Thursday, August 7, 2014: Today marks the 4th anniversary of the “Tijuana Ambush”. Adriana Coronel Tenorio (AKA Adriana Howitt Coronel, Ari Coronel, Ari Coronel Tenorio, Ari Howitt, Ari Howitt Coronel) had lost her appeal to the Supreme Court. In fact she did not just lose her appeal in the Supreme Court, they took a look at it and threw it out immediately citing it was a complete waste of their time. That did not sit well with Adriana. Everyone associated with this case told me there was going to be some backlash: my attorneys, the US State Department, the US Consulate. Everyone. Adriana was not going to take this decision lightly. And she certainly did not disappoint.
August 7, 2010 was a bright sunny day. That day I was with Samantha. I was wearing blue jeans, tan sneakers and a 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk t-shirt. Having that knowledge as you read what Adriana did that day makes her actions even more absurd. Adriana along with her friend, and Maria Guadalupe Tenorio Toledano (AKA Lupita Tenorio, Marsha Tenorio) planned and executed an ambush of me right in front of Samantha.
On this day, their plan was to have the Tijuana Police Department do their dirty work. They were the ones who came out of nowhere, placed me under arrest for no reason and tossed me into the infamous La Mesa Prison. Adriana, her friend and Maria Guadalupe concocted a story that I tried to kill all three of them in broad daylight on a busy Tijuana street corner. Then I turned my attention to beating the crap out of several Tijuana Police officers. Never mind there were dozens of people who were there that saw this go down and miraculously none of them were interviewed by police. Get the gringo off the streets as quickly as possible so nobody else sees what’s going on. At the time, I had no idea Adriana threw in a few extra dollars to have the Tijuana Police handcuff me to the back of their police pickup truck and take me out on a joyride for the next several hours.
Adriana and her friend followed the police truck for awhile. Adriana’s friend was taking video as Adriana drove. What’s interesting about that is that they just claimed I tried to kill them, yet no one had to go to the hospital. Adriana claimed I broke her neck yet there she was driving behind me flipping me the bird as her friend continued to shoot video.
At that moment, I still had no idea what was going on. Nobody was telling me anything. All’s I knew is that this was bad. Really bad. The cops did not seem to care I had my cell phone in my back pocket when they cuffed me to the back of their truck. I lobbed off a call that probably saved my life. That call started the chain of events that inevitably tracked me down and started the process of figuring out what happened. Between that phone call and the time I would be sharing a 20×20 with 30 other men took several hours as I got the grand tour of all the hot spots for crime in Tijuana. I had no idea if someone was going to shoot me for fun or if we were headed for the desert so one of these cops could put a cap in my dome to finish me off without anyone ever knowing.
At one point I ended up in a 2-day holding cell. It’s basically a “48-hour time out” for minor offenders. The police there hate paperwork. This is a place for them to keep people for a short time and let them go after 48-hours. No fuss, no muss. The notion that I got over on several Tijuana cops is laughable because I saw first hand what happens when someone tried to get over on these guys. One guy getting the shit beat out of him to the point he could not walk for several days. I know because he followed me from this place to La Mesa Prison.
The 2-day time out is no picnic. There is very little in the way of sunlight, so you have no idea what time it is until the place goes dark. There is no food served. You are at the mercy of the other prisoners sharing what friends and family bring to them, which to my surprise happened unconditionally. Drinking water was available if you asked for it. As far as accommodations go, I was lucky. I was in a single cell with 2-other people, one of which was the guy who could not walk for several days. The cell itself had a single bunk for 2 and a concrete block with a small hole for a toilet and no privacy. There were other cells which had a dorm like function, housing dozens of people at the same time. As far as I was concerned, I was in a better place then any of those people. Time crept along slowly. Minutes seemed like hours, hours seemed like days. There was nothing you could do but sit there. And wait.
Finally my attorneys tracked me down as did the US State Department, and to say the State Department was pissed was an understatement. They immediately put Adriana on their “unstable and dangerous” list. They told me that once someone is on that list, you don’t get off it. It’s like being on the terror watch list. Can’t say he didn’t deserve the distinction.
Between the two agencies, I had a pretty good knowledge of what was going on and what was happening. Nobody had any idea what Adriana was going to do next. If she does nothing, I was going free at the end of the 48-hours no matter what. Plan B was to have money ready in case she takes this a step further so I don’t end up in La Mesa Prison. Everyone was working feverishly to make sure I did not end up there.
