SUMMARY

Internal power struggles have been common in the major drug trafficking cartels of Mexico. In 2008 a former Tijuana cartel lieutenant broke off and unleashed a wave of violence in Tijuana. The lieutenant, Teodoro Garcia Simental, also called “El Teo”, or “El tres letras” was the leader of a kidnapping cell within the Tijuana organization. At the beginning of 2008 the leader of the cartel wanted him to cut back on the number of kidnappings, and in April a big shootout between them took place. El Teo fled to Sinaloa but returned in September and launched a war against the leadership of the Tijuana cartel. Allied to the Sinaloa Cartel, the [El Teo faction)[/#actor/800) fought the Tijuana cartel intensively between September 2008 and January 2010, when he was arrested by the Federal Police. His brother Jose Manuel Garcia Simental took control of the group, but was arrested a month later after which violence subsided in Tijuana.

Both groups have been using methods such as torture, decapitations, and mutilations of the victims' bodies. Threatening messages to the groups' leaders are often attached to the victims' bodies or found nearby.

The non-state conflict between the Tijuana cartel and the Tijuana cartel – El Teo faction is first included in UCDP data in 2008. In September that year, the violence escalated, resulting in over 25 battle-related deaths.