por ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/EDITOR
Friday August 12, at 5 o´clock in Mexicali, a bus from ATUSA transportation company, was pulled over and burned by armed individuals who boarded the bus and evacuated the passengers and driver, then proceeded to pour gasoline and set it on fire, then they fled, they didn´t rob or steal anything, they didn´t hurt de occupants.
About an hour after the attack, the news started to spread all over the State, there were similar attacks going on all over Baja California, there were rumors and fake news flowing while the State Government and the Municipalities remained silent, so there was panic everywhere, in a couple of hours there were 27 fire attacks in five cities.
Ensenada shut down, all businesses closed and people were told to stay home, firetrucks and police cars were going up and down the city, the same happened in Mexicali and Tijuana, with unofficial information, memes and fake news spreading all over the Web, telling all kinds of stories, most of them turned out to be false.
Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero, broadcast a Facebook live, sending a message to organized crime: “If you have invoices to collect, do it with those who didn´t pay you, not the good people of Baja California”, something one wouldn´t expect to hear from the person in charge of the biggest city in Baja California.
“It was a terrorist attack”, said Octavio Sandoval, as spokesperson of Mexicali businesspeople and entrepreneurs, he demanded the City and State administrations to inform people, he regretted the lack of official communication all Friday afternoon, and the short and shallow messages sent at midnight by Mexicali Mayor, Norma Bustamante and at 3 o´clock in the morning by Governor Marina del Pilar Avila.
As of Saturday morning, official information stated that there had been 24 attacks, 14 in Tijuana, 4 in Ensenada, three in Tecate, two in Mexicali and three in Rosarito, as well as 17 people arrested, seven in Tijuana, four in Rosarito, four in Mexicali and two in Ensenada, three of these people are allegedly related to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
