97 Executed 100 Disappeared: Tecate Faces Unprecedented Cartel Violence

Seven bodies in less than 24 hours. That was just Tuesday in Tecate.

The border city in Baja California, known more for its craft beer and mountain views than cartel violence, has become a killing field. The numbers are unprecedented. Ninety seven executed. One hundred disappeared. Homicides up 100 percent compared to the same period last year. For a city of roughly 100,000 people with a sleepy downtown and a quiet border crossing to the United States, the scale of the violence is staggering.

The figures come from Investigaciones ZETA, the investigative unit behind the weekly Semanario ZETA, which dedicated its latest podcast to what is happening in this city of roughly 100,000 people near the California border. The episode, covering the edition of July 10 to 16, paints a picture of a town where criminal groups operate with impunity.

The phrase the journalists used was direct: untouchable cartels in Tecate. The podcast, which can be found on WhatsApp and streaming platforms, framed the current crisis as a breakdown of local law enforcement, federal oversight, and state capacity in a town that was, until recently, considered one of the safer options along the California border.

Seven Executions in One Day

The podcast reported that seven people were executed in less than 24 hours across Tecate. That pace of violence would be alarming in Tijuana, a city of nearly two million. In a small border town, it is staggering. The murder rate has doubled compared to 2025, and the list of disappeared people has grown to 100.

The victims are not all connected. Some are tied to territorial disputes between criminal groups. Others are believed to be collateral. A few may be police officers. The ZETA podcast noted that many of the killings bear the signature of organized crime groups fighting over the Tecate corridor, a strategic route for moving drugs, weapons, and people into Southern California. The violence against law enforcement is a national crisis the podcast also addressed.

Across Mexico, 1,781 police officers have been murdered so far in 2026, according to a report by Luis Carlos Sainz published in ZETA. Jalisco leads the list, following the fall of El Mencho and the subsequent power vacuum created by his death or capture. Sinaloa follows close behind, where the civil war between the Chapitos and Mayos factions has turned entire municipalities into no-go zones for uniformed officers.

Tecate was never supposed to be on this list. Now it is near the top.

The Mayo Zambada Shadow

The podcast also revisited the Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada case, a topic that refuses to fade. The Federal Government is questioning the extent of US involvement in the arrest of the Sinaloa Cartel co-founder. The Attorney General's Office (FGR) is investigating alleged irregularities by the FBI on Mexican soil during 2024.

The FGR has accused the FBI of effectively kidnapping Zambada, the ZETA report says, without investigating the role of Rubén Rocha, the governor of Sinaloa, who has been linked to the same criminal network in previous investigations. The tension between the two countries over sovereignty and drug enforcement remains raw, and the podcast did not shy away from calling out what it sees as selective accountability on both sides of the border.

A Morena candidate for coordinator in Baja California, Julieta Ramirez, addressed the issue in an interview with Eduardo Andrade Uribe. "We did not come here to defend anyone or cover up anyone," she said. "The defense of sovereignty must exclude the shielding of public servants."

The message was aimed at those who argue that national sovereignty means rejecting any foreign involvement in Mexican law enforcement. Her point: sovereignty cannot be a shield for corruption.

Tecate sits directly south of the California border, between Tijuana and Mexicali. It has a border crossing of its own, a quieter alternative to the chaos of San Ysidro. For years, its relative calm was part of its identity. Tourists came for the Tecate brewery, the hiking trails, and the weekend escape from San Diego.

The violence in Tecate is not an isolated phenomenon. It is part of a broader pattern across northern Mexico where criminal groups are fighting for control of border crossing routes, drug corridors, and human trafficking networks. The same forces that turned Tijuana into a war zone in previous decades are now expanding into smaller towns where law enforcement is thinner and the cartels face less resistance.

The ZETA podcast concluded with a blunt assessment: the cartels in Tecate are untouchable. Not because they are invincible. Because the institutions meant to stop them have not done so.

For residents of Tecate, that distinction does not matter much. Ninety seven dead. One hundred missing. And the bodies keep coming.