voiceofsandiego.org: Cafesandiego... Tijuana: A Troubled Paradise

On Friday I spent the day touring the coast from Tijuana to Ensenada with Saul Alarcon who works with me at WiLDCOAST and Joe Sharkey who writes the New York Times "On the Road"column. Joe was reporting on how the staff of WiLDCOAST/COSTASALVAjE, the bi-national organization based in San Diego and Ensenada I run, stay safe in what has become one of the focal points for Mexico's Narco War while attempting to preserve a stunning but degraded coastal region. (This really hits me every time we carry out a special event in Tijuana involving local dignitaries and they are guarded by machine gun-carrying policemen).

The issue of safety was foremost on our minds. As we crossed the border back into the U.S., Saul received a call on his cell phone from a colleague, Eugenia, in Ensenada. Eugenia informed him that her cousin, caught in the crossfire of a narco massacre at a roadside restaurant in the farming and fishing town of El Rosario with her family last week, had just passed away at a hospital in Tijuana.

It was a miracle that Eugenia's cousin's husband threw their two children to safety. Unfortunately the children witnessed gunmen shoot their mother through the aorta and the murders of three other diners. The gunmen had tracked their victims to the tiny roadside diner in El Rosario, a quiet farming and fishing village on the edge of the great Central Desert wilderness Anton Chigurh style.

Despite the escalating violence in Baja California, life goes on for the more than two million people who live in northern Baja California. But due to the very real threat of kidnappings, many members of the Mexican elite have fled their country to safe havens throughout Southern California and the Southwest. Others surround themselves with bodyguards and wear bulletproof clothes and drive armored cars.

As for tourists, the mainstay of Baja's economy, they have already voted with their feet. We counted a total of six tourists on our tour through Tijuana, Rosarito Beach and Ensenada and in the long line walking back across the border in Tijuana. We didn't see a single surfer on the entire coast despite the glassy conditions and small clean surf. The lack of coastal access and the horrendous levels of pollution don't help attract hordes of surfers either.

Does the media exaggerate the issue of the narco war and security in Baja the problem? Absolutely not. Anyone who travels south of the border should be careful and concerned about security.

There are four things to be concerned with: 1) Getting caught in the crossfire of a narco-firefight; 2) Being robbed by narco gunmen; 3) Being robbed by corrupt police officers; and 4) Being robbed by drug addicts and criminals in urban areas and more remote areas of the peninsula once perceived to be very safe.

As someone who has spent the past 20 years working throughout the Peninsula, things have changed in Baja. The residents of the region are the first to take the issue of security seriously. So here are some tips to help you stay safe:

1. Avoid travel south of the border if you can avoid it. Do you really need to eat overpriced fish tacos in Tijuana or Rosarito Beach?

2. Don't drive anywhere at night. Stay off the Tijuana-Ensenada toll road or Highway 1 after dark.

3. Don't camp in isolated areas alone especially between El Rosario and Tijuana. Stay in campgrounds or with families you know. Crystal meth addiction in rural Baja has caused a crime wave in farming village and fish camps alike.

4. Travel in caravans. Stay safe in numbers if you are heading south of El Rosario.

5. Don't underestimate the danger. It is better to over overcautious than a victim of crime.

It is unfortunate that old Baja California is disappearing. I just hope that for the sake of the amazingly honest, generous and friendly people who inhabit the Peninsula, that this unfortunate situation will change for the better.

Does this mean that I have stopped traveling south of the border? No. But as someone who has lived in sketchy places in El Salvador, Morocco and Peru, I am the first to recognize that it is better to be safe than sorry. My family and I will spend the Christmas holiday at a remote surf camp four hundred miles south of Tijuana. But we will plan and carry our trip as we do any other foray into the Third World. Very carefully.

-- SERGE DEDINA

I think that says it all! These comments aren't from some "racist white guy" but from someone well acquainted with the area. Be Safe, Not Sorry!

Posted by SKY173 | reply to this comment
November 24, 2008 2:10 pm

yep, I live in Tijuana, and grew up in Ensenada. I love life around here, or at least what little life's left in our city, but getting around it is getting more and more dificult every day. And if there is somethig true in this article, is that yes, if you come here, you should be very very concerned with police officers. And this is the first time I see someone refering to the drug problem in Baja California as wath it is, an epidemic.

Posted by Pablo | reply to this comment
November 24, 2008 5:17 pm

Thanks for the hopeful message, Serge. How about reporting on how all your northern baja friends are doing now that tourism is at a standstill? Oh wait, do you have friends in baja? The sad fact is that the culture of mexican/american interaction south of the border has been decimated, and rather than state the obvious, we should lend our collective support, in whatever manner possible, to the unfortunate people caught in the struggle of government corruption eradication. Perhaps the message should simply be, "hang on, it'll figure itself out, and then we can help the communities rebuild their economic bases." Instead, given your tone, the more likely response by readers is, "stay away from Mexico or you may be killed." Such compassion for the devastated communities. Stunning.

Posted by 2cent jack | reply to this comment
November 24, 2008 11:26 pm

Why are you so surprised 2cent? Afterall, Serge had nothing to say about this issue for the past five years, either for the the Mexicans who were marching in the streets against insecurity or for the touristas being targeted, not one word. He always seems to jump on the bandwagon after everything has hit the fan, including the LNG Plant north of Ensenada., and apparently he thinks it's just really cool to deface property and paint graffitti on Mexican bridges Oh, right, I forgot, it was Serge Dedina who used a band that promoted narcocorridos to promote his enterprise, doesn't anyone remember? Oh, right, and he said he did that because it was popular with the kids. Let me tell you something, at that time parents here were desperately trying to keep their kids AWAY from narcocorridos. What functions? LMAO.

Posted by Maggie Drake | reply to this comment
November 27, 2008 12:28 am

Serge, I hear you. I just spoke with one of the directors of a local Tijuana arts magazine, and he told me that the feeling in Tijuana is tense. People are just staying home, and this violence is no mere white racist fantasy. While it is true that there's a long tradition of literature that treats Tijuana as the "dark side" of a great, white happy San Diego, there are some real problems here that go way beyond the stereotypes. I have to wonder about the root causes of this violence now--Calderon's policy to crack down on the drug cartels may seem heroic, particularly from the perspective of an American public accustomed to the Bush Administrations hard line, military solutions to complex problems. Mexico's problems have been exacerbated by NAFTA and economic policies that destroy communities and the economic base of society.

Posted by Jill Holslin | reply to this comment
November 25, 2008 9:15 pm

I used to spend time in Mexico. No more. I'm not inconspicuous enough to last long in a place where kidnapping is now a thriving business. It's deeply disturbing that San Diegans mostly ignore what is going on so close to home. We look down on our neighbors, and ignore how we helped bring this about. Our idiotic drug war and border corruption go hand in hand. ICE over-kill hasn't improved the border, just made it worse. Hopefully Obama's administration can turn this around....we need new thinking on both sides of the fence to restore Mexico's safety.

Posted by Fred Williams | reply to this comment
November 28, 2008 6:43 am

Tijuana: A Troubled Paradise

Published: Monday, November 24, 2008 1:13 PM PST

-- SERGE DEDINA