The bodies of seven men were found dead inside a pickup truck in Tijuana, prompting the mayor of the Mexican city to admit multiple death threats have led her to move to an army base.
Tijuana police said they were chasing a white Ford F-150 bearing California license plates on Monday when the vehicle pulled up to a gas station.
Officers found six bodies in the truck bed with a seventh inside wrapped up in a blue blanket. They arrested two men who were driving at the vehicle.
The truck was also carrying a steel drum of gasoline suggesting the two suspects were going to set the vehicle and bodies on fire to destroy the evidence.
Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero said the responding officers received assistance from state and national guard officers, and an investigation will “determine if the suspects were part of a criminal organization or not.” referring to the region’s deadly cartels.
During the Monday news briefing about the arrest, Caballero revealed she had received several threats against her life over her commitment to crackdown on cartel voilence and murder.
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“Given our results in confiscating guns and making arrests, I’ve received threats, but we will continue serving our community and doing our job,” said Caballero, noting she will stay on the army base for her own safety, at least for the immediate future.
Caballero has been on high alert since one of her bodyguards was shot at but avoided injury at an event she had been scheduled to attend but was running late for.
Tijuana contends with the highest levels of homicide in all of Mexico, with 1,818 killings recorded over the last year and murder rates up 9%, according to the nation’s Public Safety Department.
Caballero set her sights on the cartel’s presence in the city last year, when gangs burned at 15 vehicles across Tijuana.
The threats against the mayor are not a rare occurrence south of the border. In 2022, San Miguel Totolapan Mayor Conrado Mendoza, his father, and 16 other people were gunned down in the middle of a town hall meeting.
