TIJUANA, Mexico — President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Tuesday the arrests of six people allegedly involved in the various acts of violence in Tijuana on Friday when vehicles were set on fire in a dozen locations, people were forced off public transportation at gunpoint and roads were blocked.
The arrests happened Monday in Los Mochis and Culiacán in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, López Obrador said Tuesday during his regularly scheduled morning press briefing, called the mañanera.
"Many of those who participated in these acts have already been arrested, yesterday an arrest was made of those who participated in Tijuana; they were arrested in Sinaloa, between (Los) Mochis and Culiacán; two, three leaders, and apparently the bosses," he said.
Baja California state leaders have said there have been 17 people detained within the state in connection with the acts of vandalism and violence, but it remains unclear if some of those who were arrested during the weekend have since been released.
Federal authorities said 12 were transferred to Mexico City for interviews and to continue the federal investigation. No further information was released about their identities or motives.
During the mañanera, Mexico's president went on to partially blame conservative politics for benefiting from news of the events last weekend, during which at least 30 vehicles were set on fire across Baja California, effectively shutting down commerce and travel for a few hours Friday night into Saturday morning.
Messages circulating on social media, purportedly from the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, declared that the cartel was implementing a curfew. The posts told residents that they should go home or risk being attacked.
"The arrests will continue, and of course there was propaganda from these groups, the burning of vehicles, from the Oxxos, and there was also propaganda from the right, from conservatism," said López Obrador.
The comments are in keeping with López Obrador's pattern of making outlandish and cantankerous claims mostly aimed at political rivals and journalists, whom he accuses of trying to derail his transformation of the government.
He said that, although it cannot be proven that this was a "concerted action," since there are no elements to prove it, he had no doubts that "both criminal groups and the conservative bloc propagandized," according to Agencia Noticas Froteriza which first reported on the president's comments.
Life seemed to return to normal Monday in the border region with people going back to work, school and other activities in Tijuana and across the state. However, an additional four vehicles were set on fire Tuesday morning in Ensenada.
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