“Is Tecate safe?” Mayor Román Cota—a member of the Morena party—is asked. Without hesitation, he replies: “Absolutely.” It was Monday, July 6, and the mayor’s optimistic answer stood in stark contrast to events that had unfolded just 24 hours earlier in this designated “Pueblo Mágico” (Magical Town): seven people (five men and two women) were shot dead between July 4 and 5.
In fact, the wave of violence in the municipality of Tecate has not abated for months. It is raw, fierce, and undeniable violence—violence that is on the verge of officially hitting the 100-homicide mark for 2026 so far, a record figure for a municipality with a population of just over 100,000.
Although groups dedicated to searching for missing persons question the official count—believing the number of victims has already surpassed 100—they accuse the authorities of “massaging” the figures to make the implemented security strategy appear successful.
The violence statistics recorded in Tecate are critical and alarming, but above all, impossible to hide amidst an overwhelming onslaught of violence that claims men, women, and even minors—victims who are abducted, murdered, dismembered, beheaded, or buried in clandestine graves.
For years, the municipality has been controlled by organized crime; their internecine wars belie the repeated claims made by Mayor Román Cota that Tecate is “100% safe.”
In one of the most disturbing incidents recorded in the city, armed individuals last weekend opened fire on customers dining at the “Mis Tíos” taco stand and on nearby merchants. They killed Elvia, a woman who worked as the establishment’s cashier; a customer identified as Luis Antonio, who was quietly eating with his family; and 18-year-old Juan Antonio, during what was his… …first day of work as a waiter at the taco shop.
The three victims were executed using high-powered rifles—specifically the AK-47 variant known locally as the “cuerno de chivo” (goat’s horn)—on the night of Saturday, July 4, on Paseo José María Morelos. The attack took place barely 300 meters from the municipal police headquarters and just 250 meters from a security perimeter guarding the scene of a previous homicide.
However, the violence of the attackers—who acted with impunity—did not stop at the fatal shooting of the taco shop’s patrons and staff. To demonstrate the savagery with which they operate—and their confidence that they had ample time to escape—the hitmen dragged Elvia’s lifeless body outside the establishment and set it on fire in the middle of the avenue, while also attempting to torch the taco shop with customers still inside.
Authorities recovered a gallon of gasoline and fifteen 7.62×39mm shell casings at the scene. Police arrived minutes after the attack, but it was too late; the killers had already fled, despite the fact that two surveillance cameras monitored by the C5 Command and Control Center were operating just steps away.
Two other people injured in the attack were transported to city hospitals: Yaritza, 22—the daughter of Elvia, who was killed at the scene—and Williams, who suffered burns to various parts of his face and body. Williams was reported to be in stable condition, but Yaritza died hours later from gunshot wounds, just as her mother had.
Thirty-six hours after the armed attack on the taco shop—which left four people dead—and only after being questioned about the incident, the mayor urged the prosecutor’s office to do its job. He noted that the shop’s owner had also been murdered at the same location years earlier, suggesting that the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) might want to revisit that line of investigation.
