Thirteen killed in execution-style raid on Tijuana drug rehab center

Thirteen men were killed in a raid at a drug rehabilitation center in Tijuana, Mexican officials said Monday.

Masked gunmen forced residents onto the floor at El Camino a la Recuperacion center and then sprayed them with bullets, officials said.

The center is located in the Buenos Aires Sur area of eastern Tijuana.

Officials have not announced a motive for the killings, but Mexico is gripped in a bloody war among drug cartels.

A total of 28,228 people have died in Mexico in drug-related war deaths, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon has ordered about 45,000 troops to 18 states where drug trafficking organizations are battling for access to the U.S. market.

Earlier this month in Ciudad Juarez, 14 people were gunned down at a family birthday party. The border city has become the epicenter of Mexico's drug war.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Members of the Mexican Federal Police stand guard in front of the rehab center in Tijuana, where gunmen shot 13 people to death. Credit: Francisco Vega / AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[GeraldR5]

Of course it's all our fault, or so says Hillary!

[Robert]

Why are these guys targeting rehab centers? Someone must know.

[DavoNuevo]

This is just bad business being practiced by the gunmen. Studies showa +/-80% relapse rate among those who go to rehab. Would the gunmen have killed 13 people if they knew that 10.4 of them would be future customers?

[Michael Scully]

California, PLEASE vote AGAINST Jerry Brown and AGAINST Barbara Boxer!

P L E A S E !!!!

Thanks.

[JBT]

Pull the Troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq...Time to qwell Mexico...

[Bao]

Mexico is a capitalist democracy, with freedom of religion and press. Mexico has no Muslims or communists. Viva La Mexico!

[scuba-doo]

I challenge anyone to disupute - that the Mexicans do not have their own version of the TALIBAN!

[dude]

Wait there was another massacre?? I just read about one on Friday at a party or something!?!

Border protection needs to become a top priority, not just political babble w/ intentions. It will cross over the border in no time just wait and see.

[joey]

Gee, I guess that means that the cartels will be sending money to the
No On 19 side,
along with the Prison Guards Union, Big Pharma and Big Liquor.

[antarez77]

Mexicans, the exact reason we don't need anymore Illegal Mexicans here.

[tres passin]

Yes on 19 will help stop atrocities like this.

[greg misakyan]

When all these murdering is going to STOP. Enough already legalize marijuana use.

[bastante]

Mexico is a filthy cesspool of corruption and murder.Nothing has changed in that country for two hundred years.When will its' people rise up and take control of their land? Instead they allow filthy drug criminals to terrorize them!Just remember,the longer you,the people of Mexico allow this to continue,the worse it will become.

[driveon]

So now I guess the narco -trafficantes (sp?) don't want folks down there trying to get help to get off the drugs that are causing so much death and devastation. Can someone tell me again WHY we're over there in the mountains of Afghanistan chasing Taliban insurgents, when our armed forces should be here preventing the violence in Mexico from spreading here.

[DavoNuevo]

This is really just bad business being practiced by the gunmen. Studies have shown tha the relapse rate for those who go to rehab is +/-80%. Would the gunmen have killed 10.4 future customers if they were aware of this fact?

[Erwin]

I can understand cartel members shooting each other but why kill customers or potential customers. They need a new business model, and the US needs more enforcement at the border so it doesn't spill over to us.

[roovialk]

When will we learn to close the border and deport all illegals?

[Heidi Jones]

Wake up people....... this type of violence is coming here. We can't keep ignoring the daily murders directly across the border, and not conclude it is moving here.

Another shocker, when the cartels begin targeting the families of our local,state & federal law enforcement, don't expect them to agressively pursue the drug cartels.........

[rucrazy]

This is why prop 19 pass to stop the drug cartels from bring in their way of life here to the United States Of America. I guess the Billions of dollars spent fighting the cancer has not worked

[JamesP]

They're killing people in rehab? This isn't about their market, it's just that they are animals. It's not about "access to the US market" (go ahead, blame the US for Mexico's problems again), it's just that they are animals.

[Warren]

Unit the US reexamine our Drug Policies this war will continue. The first step to end the Drug War in Mexico is to legalize Cannabis. Cannabis earns the Mexican Mafia's its biggest profits. Vote YES on 19 to save CA and Mexico.

[Rick]

Coming to a neighborhood near you!

[pasadena jag]

Hey, let's just move all of Tijuana up here. They'll feel right at home. Vote out Boxer and don't vote for Brown.

[KenD]

I'm sorry for the victims. And I'm sorry for the many regular, law-abiding people of Mexico/Baja/Tijuana who just want to live their lives without fear and move freely and confidently through their city.

[Mike]

The cartel violence is not solely a Mexican government problem because the cartels' power is fueled by the money our fellow Americans spend on their drug habits. Were it not for that, the cartels would not have the power to take over Mexico and kill people left and right as they are. Billions are going south every year from people who just can't say no to their habits.