Mexican officials arrest ‘Cabo 20,’ man who allegedly ordered killing of Tijuana journalist
TIJUANA — Mexican federal authorities on Wednesday arrested David López Jiménez, who goes by the nickname “El Cabo 20.” He is accused of ordering the slaying of Tijuana photojournalist Margarito Martínez Esquivel.
Jiménez was taken into custody in the early morning in the eastern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. Baja California state Atty. Gen. Ricardo Iván Carpio announced the arrest at a news conference.
“He is being detained as the intellectual author of the [slaying] of photojournalist Margarito Martínez Esquivel and other charges will be sought [against him],” Carpio said. Martínez, who covered stories on security and crime in Tijuana, was fatally shot in front of his home on Jan. 17 as he left for work.
The arrest of the high-profile target comes only weeks before prosecutors are scheduled to present their case against three other defendants who are accused of carrying out the hit.
The prosecutor said Jiménez’s motive for ordering Martínez killed was that some photographs of Jiménez and his collaborators or family members “had been published in some news publications and social networks and this caused [Jiménez] annoyance.”
Carpio said Martínez happened to live in the same neighborhood where much of the criminal activity of Jiménez’s network took place, which made him vulnerable.
The criminal known by the alias “El Uber” is a 24-year-old U.S. citizen, according to Baja California Attorney General Ricardo Iván Carpio
Carpio clarified Martínez had not been the one who published the photos that annoyed Jiménez. The prosecutor also said one person participated in both the killing of Martínez and that of journalist Lourdes Maldonado, who was shot to death in her car in the Santa Fe neighborhood of Tijuana a week after Martínez was killed.
He said the suspect involved in both killings belongs to the same cartel as Jiménez but stopped short of saying the two cases are connected. He said the investigation into both slayings is not yet complete.
Carpio said in addition to orchestrating the killing of a journalist, Jiménez was responsible for other street violence in Baja California. Jiménez works with the Arellano Felix cartel, the prosecutor said.
“We are coordinating a prosecution strategy with the prosecutor’s office in the state of Nuevo Leon and the republic to set a strategy that benefits the state [of Baja California]. We’re still analyzing and counting how many crimes” Jiménez will be charged with, Carpio said.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised a radical break with the militarized security strategy of his predecessors, which he blamed for turning Mexico ‘into a cemetery.’ Instead, he has embraced the armed forces with unprecedented fervor.
The Baja California prosecutor said Jiménez or “El Cabo 20” was trying to live under the radar in Nuevo Leon using a fake identity with false identification papers from Baja California Sur.
“Elements of the special forces from SEDENA [Secretariat of National Defense] and intelligence from the federal government and the attorney general of Nuevo Leon participated. Our intelligence identifies him as the main generator of violence and the person behind the disappearances of people in the city of Tijuana and in other cities,” Carpio said.
According to Mexico’s National Registry of Detentions, the arrest of “El Cabo 20” took place in the municipality of Apodaca, Nuevo Leon.
Jiménez had been arrested at least three times previously in Tijuana: in 2010 for robbery; in 2014 for vehicle theft; and in 2017 when he was captured during a criminal investigation about a large drug lab.
It remains unclear when he was released and whether he was ever charged with the prior crimes.
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