The violence has escalated in the Tijuana River, on the border between Mexico and the United States, where a total of 20 bodies have been found so far this year, including that of a 14-year-old boyin the midst of growing drug trafficking and consumption.
The the clearance of accounts and the dispute over that territory among the organized crime cartels has turned this spot into a highly contentious area of the Mexican city, which has alerted local authorities to the concern of local inhabitants.
the Kevin case
On September 14, the boy’s murder Kevin Yael Gonzalez Garcia inside the river channel, sparked public outrage and discovered the wave of violence that was brewing in this area.
At the beginning of September, the child’s parents reported her missing. The version of one of the boy’s friends is that while Kevin was walking on one of the pedestrian bridges that cross the river, they made a video call and two subjects intercepted him, They turned off the phone and never heard from there.
Three days after the incident, the parents carried out a search inside the river channel and in one of the gates, They found the child’s body along with that of another person, confirming that he was murdered.
For this the police authorities have carried out an operation in the area together with research organizations, and in this work found a woman of American descent in another of the gates, which said she was kidnapped by her partner in that place for more than a year.
Homeless people flee the area
This situation has not only worried citizens, but also the homeless who previously inhabited the river channel and those who they began to flee from there due to the growing violence and criminalization that the authorities have showered on them following these events.
During a tour that EFE carried out in the area, it was possible to see that inside the canal you could see the different spaces where you could see different concentrations of people They were completely alone.
Previously they were spaces where they went to intervene in the consumption of psychotropic substances and just sleep.
José, who is originally from Tijuana but has lived in the canalization for more than seven years, said that a couple of weeks ago he decided to leave and start looking for a space elsewhere because “There is now a slaughterhouse in the canal (slaughter)”.
As this person, “Chuy”, who is originally from Michoacán and lived in the canal for nine years after being deported from the United States, shared that “many have already left there because the authorities were angry with us and the agents of police they are stronger (rigorous) than before “.
According to Chuy, “ever since the boy thing happened (Kevin Yael), they get us in trouble, because they know we consume (illicit drugs) they let themselves go against us, as if we were the ones generating that violence, even in there it is also become a bad thing, nobody wants to go back“.
For specialists on the subject such as Alfonso Ch, who works with an organization with homeless communities, this situation is not new, because “within the channel there have always been deaths and it is also known that prohibited substances are consumed inside ”.
However, he said, it is common for the authorities, whenever the problem is in their hands, to go slow in criminalizing this population just for being a potential drug user community.
A couple of weeks ago the municipal and state authorities announced the agreement of a working group to take care of this area of the city, where in recent weeks there have been more than 20 bodies and executions that have taken place there. given within the channel.
EFE
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Source: Clarin
