches a light switch during a power outage, while a light bulb remains off in the foreground

No more blackouts in Yucatán? The governor has a plan

2
The state has shared details of the energy supply-and-distribution project that seeks to eliminate blackouts by 2027 and achieve self-sufficiency by 2030.
ship on fire n ocean

Cargo ship carrying 3,000 Chinese cars to Mexico sinks in the Pacific

7
The ship had caught fire June 3, eight days after departing Yantai, China. Of the 3,048 cars aboard, at least 800 were EVs or electric-hybrids.