Cuauhtémoc: The heart of Mexico City amidst deaths and narcos

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from La Silla Rota
               
                      

Just this month, the Cuauhtémoc delegation has registered four incidents linked to organized crime.

by Rodrigo Gutiérrez González

Insecurity is felt in the center of Mexico City. Several neighborhoods of the Cuauhtémoc delegation have been the scene of violent acts related to organized crime.

This lived reality by the residents of the area are reflected in the data: homicides, injuries, and drug dealing has been on the rise.

Just this month, the Cuauhtémoc delegation has registered four events allegedly linked to organized crime.

Shooting at Dembow bar, La Condesa

In the early hours of April 14, elements of the Public Security Secretariat of Mexico City (SSPCDMX) arrived at the Dembow bar, on Tamaulipas street, on the corner of Mexicali, in the Condesa neighborhood, after a shooting incident was reported there.

When arriving, the police realized that a black Audi with State of Mexico plates was parked in front of the bar. Inside was the lifeless body of a 16 year old minor with several bullet wounds.

While the police guarded the area, inside Dembow more gunshots were heard. Immediately a man came out of the bar, carrying a pistol in his waist, trying to hide it with his hand.

Seeing the presence of the police, the 21 year old subject tried to flee, but was arrested.

In turn, four armed men left the scene, also being detained by the elements of the SSPCDMX and placed at the disposal of the agent of the Public Ministry of the Decentralized Investigation Prosecutor's Office in Cuauhtémoc.

The quintet is related to wounding a man of 23 years inside the bar, after a supposed fight.

Concerning the murdered minor, videos were captured by the Mexico City government right at the moment the crime was committed by two men who fled the area in a van.

Mexico City authorities consider a dispute over drug dealing as one of the first lines of investigation.

It is worth mentioning that just a year ago, Dembow was called ‘Bar Black,’ where Horacio Vite Ángel, member of the U Insurgentes, was murdered outside of, ultimately leading to the ‘Heaven Case,’ where 13 young people were kidnapped and murdered in 2013.

Guerrero and Morelos: center of drug dealing

Earlier this year, the Attorney General's Office of Mexico City (PGJCDMX) reported on the increase of violence in these areas of the delegation, especially in the ‘barrio bravo’ of Tepito.

The increase in violence was sparked by an alleged internal dispute in the Únion Tepito, between relatives and faithful of the bereaved Francisco Javier Hernández Gómez, "Pancho Cayagua" and the Roberto Moyado Esparza family, "El Betito.”

This dispute made confrontations, executions, and murders, as well as drug dealing, a constant.
The most recent case occurred on April 16, when a man was shot to death by two individuals riding a motorcycle through the streets of the Guerrero neighborhood.

The victim was traveling aboard a black Mercedes Benz, when he was pursued by the armed men, who, between the streets Camelia and Hermenegildo Galeana caught up with him and shot him.

The deceased was identified as Yanco "N", who was traveling with his wife Daniela "N", who indicated that they were driving down Galeana Street when out of nowhere, two guys got out on a motorcycle, caught up with them, and then took out a gun and shot her partner.

Yano, wounded,  drove some meters until he ended up hitting a parked red car, where he passed away.
The victim was engaged in real estate, according to newspaper reports.

Surveillance cameras managed to track the motorcycle and one of them was arrested in the La Raza area.

Another case occurred on April 14, when a child under 13 years of age was found dead inside a home in the Guerrero neighborhood.

According to the PGJCDMX, the teenager's sister entered the house located on Marte Street and found him lifeless in the bathroom.

Although it has not been specified that these homicides are related to the sale of drugs, it does reflect the insecurity and acts of violence that plague the area.

Days before and not far from there, in the neighborhood of Morelos, ten people were arrested with 11 kilos, 200 grams of marijuana.

It was the afternoon of April 6, elements of the SSPCDMX patrolled Tenochtitlán street when they detected subjects exchanging money for drugs.

The aforementioned were arrested and placed at the disposal of the agent of the Public Minister’s Office of the Central Investigation Prosecutor's Office for the Attention of Narco-crime.

One of the detainees is related to three preliminary investigations for the crimes of qualified rape in 2003; Qualified theft and cover-up in 2012.

The rise homicide, injuries and drug dealing in Cuauhtémoc

In the last three years the cases of homicide, injuries and drug dealing in the Cuauhtémoc delegation have been increasing.

According to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), from 2015 to February 2018, there were 344 intentional homicides in said demarcation.

In 2015 there were 110 murders, it dropped to 98 cases in 2016, but rose again to 110 last year, while during the first two months of 2018 there are 26 intentional homicides.

Meanwhile, the injuries reached a figure of 2 thousand 309 complaints in the last three years. In 2015, 754 cases were reported, 631 in 2016, 828 last year and 97 in the first two months of 2018.

Drug dealing is the crime that increased the most, going from 157 cases in 2015, 216 in 2016, 498 last year and 127 during the first two months of this year.

From January 2015 to February of this year, the drug dealing cases add up to 998 in the Cuauhtémoc delegation.