By Patrick Osio
You’re planning a vacation trip; you want to stay relatively close to home, no overseas travel, not this year. Maybe Mexico or in the U.S. – but it has to be affordable and with plenty to do. So you’re reading about some cities. You find one of interest, but on reading other information lo and behold you find that the chances of becoming a crime victim in that city are 1 out of 4 – a whopping 25% chance of being a crime victim. That ended that city as a destination.
You select another city, it sounds interesting, but now you also want to check up on how safe it is. Oh my gosh, you read that the chances of being a crime victim are also 1 out of 4. Scratch that one too. You go to the next city of interest, this one has great beaches, from good to excellent sea food restaurants, but before you book rooms, you check the safety. This one is better but still the chances of being a crime victim are 1 out of 5 – a 20% chance. What the heck is going on? Scratch that city.
Now you start checking other cities but begin with the safety factor first – you find that some are 1 out of 7, or 1 out of 8, or 1 out of 9, or 1 out of 10 – one out of ten people that’s 10% of people being victims of crime in that city – that is scary you think and decide maybe you and your family should stay home. The cities checked before giving up are Chicago, Cincinnati, Miami, Jacksonville, Baltimore, Kansas City, Memphis, Dallas, Richmond, St. Louis, Little Rock, Philadelphia, Tampa, New York, Orlando, Cleveland, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Detroit – you had no idea that the chances of being a victim of crime in those cities was that high. What an eye opener. But is it really an eye opener or are those cities “guilty by association”? All the mentioned cities are great places with much history and plentiful things to do and enjoy.
The high crime rates are true, but within certain, but not all in fact few, neighborhoods in each of those cities. The odds for being a victim of crime in those neighborhoods fall on the neighborhood residents not the tourists who visit the city and don’t travel into those affected neighborhoods. New Orleans and Miami, as examples, were suffering from a drop of tourism due to high crime reports leading city officials in New Orleans to explain that the French Quarter where tourists congregate and spend their visiting time are very safe provided they are not involved in criminal activity.
All cities mentioned are victims of generalization that the media portrayed and people believe that the entire city is not safe due to some neighborhoods having high crime rates. Similarly, Baja California has been victimized by an unknowing, some would say insensitive, press that Tijuana, with a population nearing 2 million, covering over 400 square miles with dozens of neighborhoods, has neighborhoods with high crime rates wherein the drug cartels are entrenched, but it does not affect the entire city.
Where tourism congregates is relatively free of crime, and other than petty thefts, most other crimes against tourists are negligible in proportion to the number of visitors. The press reports high profile gang wars, and law enforcement shoot out encounters with drug cartel members as though it is the entire city by not identifying affected neighborhoods or even the size of the city where these confrontations take place.
Like the French Quarter of New Orleans the Tijuana sections wherein visitors congregate are as safe as the French Quarter. It is unfair to generalize about the entire city of New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Dallas and all the others due to high crime in some of their neighborhoods, it is also unfair to generalize about Tijuana.
It is an even greater injustice that in generalizing about Tijuana the nearby municipalities of Rosarito Beach, covering close to 200 square miles, and Ensenada, a giant at over 20,000 square miles of territory, are drawn into the same generalization as Tijuana because travelers are under the impression that to reach them they have to cross Tijuana – not true, but the US press has never corrected the perception. Going to Ensenada from the US-Mexico border one takes a highway that skirts around Tijuana to a very safe toll scenic highway to both Rosarito Beach and Ensenada. Like in Los Angeles, using a freeway that crosses Watts (350% greater homicide rate than rest of L.A.) on the way to Disneyland.
These types of generalizations hurt everybody – the potential visitor to a great city in the US or Baja California because they miss out on a great experience; the city who loses the income that is spent by tourists that create employment and better life for residents; and by workers whose livelihood depends on visitor’s expenditures.
By Josh Meyer
Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington -- June 17, 2009 -- The United States lacks a coordinated strategy to stem the flow of weapons smuggled across its southern border, a failure that has fueled the rise of powerful criminal cartels and violence in Mexico, a government watchdog agency report has found.
The report by the congressional Government Accountability Office, the first federal assessment of the issue, offered blistering conclusions that will probably influence the debate over the role of U.S.-made weaponry as violence threatens to spill across the Mexico border.
According to a draft copy of the report, which will be released today, the growing number of weapons being smuggled into Mexico comprise more than 90% of the seized firearms that can be traced by authorities there.
The document also cited recent U.S. intelligence indicating that most weapons were being smuggled in specifically for the syndicates -- and being used not only against the Mexican government but also to expand their drug trafficking operation in the United States.
"The U.S. government lacks a strategy to address arms trafficking to Mexico," the report said in blunt terms. "Individual U.S. agencies have undertaken a variety of activities and projects to combat arms trafficking to Mexico, but they are not part of a comprehensive U.S. government-wide strategy for addressing the problem."
Obama administration officials said that, although they could not comment on the report before it was released, they have taken steps to reduce the flow of weapons, long a source of frustration to Mexican authorities.
This month, for instance, the administration announced a Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy that included a section on arms trafficking.
The GAO report's authors, however, said that strategy and similar Obama administration efforts were in the early stages and unlikely to significantly improve the situation quickly. They also said the Merida Initiative -- $1.4 billion in initial aid allotted under the George W. Bush administration -- had provided no dedicated funding to address the issue of weapons trafficking.
In the meantime, illegally obtained U.S. weapons -- including an increasing number of automatic rifles -- are being used to kill thousands of Mexican police, soldiers, elected officials and civilians, the report said.
Jess T. Ford, the GAO's director of international affairs and trade, is scheduled to deliver testimony on the findings at a House hearing today.
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere that is holding today's hearing, said he was troubled by the findings.
"It is simply unacceptable that the United States not only consumes the majority of the drugs flowing from Mexico but also arms the very cartels that contribute to the daily violence that is devastating Mexico," said Engel, who requested the report.
The GAO singled out the two agencies primarily responsible for combating weapons trafficking for criticism -- the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The auditors said those agencies had not effectively coordinated their efforts, in part because they lacked clear roles and responsibilities and had been operating under an outdated interagency agreement. As a result, the agencies duplicated one another's initiatives, leading to confusion.
They also lack the kind of systematic analysis and reporting of weapons trafficking data -- such as how many firearms they have seized that were destined for Mexico -- that would allow authorities to better investigate and prosecute cases.
In response, Justice Department and Homeland Security officials acknowledged that they were working to address some shortcomings the GAO identified.
ATF Assistant Director W. Larry Ford said that his agency and ICE were working to complete a memorandum of understanding "to maximize our joint effectiveness to combat violent crime along the Southwest border."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said interagency cooperation "has been a priority of mine since I became secretary."
"Any agreement between ICE and DEA will increase our ability to secure the border, curtail drug trafficking and make our country safer," Napolitano said in a statement. "I am very optimistic that we will reach an agreement soon."
But the GAO criticisms go beyond operational concerns. Some findings cited laws and policies in the U.S. and Mexico that could make it difficult to institute lasting reforms such as lax U.S. laws for collecting and reporting information on firearms purchases, and a lack of required background checks for private firearms sales.
Moreover, they said, the United States was not doing enough to help Mexico with fighting weapons trafficking and related corruption on its side of the border.
The two countries have not established a bilateral, multiagency arms-trafficking task force, and Mexico has not fully implemented the ATF's electronic firearms tracing system -- "an important tool for U.S. arms trafficking investigations in the United States," Jess Ford planned to say in his testimony, according to the report.
Another significant challenge, according to Ford, was corruption within the Mexican government.
"Despite President [Felipe] Calderon's efforts to combat organized crime," Ford will say, "extensive corruption at the federal, state and local levels of Mexican law enforcement impedes U.S. efforts to develop effective and dependable partnerships with Mexican government entities in combating arms trafficking."
There are several goodreasons Americans should help out the Mexican economy with a trip south of theborder.
By Andrés Martinez - Los Angeles Times
June 9, 2009
Your neighbor needs your help. Do you have it within you to lend ahand? Will you book yourself a week on the beach in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta, orexplore Mexico City or one of the colonial cities in the heart of Mexico? Youknow, for the common good.
This has been a banner decade for empathy tourism -- many Americans flocking toNew York after 9/11 and to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did so with asense of public service. Mexico now needs a similar surge.
Our neighbor to the south is having an annus horribilis, as a Britishmonarch might say. These were never going to be good times down there, withMexico's economy so intertwined with ours, but growing concern aboutwar-on-drugs violence, the decline in oil prices and the advent of swine fluhas further dented "brand Mexico." Adding insult to injury,Washington earlier barred Mexican trucks from coming into the United States, aflagrant violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and, as of lastweek, Americans crossing over to Mexico were required to have a passport toreenter the country, a change expected to deepen the slump in border townsfrequented by Americans.
The tourism sector is the largest employer in Mexico and the third-largestsource of foreign currency for the trillion-dollar economy, after oil exportsand remittances sent home by Mexicans working in the U.S. It is estimated thatthe swine flu alone will cost the country about $5 billion in tourist revenue(and bear in mind that travel to Mexico was already down significantly as aresult of the U.S. recession). Hotel occupancy rates in Cancun in May didn'teven reach the 30% mark. The all-clear has been sounded on the virus, but noone knows for sure how long-lasting the impact on tourism will be. Mexico'sgross domestic product, meanwhile, is expected to contract about 12% in thesecond quarter of this year.
Why should Americans care? Well, for starters, there is the national securityimperative. Say what you will about Mexico, and there is plenty negative to besaid, our southern neighbor has been a fairly reliable, stable and friendlypartner for more than half a century, and it is in our interest to keep it thatway. Our nation's political discourse may not always reflect our goodgeographic fortune, which we take for granted, but the United States is blessedto have Canada and Mexico as neighbors. Is there another developing nation ofmore than 100 million people we'd rather have on our southern flank? Putdifferently, how many other global powers in history have had the luxury of along land border that doesn't need to be protected by a large standing army?
Suddenly this year, thePentagon and many pundits on the right have been raising the specter of apotential "failed state" on our border, the result of the lawlessnessbred by powerful drug cartels. The rhetoric is a bit overheated, thecomparisons to Pakistan misplaced, but the concern about what is happening inMexico, our third-largest trading partner, is laudable. We have a strong nationalinterest in seeing Mexico remain a peaceful, ever-prospering democracy.
The importance of Mexico to the United States is a truth not often voiced, butoccasionally acknowledged by deed. Mexico traditionally ranks somewhere betweenJordan and Argentina on the foreign policy establishment's list of priorities.The amount of resources devoted to cross-border development or mutual securityis pitiful (even in the aftermath of the anti-drug initiative known as theMerida plan), compared with development or military aid distributed elsewhere,not to mention compared with regional development transfers within the Europeansingle market.
But a far more robust commitment to Mexico does assert itself when required, aswe saw during the 1990s, when the Clinton White House, bypassing Congress, madeabout $20 billion in Treasury reserve funds available to Mexico during thatcountry's last financial crisis. And this year too, Mexico is proving itself tobe, not unlike AIG or Citigroup, too large to fail from Washington'sperspective, as the Federal Reserve has made available to Mexico a $30-billioncurrency swap facility, which gives that nation's central bank privilegedaccess to credit from the Fed in order to stabilize the value of the peso.
It would improve the overall health of the relationship, and our ability tothink strategically about Mexico's (and hence regional) development ifpresidents were more transparent about the country's true stake in Mexico(sorry, Jordan), rather than make such commitments on the sly.
The fact that the United States bears some responsibility for Mexico's currentwoes is another reason to invest in our neighbor's stability and prosperity.
Unlike previous financial crises that have roiled Mexico, this one can't bepinned on its macroeconomic sins. If in the mid-1990s it was fashionable totalk about the "tequila effect" to describe the global financialcontagion spreading from emerging markets, this crisis is more like a"Budweiser effect," in that it was Uncle Sam's reckless insistence onliving beyond his means that caused the mess. Washington, irresponsiblyover-leveraged to support an unsustainable standard of living, failed topractice what it preached over the last decade, to abide by the so-called, um,Washington consensus on economic policy.
Mexico, for its part, has enacted prudent fiscal policies, shored up itsforeign reserves and remained a faithful adherent to the free-trade gospel,continuing to open its economy to foreign goods and investment. The nation hasalso become a great deal more democratic in the last decade. Still, despitedoing all the "right" things according to the Washington consensus,Mexico's economy (and currency) has been harder hit by the WallStreet-triggered crisis than the United States'. No one said life was fair.
Americans also share some of the responsibility for the mayhem unleashed by theshowdown between the Mexican state and its rapacious drug cartels, as bothSecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Obama were right to pointout in recent months. Drug users in this country are underwriting the war inMexico -- and that war is being waged largely with guns brought in from thiscountry.
The United States is not about to criminalize guns and legalize drugs to helpout Mexico. But you can do your part to help out a good neighbor -- book a tripsouth. Pronto.
Andrés Martinez is asenior fellow at the New America Foundation.
Jobs may appear first in construction, manufacturing, transportation
Glimmers of an economic recovery seem to be emerging, though older Americans may continue to feel the pain for months to come.
Economists say signs of a rebound are mounting, suggesting the recession may be close to bottoming out. But it could be another nine to 12 months, or longer, before widespread corporate hiring freezes are lifted and employers begin to fill vacant job slots.
Although the unemployment rate hit 8.9 percent in April, the highest level since 1983, companies have shed fewer jobs in recent months. About 539,000 jobs were lost in April, compared with nearly 700,000 in March.
“We’ve seen a slowing of downsizing. It’s not coming at the same pace that we were seeing before,” says John Challenger, chief executive at Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a consulting firm in Chicago.
“Things are still tough out there, but we may have passed the bottom,” Challenger says. “There are still more people chasing fewer jobs, but it does feel to me that our out-of-work clients are finding and getting more interviews than they were from November to February. Countless clients had situations where they were in the running for a job but were told the job was put on hold and the company decided not to hire anybody. That was the story then.”
The employment picture may be opening up ever so slightly. Economists say employers are likely to begin hiring cautiously in the first half of next year, though the unemployment rate could still continue to climb. After the recession that lasted from March to November 2001, the national unemployment rate continued to rise and didn’t fall back to its November 2001 level until July 2004, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Not all recessions have the same outcome, however. In the downturn that began in July 1981 and ended in November 1982, the unemployment rate began to decline just two months later, in January 1983, BLS data show.
Regardless of the economic climate, finding a job tends to be more of an uphill battle for older workers. Challenger says it typically takes those 50-plus about four months to find work, compared with about three months for younger job seekers.
In a downturn, however, it takes both younger and older workers even longer to find a job. To help the unemployed get through the recession, President Barack Obama outlined steps last week that would allow them to pursue education and training and still retain their jobless benefits. Currently, people who are out of work and want to go back to school must give up their monthly unemployment checks.
Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, a private group that publishes information on the marketplace, says lines at the local unemployment office may still be long, but the outlook for employment is much less negative now than it has been. He predicts that the recession will be officially declared over between October and next March.
When employers begin to hire again next spring or summer, he says, look to the construction and manufacturing industries, the transportation sector and to wholesale and retail jobs to open up the most. Jobs related to the new federal spending to build and repair roads and bridges, part of the $787 billion stimulus plan, could also provide up to 3.5 million people with work by the end of next year.
Aside from the employment picture easing, Andrew Policano, dean of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California at Irvine, says other economic indicators point to an end this year to the deepest recession in recent memory. He says banks have eased up on credit and lending practices, spurring modest consumer spending. He also says home buyers are taking advantage of low mortgage rates and declining values, leading to a reduction of record inventories from last July.
Higher than expected earnings on the part of some U.S. companies in recent weeks also added to the few bright spots in the economy. But he says a question mark going forward is whether consumer spending, which drives about two-thirds of the economy, will hold up.
“Consumer confidence for two months now has moved into positive territory,” he says. “Consumers usually are the drivers of a recovery, so when they’re looking more confident, you have hope that they’re feeling like they want to spend and getting into more normal kinds of behavior.”
Carole Fleck is a senior editor at AARP Bulletin.
Residents fromthe United States now have a toll free number to complaint against common andorganized crime within the Mexican territory.
The number1-866-201-5060 is for residents of California and the rest of the UnitedStates, who can provide the authorities in Baja California, in an anonymousway, information about organized crime and common crime located in Mexico.
Daniel de la RosaAnaya, Secretary of Public Security in Baja California and Mexican ConsulRemedios Gomez Arnau, presented the new toll free phone service1-866-201-5060 at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego; which can be used toexpose criminals located in Mexico or to report if they have been the victim ofa crime when transiting through Baja or while living here.
De la Rosaexplained that when a caller dials 1-866-201-5060, the call comes into theprogram 089, operated by the state government of Baja California, specializingin bilingual telephone operators who immediatelytransfer the complaint to Mexican authorities for their attention. The serviceis 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.
The program isconfigured to block phone numbers from which the calls are made, they are notrecorded and the telephone operators may not ask the complainant's personaldata.
This service willbe introduced in coming days in the consulates of Mexico located in Calexico,California and Yuma, Arizona, to spread mostly among the Hispanic community inthese cities and their surrounding regions.
Note that the anonymous reporting service via toll-free number 1-866-201-5060is available for use from any phone located on the mainland and islands of theUnited States, including Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska.
California and Baja are Merging to Become Cali-Baja!! This is amust read article by the N.Y. Times If you are planning on doing business inBaja. See why Baja is going to become a "Global Powerhouse for CommercialGrowth"
TIJUANA, Mexico — On a recent weekday morning, Mexican soldiers carrying automatic weapons stood in a thin line along a vehicle checkpoint at the busy border crossing from this Baja California city into Otay Mesa, Calif.
The New York Times
A new border crossing in Otay Mesa would speed truck traffic.
While the military presence partly reflects the highly publicized drug violence in Tijuana and other Mexican border cities, it is commerce and the development of commercial real estate that has become a chief focus for business interests in the southernmost area of California.
In the last year, economic development officials and local elected leaders in San Diego County, Baja cities in Mexico and the sprawling Imperial Valley about 90 miles to the east have used a grant of $220,000 of government and private seed money for an initiative aimed at turning this area into a global powerhouse for commercial growth.
The idea is that a concerted effort will produce more manufacturing in Mexico, more research and development in San Diego and more alternative energy in Imperial County.
The area is formally known as the Cali Baja Bi-National Mega-Region, covering roughly 27,000 square miles. Late last month, Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego, Mayor Jorge Ramos of Tijuana and economic development leaders from both sides of the border announced a marketing effort that, so far, is aiming to attract companies from China and the Pacific Rim.
Central to the effort is a planned new border crossing, which may be completed as early as 2012, about two miles from the current Otay Mesa port of entry. To be known as Otay Mesa East, it is expected to become the most technologically advanced crossing in the region, with waits for commercial truck traffic of 20 minutes or less, compared with the current three or four hours.
Christina Luhn, director of the Cali Baja initiative for the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, was at the border recently to meet representatives of KyoceraMexicana in Tijuana, a unit of the Japanese company Kyocera, which manufactures solar panels and other clean-tech products that are shipped into the United States through Otay Mesa.
Dr. Luhn says she is hopeful that new cooperation between Mexico and the United States under the Obama administration will help to bring the drug cartels to heel and ease the task of convincing global companies that the region is right for them as a gateway to United States markets. “I tend to be more optimistic about this than I was even six months ago,” Dr. Luhn said.
John V. Bragg, vice president of Kearny Real Estate in the city of Otay Mesa, is also hopeful that development will help address problems that include an aging industrial base, the underuse of strategically located land, and environmental challenges.
His optimism is more than theoretical, he said. His company recently purchased 311 acres of land in the United States near where the new Otay Mesa East crossing is expected to be built.
Besides constructing the new crossing, which is now the subject of environmental impact studies, the California transportation department is preparing to build state highways to accommodate increased truck freight, Mr. Bragg noted.
That will give rise, he said, to the construction of several million square feet of warehousing and distribution facilities to handle goods made with low-cost labor in Mexico. In turn, retail stores and hotels are expected to be built nearby, as happened near the current Otay Mesa crossing.
“What we want to see now, as a developer and land owner, is infrastructure so that people can move better,” Mr. Bragg said. “We want to see the two countries get together to improve the border crossing and to build then whatever is appropriate.” He added that Kearny hoped to build two million to three million square feet of logistics-related facilities on its newly acquired property.
Mr. Bragg conceded that vacancy rates for existing warehouses in Otay Mesa were 17 to 20 percent, but he said that occupancy would increase as the transportation services are improved and more modern technology was introduced.
Ninety minutes to the east, just over the border from Calexico, Calif., at Mexicali, the capital of Baja California, infrastructure is already in place for the new 10,000-acre Silicon Border Science Park. Silicon Border announced last year that Q-Cells of Germany, a leading maker of solar panels, would build a new manufacturing facility there.
Mike Oliver, executive vice president for business development at Silicon Border, said Phase 1 infrastructure like roads, sewers, water treatment and recycling, lighting and fiber optic cables had been completed, with “tens of millions in initial financing from ING Clarion,” a division of ING, the Dutch bank. “By the time we are finished, we will have had investment of hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. “We have room for about two dozen Q-Cells type facilities.”
Other new commercial developments are also on the drawing board in Calexico, said Danny Fitzgerald, director of the city’s enterprise zone. Projects under way include Calexico Mega Park, a 157-acre mixed-use retail, business and residential development by Westmount Properties; Calexico 111 Center, with more than 65 acres of commercial and 58 acres of industrial development; and Los Legos, some 500 acres that will include residential and commercial components.
Tim Kelley, president of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation, said cooperative work between his organization, the San Diego County Economic Development Corporation and the city of Mexicali on the Silicon Border development helped the Cali Baja initiative.
Since then, the concept of Imperial Valley as a haven for alternative energy — solar collection, wind energy farms, geothermal heating and biofuels from algae — has taken off.
Despite the economy, Mr. Kelley said, “we’re getting more expressions of interest than we have ever gotten before. The phone is ringing constantly.”
By VinceVasquez ,
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
This past Saturday, downtown San Diegoplayed host to an unusual international culinary convention, as Mexican electedofficials joined restaurateurs and business owners to present the finestflavors and tastes from Baja. More out-of-the-box thinking will be required ifour southern neighbor is to emerge in a new era of border relations.
Entitled "Baja by the Sea," thefree event at the Embarcadero Marina Park North brought out thousands of SanDiegans interested in wine tastings, dishes and business ventures hailing fromthe coastal region. For many, it was an opportunity to be reintroduced to theculturally rich nation at our doorstep, and savor the traditional tastes ofMexican cuisine that are too often found homogenized and diluted for theWestern palate in the United States. Though Mexican cities have been avidpromoters of their local events and festivals, this new approach of bringingthe best of Baja to San Diego was a successful outreach effort to prospectivetourists and customers that haven't crossed the border in some time. Praise isdeserving of Baja California Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán and Tijuana MayorJorge Ramos, who were on hand with the mayors of Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenadaand Tecate to showcase and support their region, and to the Port of San Diegoand Baja tourism boards who sponsored the occasion.
Baja by the Sea was a bright spot for aregion that has been unfairly swamped by negative news headlines, evoking fearand hysteria from the international community. The recent dramatic drug-relatedviolence has been largely a response to the successful efforts of Mexican lawenforcement officials to crack down on the illegal drug trade and capture keycartel leaders over the last decade, spurring volatility and brutal power grabsamong the criminal hierarchy. Frenzied media reports over the "swineflu" and its supposed Mexican origins were proven to be overblown thisyear, as the 117 confirmed global deaths to date failed to produce thespeculated worldwide pandemic, and pale in comparison to the fact that theregular seasonal flu kills up to half a million people each year. But thesubsiding of the health hysteria did not come before Chinese governmentofficials indiscriminately detained and quarantined Mexican nationals thisspring, and one San Diego congressman calling for the White House to shut downthe U.S.-Mexico border to protect Americans from the "serious threat"of swine flu. Few have come forward to reproach these damaging publicoverreactions that have had a powerful psychological effect on whether touristsvisit Mexico, which in the Baja region has seen a decline of American visitorsfor years.
According to statistics from the TijuanaConvention & Visitor's Bureau, the total number of estimated Americanscrossing the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa Ports of Entry (including U.S. citizensliving in Baja and working in San Diego) in 2008 was 42 percent below 2004figures. More recently, the total American border crossings in the first threemonths of 2009 are fewer than at the same time last year. This bleak trend maybe compounded by new U.S. border crossing requirements beginning this week forpassports and new identification cards to be used by visitors to Mexico andCanada in order to re-enter the country. Whether these new security demandswill negatively impact tourism remains to be seen, but they should give urgencyto Mexican officials to adopt innovative strategies to marketing tourism andforeign investment opportunities to their U.S. neighbors.
With Baja by the Sea the first attempt ata new annual event, Baja promoters should weigh the merits of establishing apermanent showroom in San Diego for residents to experience and learn about regionalfare and visitor destinations. Consider the success of the San Diego Wine &Culinary Center, established in 2005 to present the "bounty of thecounty," highlighting the many boutique wineries and agricultural productsthat are grown regionally and too often, unknowingly. Nestled across the SanDiego Convention Center, the Culinary Center doubled in size in 2007, andcontinues to host fun and educational gastronomic events for tourists andlocals alike in a wine tasting room environment. A downtown Baja Wine &Culinary Center could showcase the dozens of vineyards that thrive in a rich,Mediterranean-like climate along a charming countryside that evokes memories ofNapa County before its mass commercialization. Most Baja wineries are small,family-owned operations that produce 5,000 or less cases per year, and couldbenefit from the exposure, especially to those who have been hesitant ofvisiting the Baja region. Michelle Martain, whose family owns the outstandingCavas Valmar Winery in Ensenada, favored the idea of a full-time tasting roomin San Diego. "We try to promote our products through events, but if therewas an opportunity for something like the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center,it would be wonderful; there is so much to proudly offer," said Martain.
Though the San Diego-Baja economy istrudging through tough economic times, our outlook is stronger from changingperceptions and adopting innovative approaches to bi-national tourism. Martainis optimistic about the future of the Baja region, as "there is a lot todiscover in Baja, sometimes the news dramatizes what is.
ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO---This tourist destination reminds visitors from the United States that as of June 1 they’ll need a passport or similar document to re-enter the U.S. by land or sea.
That is the date for full implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Since January 2007 the requirements have been in effect for air travelers returning from Mexico or Canada.
Under the provisions, U.S. citizens age 18 or older re-entering the country will be required to show a passport, passport card, or approved traveler document such as a NEXUS or SENTRI pass.
Previously, a birth certificate and proof of identity were sufficient. For those under 18, a birth certificate still will be acceptable. Full requirements and application procedures are available at www.cbp.gov
Rosarito has posted notice of the changes on its Convention and Visitors Bureau website (www.rosarito.org) and shared them with city businesses and residents, which include an estimated 14,000 U.S. citizens.
The new requirements, according to U.S. officials, are intended both to make the border more secure and speed processing by providing inspectors with a more standard set of re-entry documents.
“We hope that the transition goes smoothly and that the new procedures do indeed make the border crossing more efficient for our visitors and others who use it,” said Rosarito Beach Mayor Hugo Torres.
The San Ysidro port of entry, used by many of the one-million annual visitors to Rosarito, is the busiest border crossing in the world.
MEDIA CONTACT: Ron Raposa
619-948-3740
ronraposa@hotmail.com
In response to a recent column discussing the attractiveness of Tijuana’s medical services to many San Diegans and others from Southern California, a reader commented that it was wrong to promote a service at the expense of local doctors. Another declared medical care in Mexico was not at par with local standards and people were at risk by going to Mexico. And of course the presently popular warning that one risks one’s their very life crossing into war-torn Tijuana.
The biggest promoter for seeking medical services in Tijuana, and indeed all of Baja California, is the high cost of medical services for millions of Southern Californians, especially the seven million who lack coverage of any type.
Even the 17 million who are covered often face harsh limits such as high deductibles and co-payments for services and medications. Those costs themselves sometimes keep people from seeking services.
The un- and underinsured who turn to medical services in Baja, with Tijuana being the central point, are finding prices 40 percent to 80 percent less than those in Southern California.
Among the insurers seeking these patients as customers is Blue Shield’s Access Baja HMO Health Plan. It requires clients live within 50 miles of the border and covers most of San Diego and Imperial counties.
In Baja, just like in California, the quality of medical treatment is dependent on the quality of the medical practitioners. Blue Shield investigates and contracts with medical providers in Tijuana, Tecate and Mexicali to assure the quality of health care along with the contractual obligation on costs and co-payments charged to members of the program.
HMOs offering services to state residents are governed by the California Knox Keene Act of 1975. The act was amended in 1998 requiring HMOs offering services out of the country be licensed and regulated by the state of California. In 1998 a number of Mexican medical facilities applied for such a license, but only one was actually granted.
The company, SIMNSA, is thriving. It owns its own medical facilities and has on its staff about 200 physicians covering more than 50 specialties. It has its own dental, vision and complete lab services and contracts with leading area hospitals for inpatient care as needed.
SIMNSA is the only out-of-country HMO licensed to sell group insurance in California where the insured members can only obtain the service in Tijuana or the SIMNSA facilities in Tecate and Mexicali. Every year SIMNSA undergoes a state audit on services, complaints, costs, etc. Like Blue Shield, SIMNSA also is also restricted to offering the insurance within 50 miles of the border.
Separately, insurers Aetna and Health Net have made deals with SIMNSA. Since SIMNSA is the owner and operator of its own facilities in Baja, both Aetna and Health Net offer medical group insurance within the 50-mile restricted region offered to companies with a high percentage of Hispanics employees.
The savings can be significant. For example, a group premium covering a family of four can cost $1,000 a month. The SIMNSA premium is around $400, with no deductible and in most cases no co-pay.
Delta Dental offers dental group insurance on a 50-50 coverage and co-pay. A crown in California is around $800. At Denti Center in Tijuana, a Delta Dental approved source, the cost is $400. The amount that Delta Dental pays thus covers the entire bill, saving the insured $400.
At Excel Hospital in Tijuana, cardiovascular surgery is performed by Dr. Jose Hernandez, renowned on both sides of the border for his skills. An open-heart surgery that can cost up to $100,000 in California costs around $20,000 in his state-of-the-art hospital.
Similar high-percentage savings are realized on many other treatments, for example, such as weight loss, plastic surgery and hair transplant. As always, care must be exercised in choosing the right doctor, regardless the side of the border.
Patrick Osio Jr. can be reached at posiojr@sandiegometro.com. The veteran consultant has participated on writing scripts for documentaries on Baja California real estate, medical services, and retirement information at TransBorderCommunications.com.
Tourism is not new to Baja California or the Rosarito area. The first tourists to visit Rosarito arrived around 1874 to hunt and fish, but it was another 52 years, in 1926, that the Rosarito Beach Hotel was founded. The opening of this historic Hotel is generally credited with the beginning of the tourist period and was very much the forerunner in the development of the area.
During the 1940’s Rosarito became a haven for the Hollywood set welcoming Rita Hayworth and her husband Prince Aly Khan as regular patrons as well as other Hollywood visitors such as Orson Wells, Mickey Rooney, Ava Gardner, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Kim Novak, Clark Gable, Lana Turner and the legendary beauty Marilyn Monroe. In fact, Marilyn Monroe loved the ambience of Rosarito so much, she had furniture made for her first and only home in Brentwood, California, which included the bed where she died.
Frank Sinatra and the “Rat Pack” were also frequent visitors to Rosarito, spending many long hours at the Rosarito Beach Hotel’s bar. It was not unusual to have an impromptu concert in the weehours of the morning by Frank, Dino, and Sammy, which brought in staff members who worked in the hotel. It has been said that some waiters got as much as a $1,000 tip just to cater to Frank and his buddies.
John Wayne, who was always attracted to Latin women, would visit Rosarito to surround himself with the culture and towoo an occasional beauty or two. Ava Gardner would visit the Tijuana bull fights and then come to Rosarito Beach where she knew she would be unnoticed.
Clark Gable, one of Hollywood’s“man’s man” loved to visit Rosarito for deep sea fishing; while Gregory Peck loved to stroll on the beach and Lana Turner cherished having local cobblers custom make shoes for her. SpencerTracy and Katherine Hepburn alsofrequented Rosarito which allowed them to spend some quality time alone and awayfrom the prying eyes of the press.
James Cameron, fell in love with the city and brought Rosarito and the Hollywood Connection to the spotlight once again with the construction of Fox Studios, Baja. Built specifically for the Academy Award winning film, Titanic, the studio boasts the biggest indoor water tank in the world. A mock up of the ship was constructed on the grounds, and the sinking of the mighty Titanic was filmed in the water tank.
Cameron spent years of research and huge amounts of money to make sure that every detail in the movie was as close to the original Titanic as humanly possible. You can now tour the set and see the china used during the filming with the Titanic logo, playing cards with the same logo, visit the room where Rose took the ax and freed Jack, see the boiler room, or take a picture on the same replica deck where Jack proclaimed, “I’m the King of the World.”
Following Titanic, Fox used the studio to film other movies including Master and Commander with Russell Crowe; 007’s Quantum of Solace and Tomorrow Never Dies, and Pirates of the Caribbean, just to name a few. During the filming of these movies it was not unusual to see Russell Crowe walking down Benito Juarez, or Johnny Depp and Laurence Fishbourne having dinner at a local restaurant and eating with locals as if they were old friends. Once again Rosarito became “the Hollywood Connection.”
Some of the recent visitors that have been seen leisurely walking the streets of Rosarito include stars like Jessica Simpson, Sandra Bullock, Jesse James, and Cuba Gooding Jr. In fact, Cuba Gooding Sr. loves the city so much that he now lives in the Calafia Condos Resort and Villas.
It is no doubt that Rosarito has continued throughout the years to be the best kept secret in Hollywood. Even the Hollywood superstar’s cannot deny the beauty of walking under the stars in this wonderful piece of paradise. And that’s why we call it “The Hollywood Connection.”
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Victor Loza and Sharon Heafey are co-founders of Your Baja Connection. YBC provides real estate and relocation services for buyers in Mexico. YBC can be reached at 858.748.5870, via email at YBC@YourBajaConnection.com,or at www.yourbajaconnection.com.
MEXICO CITY — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday pledged to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Mexico in its violent struggle against drug cartels, and acknowledged the U.S. shares blame because of its demand for drugs and supply of weapons.
She said the United States shares responsibility with Mexico for dealing with violence now spilling across the border and promised cooperation to improve security on both sides.
"The criminals and kingpins spreading violence are trying to corrode the foundations of law, order, friendship and trust between us that support our continent. They will fail," she told Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa. "We will stand shoulder to shoulder with you."
On Tuesday, the Obama administration pledged to send more money, technology and manpower to secure the border in the U.S. Southwest and help Mexico battle the cartels. Clinton also said Wednesday that the White House will seek an additional $80 million to help Mexico buy Blackhawk helicopters.
All that is in addition to a three-year, $1.4 billion Bush administration-era program to support Mexico's efforts. Congress already has approved $700 million. President Obama has said he wants to revamp the initiative.
Obama said Tuesday he wanted the U.S. to do more to prevent guns and cash from illicit drug sales from flowing into Mexico.
But Clinton's remarks appeared more forceful in recognizing the U.S. share of the blame. In the past, particularly under the Bush administration, Mexican officials have complained that Washington failed to acknowledge the extent that the U.S. drug demand and weapons smuggling fuels the violence.
"I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility," Clinton said, adding: "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians."
Criminals are outgunning law enforcement officials, she said, referring to guns and military-style equipment such as night-vision goggles and body armor that the cartels are smuggling from the U.S.
Clinton said she would repeat her acknowledgment as loudly and as often as needed during her two-day visit to Mexico City and the northern city of Monterrey. Officials said her priorities included encouraging the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to increase its battle against rampant corruption by promoting police and judicial reform.
Bill would lift limits on foreigners owning property
BY DAVID AGREN
The News
A new proposal in the Senate would lift rules that prohibit foreigners from buying property in the nation's coastal and border regions.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mario López Valdez of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, aims to boost foreign investment by scrapping constitutional prohibitions against non-Mexicans owning property within 50 kilometers of a coastline and 100 kilometers of the border.
López Valdez's proposal would allow foreigners to own residential properties, but not commercial developments.
The proposal reflects both a changing attitude toward foreign investment in Mexico and the growing impact of non-Mexicans on the domestic economy. So-called "gringo colonies," populated largely by U.S. retirees, have sprung up in areas such as Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.
But while expats have been free to purchase homes in inland cities such as San Miguel, they have had to work around the law in costal areas such as Puerto Vallarta by purchasing property through a bank trust.
Some realtors welcomed the bill, though they say the market has flourished in spite of the current rules.
"[Buying a coastal property] is a pretty straightforward deal," said Damyn Young, a sales associate with International Realty in Ajijic, Jalisco.
"The only hassle is that you pay the bank to get in, pay annually to maintain it and pay to get out of it" upon selling, he said.
López Valdez said that 69.8 percent of the 4.3 million vacation properties in Mexico are now owned by foreigners - with many held in trusts. The constitutional change would simply reflect current realities, he said.
José Alfonso Suárez del Real, a deputy from the Democratic Revolution Party, said he supports the idea of modifying the rules, but not while violence flares at the northern border.
"It's not the most secure place to invest," he said. "What we would be opening the door to is money-laundering, not real investors, from the United States."
The rules against foreign property ownership are spelled out in Article 27 of the Constitution, which was written in 1917 and stemmed from painful memories of 19th-century occupations by the U.S. and French armies.
CBS should be ashamed! This is the worst yellow journalism I've seen since 60 Minutes attacked Audi with its lies about the mythical "unintended acceleration".
You make George Harrison look like an innocent victim. He was a convicted drug dealer running a "pizzeria" in Tijuana which was a front for his drug smuggling operation to the US. He was stupid enough to compete openly with the Mexican drug cartels. If the cartels wouldn't have taken him out, the Mexican authorities would have caught up to him soon enough.
Your irrational editorial bias attempting to make people afraid of Mexico is absurd. You're making life more difficult for the 30,000 American citizens living in northern Baja. We all have satellite TV and watch San Diego TV, but none of us cares to watch your lies and deceit about Mexico.
Get a grip. Mexico is only dangerous for drug dealers!
There has not been an innocent American citizen attacked in Baja since the surfer guru in August, 2007. How many innocent American citizens get attacked in San Diego county every day?
You should be ashamed!
"schuler.alan"
Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:26 pm (PDT)
by Victor Loza and Sharon Heafey
Is the Press biased when it comes to reporting about dangers in Mexico? In our opinion, yes, it is. There is no doubt that Mexico is having problems right now, but does that really affect the average student, tourist or investor?
Recently there were shootings during Mardi Gras in New Orleans that were not widely reported in the US media. Yet CNN on the same day ran a report of three drug dealers killed in Mexico. After that, more warnings were released advising tourists and students to stay away from Mexico. Should there have been warnings to the same groups to stay out of New Orleans?
The recent news has once again injured northern Baja’s tourist trade by repeating old news that, in most cases, happened a year ago. At the same time, reporters are saying little to nothing about the shootings during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Why didn’t the shootings in New Orleans make a bigger splash in the US media?
According to Bob Johnson, general manager of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center-New Orleans, it would be an unfair tactic, because crime is a problem in most metropolitan cities. "I'm not sure why New Orleans is picked on," Johnson said. "Certainly New Orleans doesn't have a corner on the crime market. Other cities are as bad or approaching as bad with street crime." Still, cities that compete with New Orleans convention business and leisure travel may try to use the Mardi Gras incident and the city's other crime problems to try to persuade visitors not to visit. See the full story at http://www.nola.com/news/?/base/news-1/1235630007176920.xml&coll=1.
Many cities in Mexico, such as Rosarito, Ensenada and Tijuana are already suffering greatly from the exaggerated media reports. A recent report in the Los Angeles Times stated that Los Angeles had 130 murders by gunshot over the period from January 1 to March 9, 2009 (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/homicidemap/).
In stark contrast to this, Rosarito beach had ZERO persons killed over that same period and Tijuana had THREE – all related to drug crimes. While living in the United States we experienced the fear of going to McDonalds or the mall, or worrying that some deranged individual would take a gun to school and start shooting innocent children. We lived through “Freeway Rage” where innocent people were shot and some were killed. We sat in front of the television in horror while the news reported killings in high schools and government offices. In all of these cases innocent people were hurt or killed.
In Mexico, almost all of the shootings are taking place between drug dealers or between police and the drug cartel. The U.S. also has its share of drug related shootings but they are commonly referred to as “Drive bys.” Obviously some of the news about Mexico is accurate, and we are not going to deny that innocent people are killed in Mexico, but it is not to the extent the U.S. media makes it out to be.
It is upsetting and hurtful to watch what is presented by the press, especially knowing that family and friends, in addition to the millions of other individuals watching the news, may actually believe what they are hearing. We both live full time in the Rosarito/Ensenada area and are not afraid to walk the streets, visit our favorite restaurants, go shopping, go to the movies, or go to any government agency.
We feel safe. We love both the United States and Mexico. It’s like having two very different children that you love the same but for different reasons. We hope that no one ever encounters the horrors discussed above and we invite you to visit our Mexico and enjoy the sun, the food and the wonderful people. _______________________________________________________________________
Victor Loza and Sharon Heafey are co-founders of Your Baja Connection.
YBC provides real estate and relocation services for buyers in Mexico. YBC can be reached at 858.748.5870, via email at YBC@YourBajaConnection.com, or at www.yourbajaconnection.com.
... spring break
March 3, 2009
The U.S. State Department has extended a travel alert for Mexican border towns and suggests that visitors to these areas exercise extreme caution because of ongoing violence involving drug dealers warring among themselves and police.
Now the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has chimed in with a stronger warning that urges college students to avoid parts of northern Mexico during spring break.
This includes Tijuana and nearby Rosarito Beach. The latter town -- for decades a festive spring break party destination -- has not been a focal point for violence, especially in recent weeks. On Tuesday its mayor, Hugo Torres, responded with this message:
"For decades Rosarito has hosted hundreds of thousands of spring breakers without major incident. With additional steps we have taken, such as starting a Tourist Police Force, they will be safer than ever this year and we look forward to welcoming them and ensuring they again have a safe and enjoyable visit."
"The violence we have had down here has been mainly between organized crime factions -- and we have had almost none of that recently. Tourists are not and never have been targets."
To be sure, the U.S. agency's warning represents a devastating and possibly unfair blow to a city trying desperately to regain the confidence of tourists, who are its life blood. During my recent visit I saw few tourists but sensed no fear among hundreds of lifelong residents and ex-pats walking the streets.
Rosarito Beach will host a pro surfing event April 3-5, and a Cinco de Mayo celebration in early May. I, for one, hope both are successful, well-attended events, as this town could surely use a boost.