← Previous revisionRevision as of 21:19, 14 October 2026 Line 19: Line 19: [[File:Cartel de Tijuana (mapa).jpg|thumb|Areas predominantly controlled by the Tijuana Cartel shown in purple, 2008]] [[File:Cartel de Tijuana (mapa).jpg|thumb|Areas predominantly controlled by the Tijuana Cartel shown in purple, 2008]] The '''Tijuana Cartel''' ({{langx|es|Cártel de Tijuana}}, {{IPA|es|ˈkaɾtel ðe tiˈxwana|pron}}), formerly also known as the '''Arellano-Félix Cartel''' ({{langx|es|Cártel de los Arellano Félix}}, '''CAF'''), is a [[List of Mexican cartels|Mexican cartel]] based in [[Tijuana]], Baja California, Mexico. Founded by the [[#Organization|Arellano-Félix family]], the cartel once was described as "one of the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico".{{cite web |url=http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/980415.steller.html |title=Mexican drug runners may have used C-130 from Arizona |access-date=2007-09-26 |last=Steller |first=Tim |date=15 April 1998 |work=The Arizona Daily Star |publisher=Archived at [[California State University Northridge]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080103194935/http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/980415.steller.html |archive-date = 2008-01-03}} However, since the 2006 [[Sinaloa Cartel]] incursion into Baja California and the fall of the Arellano-Félix brothers, the Tijuana Cartel has been reduced to a few cells. In 2016, the organization became known as Cartel Tijuana Nueva Generación (New Generation Tijuana Cartel) and began to align itself under the [[Jalisco New Generation Cartel]], along with the [[Beltrán-Leyva Organization]] (BLO) to create an anti-Sinaloa alliance, which the Jalisco New Generation Cartel heads.{{cite web |date=10 October 2016 |title=Expert Says Weakened Sinaloa Cartel Under Attack by Rivals |url=http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/expert-says-weakend-sinaloa-cartel-under-attack-by-rivals |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011142639/http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/expert-says-weakend-sinaloa-cartel-under-attack-by-rivals |archive-date=11 October 2016 |access-date=11 October 2016 |website=Insight Crime}} This alliance has since dwindled as the Tijuana, Jalisco New Generation, and Sinaloa cartels battle each other for access to drug trafficking routes in the city of Tijuana and throughout Baja California. The '''Tijuana Cartel''' ({{langx|es|Cártel de Tijuana}}, {{IPA|es|ˈkaɾtel ðe tiˈxwana|pron}}), formerly also known as the '''Arellano-Félix Cartel''' ({{langx|es|Cártel de los Arellano Félix}}, '''CAF'''), is a diminished Mexican [[Drug trafficking organizations|drug trafficking organization]], based in [[Tijuana]], Baja California, [[Mexico]]. Founded by the [[#Organization|Arellano-Félix family]] as a branch (“''plaza''”) of the [[Guadalajara Cartel]], the branch would become an independent cartel following the 1989 arrest of Guadalajara leader [[Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo]]. The cartel, once was described as "one of the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico",{{cite web |url=http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/980415.steller.html |title=Mexican drug runners may have used C-130 from Arizona |access-date=2007-09-26 |last=Steller |first=Tim |date=15 April 1998 |work=The Arizona Daily Star |publisher=Archived at [[California State University Northridge]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080103194935/http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/ben/news/cia/980415.steller.html |archive-date = 2008-01-03}} has been reduced to a few cells following a series of conflicts. Incursions by the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] into Tijuana-held Baja California in 2006, the arrests or deaths of all founding Arellano-Félix members by 2013, and infighting between two rival factions from 2008 to 2010 severely fractured and weakened the cartel by the mid-2010s. In 2016, remnants of the Tijuana Cartel allied themselves with, and became partially absorbed by, the [[Jalisco New Generation Cartel]] (CJNG), becoming known as the '''Cartel de Tijuana - Nueva Generación''' (''English: New Generation Tijuana Cartel''), along with remnants of the [[Beltrán-Leyva Organization]] (BLO) to create an anti-Sinaloa Cartel alliance.{{cite web |date=10 October 2016 |title=Expert Says Weakened Sinaloa Cartel Under Attack by Rivals |url=http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/expert-says-weakend-sinaloa-cartel-under-attack-by-rivals |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011142639/http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/expert-says-weakend-sinaloa-cartel-under-attack-by-rivals |archive-date=11 October 2016 |access-date=11 October 2016 |website=Insight Crime}} The current status of the cartel is unknown, as it operates as a [[vassal]] of the CJNG but retains some independent identity and command. ==History== ==History== Line 30: Line 38: The relative peace in the city of Tijuana in 2010–2012 has raised speculations of a possible agreement between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel to maintain peace in the area.{{cite news|last=Dudley|first=Steven|title=Who Controls Tijuana?|url=http://www.insightcrime.org/investigations/insight-exclusives/item/839-who-controls-tijuana?|access-date=24 April 2012|newspaper=InSight Crime|date=3 May 2011|archive-date=1 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401164541/http://insightcrime.org/investigations/insight-exclusives/item/839-who-controls-tijuana|url-status=live}} According to Mexican and U.S. authorities, most of Tijuana is under the dominance of the Sinaloa cartel, while [[Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano]] of the Tijuana cartel remains the "head of that puppet empire". To be exact, experts told InSight Crime that the peace exists because [[Joaquín Guzmán Loera]] wants it that way, and argued that his organization—the Sinaloa Cartel—has become spread too thin with its wars with [[Los Zetas]] and the [[Juárez Cartel]] and that opening a third war would be inconvenient. The Tijuana cartel, however, has something their rivals do not have: a long-time family with business and political connections throughout the city. InSight Crime believes that this could explain why the Sinaloa cartel has left Sánchez Arellano as the figurehead, since it might be too costly for ''El Chapo'' financially and politically to make a final push. Moreover, the Tijuana cartel charges a toll ("''piso''") on the Sinaloa cartel for trafficking drugs in their territory, which serves as an illustration of the Tijuana cartel's continued hegemony as a local group.{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Nathan|title=Tijuana Cartel Survives, Despite Decade-Long Onslaught|url=http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2790-tijuana-cartel-survives-despite-decade-long-onslaught|access-date=20 June 2012|newspaper=InSight Crime|date=20 June 2012|archive-date=26 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626013814/http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2790-tijuana-cartel-survives-despite-decade-long-onslaught|url-status=live}} Despite the series of high-ranking arrests the cartel suffered throughout 2011–2012, its ability to maintain a highly centralized criminal infrastructure shows how difficult it is to uproot cartels who have long established their presence in a community. The relative peace in the city of Tijuana in 2010–2012 has raised speculations of a possible agreement between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel to maintain peace in the area.{{cite news|last=Dudley|first=Steven|title=Who Controls Tijuana?|url=http://www.insightcrime.org/investigations/insight-exclusives/item/839-who-controls-tijuana?|access-date=24 April 2012|newspaper=InSight Crime|date=3 May 2011|archive-date=1 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401164541/http://insightcrime.org/investigations/insight-exclusives/item/839-who-controls-tijuana|url-status=live}} According to Mexican and U.S. authorities, most of Tijuana is under the dominance of the Sinaloa cartel, while [[Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano]] of the Tijuana cartel remains the "head of that puppet empire". To be exact, experts told InSight Crime that the peace exists because [[Joaquín Guzmán Loera]] wants it that way, and argued that his organization—the Sinaloa Cartel—has become spread too thin with its wars with [[Los Zetas]] and the [[Juárez Cartel]] and that opening a third war would be inconvenient. The Tijuana cartel, however, has something their rivals do not have: a long-time family with business and political connections throughout the city. InSight Crime believes that this could explain why the Sinaloa cartel has left Sánchez Arellano as the figurehead, since it might be too costly for ''El Chapo'' financially and politically to make a final push. Moreover, the Tijuana cartel charges a toll ("''piso''") on the Sinaloa cartel for trafficking drugs in their territory, which serves as an illustration of the Tijuana cartel's continued hegemony as a local group.{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Nathan|title=Tijuana Cartel Survives, Despite Decade-Long Onslaught|url=http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2790-tijuana-cartel-survives-despite-decade-long-onslaught|access-date=20 June 2012|newspaper=InSight Crime|date=20 June 2012|archive-date=26 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626013814/http://www.insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2790-tijuana-cartel-survives-despite-decade-long-onslaught|url-status=live}} Despite the series of high-ranking arrests the cartel suffered throughout 2011–2012, its ability to maintain a highly centralized criminal infrastructure shows how difficult it is to uproot cartels who have long established their presence in a community. Despite being a shell of what it once was in the early 2000s, the group appears to retain significant control in the state of Baja California, as of 2020.{{cite web|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/tijuana-cartel-profile/|title=Tijuana Cartel|date=13 February 2018|website=InSightCrime.org|access-date=3 February 2020|archive-date=4 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204210531/https://www.insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/tijuana-cartel-profile/|url-status=live}} Despite being a shell of what it once was in the early 2000s, the group appears to retain significant control in the state of Baja California, as of 2020.{{cite web|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/tijuana-cartel-profile/|title=Tijuana Cartel|date=13 February 2018|website=InSightCrime.org|access-date=3 February 2020|archive-date=4 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204210531/https://www.insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/tijuana-cartel-profile/|url-status=live}} In June 2020, it was reported that the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] controlled much of the Tijuana Cartel's former territory. Around this time, the Tijuana Cartel formed an alliance with the [[Jalisco New Generation Cartel]] (CJNG), which resulted in the cartel being rebranded as the Tijuana New Generation Cartel (Cartel de Tijuana Nueva Generación), but this alliance disintegrated very quickly when the Jalisco Cartel showed it intended to take the place of the Sinaloa Cartel rather than aid in helping the Tijuana Cartel reestablish dominance and independence. As a result, the Tijuana Cartel reversed their branding back to Cartel Arellano Félix. Afterwards, they planned the assassination of Cabo 33, the Jalisco Cartel's head of operations in Baja California. After effectively removing the Jalisco Cartel's influence in Baja California, the Tijuana Cartel further engaged the Sinaloa Cartel for control of the Tijuana plaza and surrounding areas. With the release of [[Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano]] in 2023 and the consolidation of power in Baja California, as well as an alliance with [[Rafael Caro Quintero]] and the Sonora plaza, it is speculated that the Tijuana Cartel may rise again to become a dominant player in Baja California. In June 2020, it was reported that the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] controlled much of the Tijuana Cartel's former territory. Around this time, the Tijuana Cartel formed an alliance with the [[Jalisco New Generation Cartel]] (CJNG), which resulted in the cartel being rebranded as the Tijuana New Generation Cartel (Cartel de Tijuana Nueva Generación), but this alliance disintegrated very quickly when the Jalisco Cartel showed it intended to take the place of the Sinaloa Cartel rather than aid in helping the Tijuana Cartel reestablish dominance and independence. As a result, the Tijuana Cartel reversed their branding back to Cartel Arellano Félix. Afterwards, they planned the assassination of Cabo 33, the Jalisco Cartel's head of operations in Baja California. After effectively removing the Jalisco Cartel's influence in Baja California, the Tijuana Cartel further engaged the Sinaloa Cartel for control of the Tijuana plaza and surrounding areas. With the release of [[Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano]] in 2023 and the consolidation of power in Baja California, as well as an alliance with [[Rafael Caro Quintero]] and the Sonora plaza, it is speculated that the Tijuana Cartel may rise again to become a dominant player in Baja California.