Attack of the cartels in Mexico: Three minutes in the hail of bullets

Three minutes, the armored car of Omar García Harfuch in the hail of bullets. The chief of police of Mexico city was on the way to work, as he and his bodyguards ran to a junction by a car and were slowed down. A second car drove up. Then several masked men opened up with heavy weapons fire. You gave hundreds of shots. Bodyguard escort vehicle returned the fire before several patrol cars arrived for reinforcement. The car of García Harfuch was full of holes. Two bodyguards and a bystander were killed. The police chief survived with multiple gunshot wounds.

Tjerk Brühwiller

Free Rapporteur for Latin America with headquarters in São Paulo.

The horror scene, the hours happened in the morning right in the middle of a posh neighborhood of Mexico city, has left the residents of the Mexican capital deep impression. Such a stone-cold murder commands you have previously known only from other regions of the country. For Mexico city, the action was unprecedented. Over the years, a sense of apparent security was created here, as if one would be immune against organized crime and the violent territory of the drug cartels fighting. The failed assassination attempt on García Harfuch has made it clear that the cartels are willing to defend their interests even in the capital – with violence, if need be.

The authorities have meanwhile taken twelve people to stand with the action in context. The individual should have testified as a contract killer had been hired and paid. Was arrested also allegedly for contract killings competent member of the "Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación" (CJNG), which is said to have planned the assassination. The investigators do not specify a hypothesis. However, there is no doubt that it was in the light of the fire force to the action of a "consolidated criminal organization". Much indicates that the CJNG. The act of sending an unmistakable Signal, said Sandra Romandía, journalist and author of a book on organised crime, the BBC.

Known for violence

In Mexico city, especially the smaller gangs in appearance, which Finance themselves with drug trafficking in the capital, kidnappings and other crimes have occurred in the past. The larger cartels have sought in the past, although again and again the cooperation with these groups, but remained in the Background. The rivalry between the gangs has led in recent years to an increase in the murder rate in Mexico city. In contrast to other regions, the capital is still relatively safe.

experts suggest, however, that in addition to the band crime in Mexico city are also much more complex criminal organization structures exist. One reason for this is the international airport that is considered to be one of the most important hubs of the country for the sales of drugs, money, and for the people trading. In order for this rotary working disc, a need for public officials to be corrupted. And for this to work, it needs money and organization which the small drug gangs in the capital do not have.

The CJNG is supposed to be for about three years in Mexico city working. The cartel, which originates from the state of Jalisco, and was within a few years, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country, is known for its violence and for its alliances with smaller local organisations, which allow their Penetration into new territories. So it should be in Mexico city.

In a prison, a confidence man of the kart Ella leader of the CJNG, and a liaison a organization of the capital met for the first time. Despite the efforts, the CJNG, up to today, but to bring organized crime in Mexico city under his control – it is not the only big cartel, which operates in the capital. Also, the Sinaloa cartel and other organizations should have a branch in the city. Perhaps the denial of the presence of the cartels and the resulting deeds has fostered a lack of authorities in their rise.