Exodus from TJ to San Diego
June 9, 2008
Given the crime wave that has catapulted Baja California from a niche resort town and quick getaway from LA’s urban jungles to a desolate sprawl of fish taco stands, tiendas, and college bar hangouts. With the Mexican drug cartels gaining control of all aspects of Mexican society, the Baja today has been jeopordized with crime sprees that have implicated US citizens doubling as drug traffickers and innocent tourists who didn’t get the memo to stay away.
With this, the Baja region, long a site of economic disenfranchisement and identity crisis, has given way to a wasteland of crime dealings. The Mexican government has sent more than 3,000 troops into Tijuana in the last 1 1/2 years, and on several occasions soldiers have shot it out with drug cartel gunmen on residential streets. For many, this disruption will have severe implications on their future, as the poverty rate in the state is far below the national level. Moreover, the region’s economy is dependent on US tourism, as much of the tiendas, restaurants, and attractions cater specifically to them. With the high rate of criminal activity, the gringo tourists and college spring breakers have avoided TJ, Rosarito, and Ensenada at all costs, leaving merchants to board up their financial assets and take cover.
For the rich, the only way to mitigate their livelihood with their commitment to their homeland is to move several miles north, to San Diego. They have the luxury to switch spatial locations, however difficult the transition across the board is, it keeps them away from potential kidnappings and robberies. “San Diego is the only place you can forget the sense of insecurity and fear. There, you can breathe. Psychologically, crossing the border relieves the stress,” said Guillermo Alonso Meneses, a professor of cultural studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana.
The LA Times reports that real estate agents, business owners and victims groups estimate that more than 1,000 Tijuana families — including those of doctors, lawyers, law enforcement officials, Lucha Libre wrestlers and business owners — have made this move in recent years as the drug- fueled violence has worsened.
This is exactly the kind of article that will keep Americans away from Baja. Some of what you wrote is true like the shoot out with drug gangs but look who is asking for those drugs!
Hysterical articles like this will scare away a few tourists and real estate buyers but not the majority. The new Governor of Baja California and the new mayor of Rosarito and other high government officials have pledged along with the President of Mexico to once and for all end the grip of the drug gangs on Baja and all of Mexico by declaring war on them and yes shooting them too.
It is a sad story when you write about the poor shop keepers, restaurant employees and vendors that cannot make money for a living. Guess what they will be doing? Crossing the border north to the U.S. !
Wouldn’t you rather see the Mexicans making a good living and not being forced to cross the border illegally and live here?
So please curb your screaming rethoric and report the positive like the Tourist Police in Rosarito just instituted by Mayor Hugo Torres or the no-ticket zone on the way to Rosarito or the many houses and condos being purchased by Americans in and around Rosarito because they are affordable and have ocean view or even ocean front beach.
That would be a first for you or any U.S. newspaper or media.