At least nine people were killed in Tecate between Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31, just two days after Mayor Román Cota Muñoz told reporters that 2026 had been “a good year for security.” The Tecate homicides 2026 toll now stands at 78 or higher through May, and the gap between the mayor’s public optimism and the body count has drawn sharp political criticism.
The killings took place across multiple locations. Bodies were found in Valle de las Palmas, along the Tecate-Ensenada highway, and in the La Sierrita neighborhood. Baja California’s security secretary, Laureano Carrillo Rodríguez, attributed the violence to turf disputes between organized crime groups operating in the municipality.
Tecate Logged 69 Homicides Before the Weekend Even Started
On May 21, Carrillo Rodríguez presented data at a “Tecate a las 10” security briefing. Through that date, the municipality had already recorded 69 homicides in 2026. The month-by-month breakdown tells a clear story: 8 in January, 17 in February, 20 in March (the deadliest month), 9 in April, and 15 in the first three weeks of May. Those 15 did not include the nine weekend killings.
So when Cota Muñoz stood before cameras on May 28 at the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura de Tecate (IMACTE) and celebrated what he called Tecate’s first homicide-free week, the city had already averaged roughly 14 killings per month. “We can say that, after several weeks with some activity in high-impact crimes (here I knock on wood and hope I’m not jinxing myself), we’ve at least had this first week with no homicide,” the mayor said.
He doubled down the next day, May 29, telling reporters again that it had been “a good year” for security. The nine killings began roughly 24 hours later.
Narco Message Left Outside Mayor’s Own Parking Spot on May 15
The mayor’s upbeat framing was already difficult to square with events at City Hall itself. On May 15, a car containing a body and a handwritten narcomensaje (a threatening message from a criminal group) was abandoned on the sidewalk directly outside Cota Muñoz’s personal parking space at Palacio Municipal. That incident, barely two weeks before his “good year” declaration, went unaddressed in his public remarks.
Tecate holds Mexico’s “Pueblo Mágico” designation, a federal tourism label meant to draw visitors to towns with cultural or historical appeal. The city sits about 35 miles southeast of San Diego and draws weekend visitors for its wine country, craft breweries, and the popular Tecate-Ensenada scenic highway. The violence has concentrated in peripheral areas and along transit corridors rather than in the compact downtown core, but the narco-message at City Hall put the conflict squarely in the municipal seat.
Cota Muñoz, who is past the midpoint of his three-year term, blamed prior administrations for the security crisis. “What we’re seeing today is the effect of a cause that originated years ago, when there was a lack of coordination, a lack of support, a lack of collaboration among all law enforcement forces to address the root of the security problem in our municipality,” he said.
PAN Legislator Called Mayor an ‘Applauder Without Results’
State legislator Alejandrina Corral Quintero of the PAN (National Action Party, Mexico’s main conservative opposition) responded publicly on social media. She noted that while homicides spiked in Tecate, the mayor had traveled to Tijuana to attend a broadcast of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s national address. “Instead of wasting time applauding the President, Tecate’s mayor should focus on bringing peace back to the people who trusted him and Morena,” Corral Quintero wrote, calling him an “applauder without results.”
Morena, the ruling party at both federal and state levels, holds the Tecate mayor’s office. Corral Quintero’s criticism fits a broader opposition argument that Morena-led municipalities in Baja California have failed to reduce cartel violence despite controlling all levels of government.
If you drive the Tecate-Ensenada highway or visit Valle de las Palmas, be aware that both appeared in this weekend’s crime reports. The downtown Pueblo Mágico zone has not seen the same level of incidents, but the City Hall narco-message on May 15 showed the conflict can surface anywhere in the municipality.
Tecate’s next municipal security briefing has not been formally scheduled. The state attorney general’s office, FGE (Baja California’s state prosecutor), is handling the nine weekend homicide investigations. This story was first reported by Punto Norte.