By “El Huaso” for Borderland Beat
María de Jesús Quijada, a Morena councilwoman for Tecate, Baja California, was injured in an ambush on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. Quijada remains in critical condition at a San Diego hospital, but her husband died at the scene.
Quijada’s family told Zeta Tijuana that she is alive, in critical condition with two gunshot wounds to the head. Quijada is being treated at a hospital in San Diego, United States.
Authorities said the attackers fled in a white car, which was located minutes later in the Benito Juárez neighborhood in Tecate. The gunmen threw Molotov cocktails at it, likely to destroy evidence. No motive for the attack has been identified.
Both María de Jesús Quijada and her husband Jesús Pereida held numerous roles within local government. Quijada oversees the Welfare, Water and Energy, Protection of Children and Adolescents committees in Tecate. She also briefly served as interim mayor of Tecate in May 2026 while Mayor Román Cota Muñoz was away on an official trip.