As of 2020, Baja California state was leading the statistics as the least peaceful Mexican state for the third year in a row. According to the 2021 Mexico Peace Index report, conducted by the Institute for Economics & Peace, more than half of killings in Mexico took place in only six states — one of them was Baja California. The state also ranked as one of those in which peacefulness deteriorated the most in the recent years, and it has seen a massive escalation in homicide, firearms crime, organized crime, and violent car robberies. But delving deeper into Baja California, Tijuana is also infamous as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, with a homicide rate 20 times higher than the global average.

As explained by Laura Calderón in Voice of San Diego, course leader at the University of San Diego, the main reason for high levels of violence in the area is drug trafficking and drug production, which is closely connected to gang activity. Several gangs — the Sinaloa cartel, the Arellano Felix cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and others — have been fighting for dominance, alongside the smaller drug dealers: “They’re not only fighting for major plazas and smuggling routes, but they’re also fighting for corners,” reports Calderón.

Tijuana can also be fatal not only for the civilians, but for journalists as well. Of the five journalists killed in the first five weeks of 2022, three of them lost their lives in Tijuana (via Mexico Daily Post).