Brazen Killing of Alleged Narco in Mexico City Unusual in ‘Safe Haven’ Capital

A man allegedly tied to a Mexican drug cartel was killed in a Starbucks inside an upscale mall in Mexico City in broad daylight—a rare episode of drug-related violence in the capital, which is largely spared the violent disturbances seen elsewhere in the country. 

The shooting happened on Thursday afternoon when a man entered the Plaza Carso mall in the upper class neighborhood of Polanco. He approached his victim, who was sitting by himself outside a Starbucks and shot him several times before fleeing, according to Mexico City authorities. 

“The man who died inside a plaza was 42 years old and had an arrest warrant in Oklahoma for drug trafficking,” Mexico City security chief Omar García Harfuch wrote on social media. 

The man was later identified as Julio César Soto Meza, allegedly a member of the Arellano Felix cartel, a criminal organization mostly based in Baja California with a stronghold on the U.S-Mexico border in Tijuana, according to Harfuch. 

“The man, originally from Tijuana, had several travel logs to Panama, Colombia and California,” Harfuch said. 

Several videos from the scene show terrified clients and employees hiding under the tables and behind counters inside the Starbucks kitchen. 

Another shows the body of the victim dressed in a black polo shirt and black jeans lying under a coffee table. In 2022 Soto Meza was allegedly arrested in Venezuela for drug trafficking when trying to get out of the country, according to news reports. 

Mexico City is generally regarded as something of a safe haven from the brutal drug-related violence that is present in so many of Mexico’s states. But in recent years, violence in the capital has been increasing as criminal groups vie for more control of the international airport, drug trafficking routes, and local consumption markets. In June 2020, the Mexico City security chief Harfuch came under heavy fire in an assassination attempt, on one of the capital’s most trafficked highways, Paseo del la Reforma. At the time, Harfuch blamed the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 

No one has been yet arrested for this week’s killing and authorities said they are still investigating. 

The Arellano Felix organization, one of the most powerful drug cartels during the 90’s, is believed to be near to extinction, although a small splinter-off group is still believed to be operating in Tijuana. 

In a similar event earlier this month, a man was shot to death inside a Starbucks in the tourist beach town of Tulum. The victim was identified as David González Cuéllar, a Mexican businessman.