MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The mayor of the violent border city Tijuana in northern Mexico, Montserrat Caballero, has moved into military barracks for her safety after she received threats, the president said on Tuesday.
Just south of San Diego in California, Tijuana has become one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities as criminal groups fight over drug trafficking routes to the United States.
“She’s being protected, since about two weeks ago,” Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during his regular press conference. “We reached an agreement to help protect her and will continue to do so.”
Murder rates fell last year but the government of Lopez Obrador is still on track to register a record total of murders for any six-year administration.
Caballero, of Lopez Obrador’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), told reporters in a video shared on social media on Monday that she had received more threats after confiscating 1,700 firearms from criminal groups and detaining 56 people.
“They are angry,” she said. “And that’s why I’ve been receiving threats.”
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(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Raul Cortes; Editing by Conor Humphries)