Mexico: The booming trade fuelling a US drug epidemic and a deadly street war
We barely slow for red lights as cars pull out of our way.
We virtually take off as we scream over a hilly stretch of road.
We’re on board a Red Cross ambulance answering an emergency call in the northern Mexican city of Tijuana. It’s one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
A two-person team, talking into the walkie-talkie, asks for details of the emergency.
“It’s a shooting,” paramedic Zulma Cruz tells me. “We get as many as a dozen a day sometimes,” she says as we see blue lights flashing in the distance and pass a National Guard vehicle with a soldier holding a machine gun, silhouetted against the night sky.
Paramedic Zulma Cruz thinks a lot of the violence is linked to the growing fentanyl business
As we approach, what is now a crime scene as well as a medical emergency, I can see that the streets of one of the most cartel-infested neighbourhoods in this city are awash with police and military.
A second ambulance is surrounded by locals, watching on, and I can see ambulance teams inside treating a man who appears to be conscious.
“He is stable but critical,” Zulma tells me as she grabs an oxygen canister and her trauma pack and heads off to assist her colleagues.
Zulma is an experienced paramedic, who is used to the menacing presence of security forces and the stares of the local community, many of whom identify with or are part of the cartel.
This is another gangland assassination attempt – the patient has been shot in the head.
Three cartels are fighting for control over Tijuana – the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation, and the Tijuana Cartel.
There are over 2,000 murders a year here – that’s over six murders a day. To put that into perspective, in London last year just over 100 people were murdered.
It’s that crazy, and the Red Cross teams are the only ones capable of saving lives out here on the streets.
Zulma tells me that sometimes while she has been trying to save the lives of other victims of a hit, the cartel gunmen have approached her and told her to stop treatment.
Her Red Cross colleague, who didn’t want to be named, said the gunmen couldn’t be persuaded.
“That man dies here,” the gang member said, “then he shot him again,” her partner told me.
“We just had to walk away.”
I ask Zulma if she thinks a lot of this violence and chaos on the streets is linked to the growing fentanyl business.
“It definitely is, it definitely is,” she replies without hesitation.
“I think that it is linked to all that, the drugs, the cartels and fights for selling on the street, and sometimes they cross into each other’s turf…”
Another call for the Red Cross, this time for a fentanyl overdose.
Their medics carry the antidote to fentanyl poisoning – one of the most toxic drugs in the world.
Read more: Inside a secret fentanyl lab
It’s called Narcan, and it can save the lives of those who are almost dead.
They arrive on scene as the fire brigade administer first aid. Paramedic Alan Leon jumps out and gets ready to give the victim Narcan.
He briefly talks to the family gathered around the victim, unconscious on a pavement in a quiet residential area.
The man is completely unresponsive. His name is Juan, and he is dying.
Alan instructs a policeman holding a drip to raise it higher.
He then administers the Narcan directly into a cannula, and into the victim’s vein, while explaining to his emergency service colleagues what he’s doing.
They all wait. Time is critical and they’re hoping they’ve caught this victim in time.
Alan gently presses into Juan’s chest with his fist and tells everyone to wait.
He feels Juan’s chest again and then there is a sudden movement – the Narcan is working.
Moments later Juan sits up, utterly surprised, and grabs at the medical paraphernalia all around him.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he says. It really is quite remarkable.
Alan tells him to wait a minute, and then gives him another shot of Narcan.
“It’s reversing the fentanyl,” he tells Juan.
After a few minutes, Juan stands up and leans against a vehicle parked nearby – he is talking, he’s shocked he’s alive.
His wife and young son, who had watched the whole scene unfold, hug him as he fist bumps our producer.
Fentanyl use, fentanyl trafficking, gang wars, death and murder – the ambulance crews see it all every day, and it’s all linked.
Read more:
Inside a secret drug lab: Gunshot wounds, deadly chemicals and cartel kingpins
Six adults and child, 7, killed in shooting at Mexican holiday resort
Tijuana’s red-light district is the most public location for the cartel wars and the use and sale of fentanyl on the streets.
It’s also a popular tourist hang out.
The gangs make a fortune from the drugs and sex industry here 24 hours a day, which is why they fight so hard to hold or take territory.
The area is constantly patrolled by police, the National Guard, and the Mexican army, who were deployed here last year to try to reduce homicides, and to fight organised crime.
An injured man is treated by paramedics
We joined the Baja California State Police on one of their patrols through the district.
They told us the cartels don’t care what fentanyl does to people, they are interested in one thing only – money.
“They know what they’re doing, they know what they’re producing, they know the problems they cause selling the drugs, they know that people are becoming more addicted in this country, they know it’s a problem, but they don’t care, they only worry about their own interests,” an officer, who didn’t want to be named, told me.
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The cartels know Mexico’s security services have a huge presence in the city, but they taunt them anyway, by posting videos on social media platforms like TikTok, showing off their guns, drugs, and money.
“Many times it’s to send a message to the other organisations, sometimes it’s to send a message to the police officers that we can’t touch them, but we are fighting back against all these organisations… we try to stop them in all the conflict zones and arrest them,” the officer explained.
Read more: The million dollar streets strewn with bodies contorted by the effects of fentanyl
‘Fentanyl steals your friends’: Pills bought on social media are killing kids in classrooms and in their beds
This district in Tijuana is ground zero for the fentanyl trade in Mexico, and the city is the gateway for drug and people smuggling over the border.
This trade is fuelling an illegal drug epidemic in the United States, and a street war inside Mexico.
World
Azerbaijan Airlines plane was damaged over Russia ‘due to shooting from the ground’, says president
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed, killing 38 people, was damaged while flying over Russia “due to shooting from the ground”, the country’s president has said.
President Ilham Aliyev said he believed that the plane, which crashed around two miles from Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, was not shot down intentionally.
However, he accused some circles in Russia of wanting to cover up the truth about the nature of the crash.
The Embraer 190 passenger jet was en route from Azerbaijan‘s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus when it changed course.
It crashed in Kazakhstan while making an attempt to land after flying east across the Caspian Sea, killing 38 people and injuring all of the other 29 survivors.
In an interview with Azerbaijani television, Mr Aliyev said the plane was damaged “from the outside” over Russian territory and that “electronic warfare systems” put the plane “out of control”.
“At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged,” he said.
“The fact that the fuselage is riddled with holes indicates that the theory of the plane hitting a flock of birds, which was brought up by someone, is completely removed from the agenda.”
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Video shows holes in crashed plane’s tail
He added: “Unfortunately, however, some circles in Russia preferred to put forward this theory. Another regrettable and surprising moment for us was that official Russian agencies put forward theories about the explosion of some gas cylinder on board the plane.
“In other words, this clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, which, of course, is unbecoming of anyone.”
Specialists working at the crash site of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane near Aktau, Kazakhstan. Pic: Reuters
He said the plane was hit “by accident” and ruled out a “deliberate act of terror”.
However, he criticised Russian authorities for not taking responsibility for the crash.
“Admitting the guilt, apologising in a timely manner to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this – all these were measures and steps that should have been taken,” he said.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except for some absurd theories.”
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Video shows inside plane before crash
On Saturday, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” – but stopped short of taking responsibility.
The Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that air defence systems were firing near Grozny because of a Ukrainian drone strike, but stopped short of saying one of these downed the plane.
According to a Kremlin readout of a call, the Russian president apologised to Mr Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace”.
The White House said early indications suggest the plane could have been brought down by Russia,
Two US military officials told Sky News’ partner network NBC News that America has intelligence indicating Russia may have misidentified the aircraft as a drone and shot it down.
In the days following the crash, Azerbaijan Airlines blamed “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports.
If proven, the plane crashed after being hit by Russian air defences, it would be the second deadly aviation incident linked to the Kremlin’s conflict with Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian missile according to investigators, killing all 298 people aboard, in 2014.
The UK has rejected Vladimir Putin’s apology over the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash and called for an independent investigation.
The Russian president apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” – but stopped short of taking responsibility.
The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, when it turned and crashed in Kazakhstan while making an attempt to land on Wednesday.
Some 38 people died in the crash, while there were 29 survivors.
The Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that air defence systems were firing near Grozny because of a Ukrainian drone strike, but stopped short of saying one of these downed the plane.
According to a Kremlin readout of a call, the Russian president apologised to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace”.
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Video shows inside plane before crash
The UK’s Foreign Office has called for a “full and independent” investigation into the crash, adding that Mr Putin’s apology “fails to recognise that the reckless and irresponsible actions of the Russian State pose an acute and direct threat to the interests and national security of other states.”
“Our thoughts are with all those affected by this incident, including the family and friends of those who have died,” a spokesperson added in a statement.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia “must provide clear explanations” and “stop spreading disinformation” in a call with Azerbaijan’s president.
“The key priority now is a thorough investigation to provide answers to all questions about what really happened,” he said in an X post.
“Photos and videos clearly show the damage to the aircraft’s fuselage, including punctures and dents, which strongly point to a strike by an air defence missile.”
The White House said early indications suggest the plane could have been brought down by Russia, while an Azerbaijani minister also blamed the crash on an external weapon.
Two US military officials told Sky News’ partner network NBC News that America has intelligence indicating Russia may have misidentified the aircraft as a drone and shot it down.
Read more from Sky News:
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Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.
In the days following the crash, Azerbaijan Airlines blamed “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports.
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