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News Headlines:
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 Fewer
and Fewer Sea Turtles: Along the Pacific coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, a celebration--Easter, a birthday, the arrival of important guests--calls for a meal of caguama, or turtle. Locals also covet the animal's medicinal properties.
Every year scientists, volunteers and even army units camp out along green turtle nesting beaches in southern Mexico to block poachers and predators from snatching the eggs needed to produce new generations. Even so, the number of mature females returning to the green's primary nesting beach has plummeted from 1,280 in 1990 to 145 in 2000.
Scientists at the Autonomous University of Baja California estimate that poachers kill as many as 30,000 green turtles every year in Baja. The study indicates that most of the demand for the turtles comes from the government sector--politicians, teachers and the military--those with cash to pay for the delicacy and positions of power to escape legal repercussions.
At one restaurant in Puerto San Carlos, turtle is a specialty. The animal is butchered, cleaned, then cooked slowly for several hours to form a spicy stew. The final product can earn the restaurant owner a profit of more than $400 for each turtle.
The recent findings call into question the decades-old assumption that protection of turtle eggs and hatchlings is the best way to assure the animals' survival. Clearly,
the adults need better defending as well. Biologist Wallace J. Nichols, director of Wildcoast, a California-based conservation group, knows of poachers who have caught dozens of turtles and have been let go with a warning and confiscated catch. The last time a poacher went to jail was two years ago for only 12 days.
Nichols documents his findings in part by searching for turtle shells in town dumps and behind seafood restaurants. "The law is good," he says, "but there's no enforcement."
And there is plenty of reason to hunt the animals. In the bustling community of Puerto San Carlos, a mature turtle is worth $50 to $200. That's a powerful incentive to catch turtles instead of the seasonal harvest of yellowtail, snapper, corbinas, clams and crabs, which garner a fisherman a modest living for long hours of labor.
Adán Hernandez took the turtle cure when he was 14 years old: a glass of fresh blood collected directly from a turtle's lopped-off flipper. He believes the concoction helped him grow from a scrawny, sickly kid into a healthy 25-year-old.
"I took life from the turtle," says Hernandez, a former fishing guide now working with Nichols to spread the gospel of marine conservation in a town that often sees the marine reptiles as a reliable source of protein. "Now I want to give back. When I see a caguama in someone's boat, I just go up to them and throw it back in the water. I know who is dangerous and who won't do anything."
Nichols, Hernandez and a few leaders of the fishing community are trying to establish a marine sanctuary in a nearby estuary, but the plan faces opposition from some political leaders--and is hardly likely to be endorsed by the poachers.
Given the cultural and political obstacles to stopping turtle harvesting, Nichols says his goals are modest. He tries to convince people to eat fewer turtles--say, five a year instead of 10--or perhaps to let the big reproductive females go free.
"It's impossible to stop it," Nichols says. "But you talk to people and agree that we both want turtles to be around in the future."
(Scientific
American) 7-22-01
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Cruise Ship Passengers Drown near El Arco, off Cabo San Lucas, as
Glass-Bottomed Boat Capsizes in Rough Water: Paulina Armijo, 54, of New
Mexico; Elizabeth Steven, 64, of Alaska; and Dorothea Pahrman, 77, whose
home state was unknown, drowned Friday after the 18-foot-long boat capsized.
Carnival Cruise Lines said 17 passengers from its Elation cruise ship were
aboard the locally operated water taxi when it capsized shortly after 9 a.m.
The Elation had left Los Angeles on July 8 for a week-long cruise in Mexican
waters, the company said. Seven other Carnival passengers were injured in
the accident, but none seriously, said Cabo San Lucas Red Cross official
Moises Ruiz. Police were trying to determine whether the boat was
overloaded. The boat's captain, Pedro Alazan, was detained by police Friday
and remained in custody pending the investigation. Alazan told television
reporters that all his passengers were wearing life jackets, but that many
had not fastened the buckles and lost them in the water. But Ruiz said many
of the passengers were never issued life vests. (AP
via Yahoo) 7-14-01
Ship's Captain Charged: Mexican authorities said they will charge Pedro Arias
Elenis, 27, with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly failing to distribute life vests to passengers on a Baja California excursion boat that capsized, killing three American women.
Though he saved several people as they struggled to swim to shore, police believe he is also at fault for steering the boat into dangerous waters off the coast of Cabo San Lucas.
Many passengers from Carnival Cruise Line's Elation, which returned to San Pedro on Sunday, were in other pleasure vessels at the time and saw the aftermath of the accident. They described a strangely chaotic scene. Survivors, they said, clung to rocks and ran along the small beach, their screams drowned out by the roar of the 8-foot waves. The captain and local rescue teams helped many of the people reach shore, including one elderly woman trapped under the boat.
Fifteen passengers were on the small vessel. Ten suffered minor injuries. Witnesses and authorities estimated the boat was 50 to 100 yards from shore when it overturned.
The three women who died, authorities said, either couldn't swim or were tossed against the rocks.
"They got too close. The waves were huge," said Ken Hahn, a tourist from Northern California who was on a boat that had turned back from the area just moments earlier.
After the accident, tourists returning to the pier from their excursions saw at least two bodies lying in the sun behind a yellow police tape. One man said rescue workers requested his extra-large beach towel so they could cover one of the bodies.
Some passengers didn't know who had died in the accident and endured several agonizing hours worried that they had lost loved ones.
"The kids were looking at tables at dinner to see who was missing," said Debby Casillas, a San Gabriel resident who was with her husband and four daughters.
Mexican police said Elenis, the captain, as an operator with 10 years'
experience should have prepared the passengers for the excursion. Though Elenis claimed that the passengers had refused to wear the life vests, police said the other passengers disputed his account.
"We think he should be held accountable," said Pablo Carrillo Garcia, an investigator with the Cabo San Lucas Police Department.
(LATimes)
(CBS
2) 7-16-01
Rescuer Says Cabo Ill-Equipped for such Emergencies: Chris Fiorentino
was among the good Samaritans who risked their lives last week to rescue the survivors from a capsized
boat off Cabo San Lucas. Fiorentino hopes people will make donations to the volunteer fire department at Cabo San Lucas, which played a key role in the rescue effort and is in need of a Zodiac inflatable boat, backboards with straps and other emergency items.
Fiorentino, a competitive swimmer, and lifeguard for 15 years, was vacationing with family.
The morning of Friday the 13th Fiorentino was on another beach when he learned a boat was sinking. He stripped to his Speedo swimsuit, jumped into the surf, and swam about 500 yards to the victims.
"I got there about 10 minutes after the boat sank," he said. "They were already on the beach."
He tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a woman, but she was dead. He then administered first-aid to a child. Later, he helped smash the glass-bottom boat to free some victims.
Fiorentino said he tried his best to calm those on the beach. The difficult task ahead was to get the survivors to a boat 200 yards from shore.
The boat had to remain offshore because high waves were crashing on the beach, Fiorentino said. The rescuers' task was to return the survivors into rough waters and load them on personal water crafts one by one.
They had no rafts, and the injured had to be placed on pieces of wood because the rescuers had no backboards with straps.
"There were riptides and undercurrents," he recalled. "I was thinking, I don't want to lose people trying to save them."
Fiorentino said people who call him a hero are being generous. "I just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time," he said.
The real story, he said, is "we need to get them Mexican firefighters some decent equipment."
(Fresno
Bee) 7-21-01
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| Space Technology Helps Baja Tribe: Seventy-four year old Manuela Aguilar doesn't buy soap in a bottle. She makes it from the roots of a yucca tree. Aguilar is one of about 350 members of the Paipai tribe here in Santa Catarina, a small desert town in the mountainous spine of northern Baja California.
Aguilar takes a chunk of yucca root, pounds it between two rocks, and then soaks it in water. She explains the process in her native Cauhtl, a dying language spoken by only about dozen people.
The tribe maintains many of its old ways. Paipai raise livestock or harvest pine nuts, honey and firewood. A few sell pottery, bows and arrows and fiber nets made from desert plants.
Still, tribal leaders realize the community is in danger of fading away unless it can find new sources of income. Many adult men have left to work on nearby ranches or in factories in Ensenada.
The Paipai are working on a solution that combines traditional customs and high-tech tools.
Two years ago, the tribe began an environmental mapping project with the goal of cataloging commercially valuable medicinal plants.
Seventeen year old Andres Albanes has taken the lead, and as with many young people, he has a better grasp of computer technology than his elders. He says he goes to a point on a map, uses the GPS positioner to take satellite coordinates and writes them down. He sends the information to Ensenada where it's put onto a computer. Every few months, Andres goes into Ensenada to add more information to the database. Andres and researchers at the Autonomous University of Baja California combine the field data with existing NASA satellite images. The result is a three dimensional view of the Paipai's 170 thousand acre territory.
Andres says the map helps in finding new resources, such as places where there is yucca or barrel cactus, whose red flower buds are boiled and eaten like artichokes. Researchers also are creating a plant inventory so the tribe doesn't cut down too much. Andres' father Amado directs a yucca harvesting cooperative that earned the tribe more than 84 thousand dollars last year. Amado says the G-P-S maps are re-drawing old boundaries and protecting the tribe from encroaching landowners.
Amado hopes to double the yucca harvest next year and aspires to purchase a processing plant near Ensenada.
Mike Wilken, director of the Institute for Native Culture in Ensenada, is helping the tribe with the mapping. He says the images reveal that the Paipai are treating their land better than the farmers next door.
"What we can see from the satellite photographs that we have in the Geographic Information System is that the Paipai land, the natural resources, especially plant resources are still very strong and are barely affected."
(PBS)
7-18-01
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| The Mexican government is proposing its biggest tourism development in
20 years, a network of upscale marinas around Baja California that
President Vicente Fox says is critical for economic growth. Nautical Steps,
which would cover more than 2,500 miles of coast, is aimed at luring the 1.6
million boat owners in California and other nearby U.S. states into a new
system of harbors, wharves, hotels and restaurants. The government estimates
that within 10 years, Nautical Steps would generate tens of thousands more
jobs, millions of visitors and billions in new annual revenue. Officials say
it would improve electricity, water and schools in areas that need jobs and
development. Environmentalists say the project, for the sake of building an
American playground, threatens the Sea of Cortez. Homero Aridjis, one of
Mexico's most outspoken environmentalists, called the project a
"monster" and said he worried that just the announcement of new
government infrastructure there could spark land speculation and unchecked
construction in this rare beautiful place. Nautical Steps would link ports
beginning in Ensenada to marinas located along the entire western and
eastern coasts of the Baja Peninsula. No more than 120 miles apart, some of
the marinas would also be along the coasts of Sonora and Sinaloa states,
which face Baja across the Sea of Cortez. Only five currently exist; others
would be expanded or built from scratch. "We are going from a passive
mode to an active one," said John McCarthy, head of Fonatur, the
development arm of Mexican tourism, which oversees the project. Because of
the international environmental concerns around Baja and the sheer breadth
of the plan, Nautical Steps is viewed by many as the government's most
ambitious. The government has pledged to modernize or expand many of the 20
airports in this area to increase the flow of tourist traffic. For example,
small airstrips destroyed by Mexican soldiers to prevent their use by drug
smugglers would be rebuilt. Four new major roads, starting at the border
with California and Arizona, are to be constructed to accommodate people who
want to tow their boats to the new tourist area. A new "land
bridge" is planned across the center of the Baja Peninsula that would
enable a boat in the Pacific to cross into the Sea of Cortez without
traveling all the way around the tip of Baja here at Cabo San Lucas. (Washington
Post) 5-6-01
UPDATE: Decisions related to the Escalera Náutica (Nautical Staircase)
will
not come from Mexico City but will be made by cities involved with the
project. The proposed goals of the plan are to increase US boat arrivals in
the region to 60,000 within 10 years. (La
Cronica) 5-23-01
UPDATE 2: Environmentalists and some coastal residents are protesting the big plans that Fox's team of businessmen-turned-officials say will provide jobs and cash for the new, more modern Mexico that Fox has promised.
"Everybody talks about sustainable development, but they refer only to the environment," said John McCarthy, Fox's point man on the new projects. "We can't have sustainability when people are in extreme poverty."
Environmentalists counter that they are concerned about boosting income, but for local communities rather than resort developers.
"In the past, these mega-projects have always been shady, suspicious, environmentally damaging," said environmentalist Homero
Aridjis. "They were done behind the backs of local communities, and benefitted only officials and a few of their friends."
Aridjis complained that 22 marinas around the Baja California peninsula would lead to crowding and pollution that could harm the rich marine life of the Gulf of California.
Adan Hernandez, a 24-year-old biology student who helps run a sea turtle center in San Carlos – one of the proposed marina sites – is also worried.
"People here don't want to give up their lives as fishermen to become waiters or janitors," he said. "In this kind of project, we always see the money winds up in the pockets of foreigners."
Giving up fishing is exactly what McCarthy would like many Baja residents to do. He says overfishing means those who rely on it are headed for poverty.
(AP
via SignOnSanDiego) 7-15-01
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| Hotel Marquis to build in Los Cabos: The owners of Hotel Marquis,
located on Mexico City's principal avenue, Paseo de la Reforma, plan to
expand by building a resort in Los Cabos/San Lucas, in Baja California. The
new resort complex will be targeted at the U.S. tourist market. The resort
will feature a 220-room hotel and 30 bungalows, and construction is expected
to be completed by October 2002. The overall cost of the resort project is
estimated at 50 million dollars. Investors expect the resort to achieve an
occupancy rate of 45 percent immediately it opens its doors. (El
Economista) 7-12-01
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| Surfer Bit by Shark Near Ensenada: Tim Fabel was paddling out on his board when the shark bit him on the foot.
"I felt a really sharp pain, I guess a jolt, to my left foot. I looked down into the water saw a large shadow swim underneath my board," Fabel said.
Fabel never got a good look at the shark and was unsure how long, or what type of shark it was.
Another surfer helped Fabel to shore, where a nurse rushed him to a Mexican hospital.
"They had to stitch all the tendons and muscles back together," he said. The shark took a four-inch bite out of his foot.
"It was deep, it was to the bone. I actually could see muscles and tendons torn and popped out," he said.
The shark also punctured Fabel's board, taking a bite out of the fiberglass.
"It actually hit the board itself, caused me to tip over, that's when the adrenaline started rushing. I didn't want to fall into the water," he said.
Fabel told the nurse who helped him that he wanted to return to the U.S. for medical treatment, but she persuaded him to get attention immediately. Doctors in Ensenada were able to stop the bleeding and repair his foot.
Although sharks are common along the coast, shark attacks are rare. "You always see them when you're out there surfing," Fabel said. "Most are friendly, or stay away from you."
Fabel said that it would be a long time before he surfs in Mexico again. (KGTV)
7-11-01
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|  Report
Concludes that Engines Died on Flying Doctors' Plane: A six-seat Cessna carrying members of a
humanitarian group crashed in Baja California last fall because the twin engines died, according to a one-page summary report from Mexican authorities.
Why the engines stopped is not fully explained. But the report suggests that the plane ran out of fuel or that the pilot did not select the correct fuel tank to land.
The plane crash on Oct. 14, near a military base outside Ensenada, killed all six on board. The group belonged to the San Jose-based Los Medicos Voladores, Spanish for ``Flying Doctors.'' Volunteers regularly fly into Mexico's hard-to-reach villages to bring health care to the poor.
Nearly nine months after the accident, one Bay Area family received a summary of the investigation conducted by Mexico's civil aviation accident commission.
The plane crashed on approach because the engines stopped, the report concluded.
The investigative team -- consisting of an FAA official, representatives of the plane and engine makers and Mexican investigators -- also reported: ``Because the pilot possibly did not observe the fuel consumption and made inadequate use of the fuel selector, both engines stopped at the moment of the turn to its final approach.''
Jim Rutherford, a commercial pilot who is considered an aviation expert and regularly testifies in court about plane crashes, interpreted the findings.
``Most airplanes have a fuel selector,'' said Rutherford, an executive vice president of the San Jose Jet Center. ``If he selected a tank with no fuel in it, when he should have selected a tank with fuel in it, it would lead to an engine-out situation pretty quickly.''
Two other veteran pilots who declined to comment on the record said the findings pointed to two possible scenarios: The pilot had run out of fuel or could have had the fuel selector incorrectly positioned for landing.
The organization's president, Monty Finefrock, declined to comment until the group's legal advisers can review the report.
The family of Michael Cala, a 30-year-old dentist from Foster City who died on his first humanitarian mission, has struggled with many questions since it lost the youngest of six Cala brothers.
``You want to have some conclusion for such an unbelievable event,'' said Cala's brother Greg, 34, of Burlingame. ``For them to be so close, to be at the airport, and to just drop from the sky, and to not know the reason. . . . It won't bring him back. But to not have an explanation is just kind of hard.''
The Cala family obtained the investigation report from the U.S. Consulate in Mexico.
Marvin Weinreb, a 74-year-old physician from Oakland, was the pilot and co-owner of the twin-engine Cessna. The team had already stopped at a clinic in San
Ignacio to bring medical and health aid to the small village and was en route that Saturday morning to a conference near Ensenada.
Weinreb, a veteran pilot, was trying to land the plane at the military base outside Ensenada. He checked with the control tower asking if his landing gear was down, according to Mexican authorities at the time. The tower told Weinreb he was cleared to land. Not hearing confirmation about the status of his landing gear, Weinreb didn't land and circled once around the base.
Suddenly, the engines quit and the plane plummeted to the ground, witnesses told investigators.
In the plane with Weinreb were an interpreter from Oakland, a retired physician from Walnut Creek and a coordinator who lived in Ensenada. Also on board were Cala and his assistant, Evette Bryand of San Jose.
Two of Bryand's siblings have filed a wrongful death suit in Alameda County Superior Court, naming Weinreb's estate and another co-owner of the plane as defendants.
Cala's wife, Robyn, who is also a dentist, had considered joining the group's trip to Mexico. But she learned she was pregnant and opted not to. The couple shared a dental practice in Santa Clara.
On April 14, six months to the day after Michael Cala died, his wife gave birth to their son. Evan Michael Cala is a little mini-Michael, his uncle said.
That's partly because the baby has a receding hairline, just like his dad, Robyn Cala said.
``I have a journal and I write down everything I can think of, little mannerisms, what he liked, what he didn't like'' so that the baby will have it when he grows up, she said.
She doesn't fully remember the last conversation she had with her husband because they were rushing out the door. She remembers his lingering kiss.
Not his usual quick peck, she said. ``You know those romantic kisses? He just held my face and kissed me.''
(San Jose Mercury
News) 7-11-01
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| Tijuana Consulate Has Full Share of Work, Critics: At the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, death and disorder are daily fare, and diplomacy is conducted more often at the jailhouse than at fancy official soirees.
In recent years, a spate of serious incidents involving U.S. citizens in Baja have redoubled complaints of bureaucratic indifference and inaction.
Consul General Richard Gonzalez maintains that much of the agency's work on behalf of U.S. citizens goes unseen. "A lot of Americans expect us to openly challenge and defend, but that can be counterproductive," he said. The heavily guarded building surrounded by a white iron fence near the Tijuana racetrack is one of nine consulates in Mexico. Known as one of the busiest consulates in the world, it is responsible for about 200,000 Americans in its service area at any time. They suffer accidents and illness, die, give birth, commit crimes, go to jail. Sometimes their conflicts with Mexican authorities balloon into full-scale international incidents.
Gonzalez, 57, is a 19-year veteran of the State Department, and a Los Angeles native who went to Cathedral High School and Cal State Los Angeles. In a recent interview, he chose his words carefully, deferring most questions to associates. But he displayed a flash of frustration when asked about the extent of his efforts. Diplomats must work invisibly to be effective, he said--then are criticized for it. Even critics allow that the consulate's workload is heavy. Last year, it dealt with nearly 20% of all arrests of Americans worldwide reported to the State Department--500 out of 2,600 total. That number doesn't count hundreds of brief
detentions. Officers here swap round-the-clock duty, and make daily calls to morgues, jails and hospitals. Junior officers are put to work almost as soon as they arrive. There is a death a day. There are voting services for American residents of Baja, and hundreds of thousands of non-immigrant visa applications from Mexicans to process.
Most of all, the agency is swamped with alcohol-related mishaps that come with the Tijuana nightclub scene. The thousands of American revelers who hit the bars here on weekends are enough to give even seasoned diplomats pause. "It almost scares you," said Philip Egger, chief of consular services, recalling an encounter with some underage Americans at a fast-food restaurant one weekend night. "They were counting quarters to see if they had enough to get drunk," he said. "I wanted to turn around and say, 'Do your parents know you're here?' " Still, critics say the consulate too often throws up its hands. "Their attitude is far too cavalier for my liking," said Irvine attorney William Bollard, who represented David Cathcart, an American exonerated and released May 28 after serving 6 1/2 years in a Mexican jail. "They are very quick to remind you . . . that their authority is limited," Bollard said. Among the sharpest critics of the agency is Tijuana attorney Dennis John Peyton, who represented some of the Punta Banda retirees. Peyton said he was disappointed that consular officials didn't appear to take a strong public stand against the evictions. "Do they do their jobs or hide? What is up with that?" he said. "It's easier to say what we can't do than what we can do," Egger acknowledged. "We can't spring a person from jail. . . . We can't change Mexican law. . . . We can't defend people or pay their fines." What they can do is see that Americans get the same treatment as do Mexicans under Mexican law, and visit them in jail to ensure that they aren't mistreated, he said. Gonzalez added that Punta Banda was "one of the most difficult experiences I have ever gone through." He said he met with state officials numerous times to stop the evictions. In the end, the only option was to work to diffuse a potentially violent situation, he said. Asked if the agency could take a more preemptive role in helping citizens and promoting cross-border cooperation, Gonzalez quickly said that is not the consulate's job.
(LATimes)
7-5-01
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| Fox Baja Studios: Still capitalizing on the popularity and success
of the movie Titanic, Fox announces the opening of Foxploration
at the studio where the movie was filmed just south of Rosarito. The
state of Baja California is hoping Fox will draw large enough crowds to
warrant further development into a full-fledged theme park. (Excite)
(HispanicVista)
(LA/Seattle
Times) 5-20-01
LATEST: Run by general manager Charlie Arneson ---- a former marine
scientist and underwater film expert who was called in by
"Titanic" director James Cameron, and then never left ---- the
theme park evolved from the obvious interest tourists had in the location.
"We were first going to shoot 'Titanic' in Poland," Arneson said.
"But we wanted a location where we could shoot the entire movie, not
only the water sequences. We narrowed it down to four locations, then
decided to build an infrastructure in Rosarito. Originally, these sets and
what became a small studio were only temporary. We realized not long into
shooting that we had something here, and that even after 'Titanic,' we
should invest a little more." A small museum, featuring
"Titanic" sets and props, was set up early, attracting a handful
of visitors daily. What visitors will find upon entering Foxploration is
first a movie set, a replica of Canal Street in New York City. Behind the
building facades are interactive exhibits, where film fans can learn how
special effects work, how scenes in "Titanic" and other films were
accomplished, how make-up is applied and how costumes are designed, each
eager to reveal the magic secrets of moviemaking. A few yards away is the
Titanic Expo, where customers can visit the real sets used in the film, and
examine the extremely detailed props, such as the silverware, where each
item was engraved with the official emblem of the White Star Line, owner of
the original Titanic. "James Cameron wanted everything exactly as it
was on the real Titanic," said Rolando Navarro, operations manager at
Foxploration. "Even the china was authentic, and Cameron had it go down
with the ship, just like it did in real life." Navarro is a Rosarito
local who played several roles as an extra in "Titanic," and whose
enthusiasm earned him upward mobility at Fox Studios Baja. Navarro still
remembers the days of filming. "It was so funny to see all the frozen
people walking around," said Navarro, who proudly boasts that the main
extra he played in the film survived, "though many of my other
characters drowned." Guests are not allowed to visit the two gigantic
indoor water tanks that housed the ship portraying the Titanic, but they can
peer at the outdoor harbor that held the ship in some scenes. Outside the
expo are ship props from "Pearl Harbor," and nearby is a
full-sized, state-of-the-art movie theater and a playroom for children,
including hundreds of soft Styrofoam balls shooting through the air. A
costume-and-props room from other Fox films such as "Monkeybone,"
"Anna and the King" and "Dude, Where's My Car" draws
visitors. At the end of Canal Street is a food court, with Subway, Domino's
and Starbucks, and a gift shop. Arneson says 98 percent of the employees
will be local residents from Rosarito and surrounding areas. A gallery in
the theater lobby will feature the works of Mexican artists. Foxploration is
open 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays. Admission is $12 for
adults, $9 for seniors and children ages 3-11, free for children under 3.
Call (866) FOX-BAJA for more information. (NCTimes)
7-1-01
|
| Drugs Seized: Five tons of marijuana and 4.8 million amphetamine
pills were seized by Mexican troops during separate operations in Baja California, the National Defense Secretariat
announced. (NorthernLight)
6-14-01
AGAIN: The Defense Ministry reported that members of the Mexican
Army's 67th Infantry Battalion, along with Baja California state agents, seized 178 sacks containing four tons of marijuana near Playa Villa
Italiana, on the highway that links Rosarito to Ensenada.
According to the official, authorities arrested 16 alleged drug traffickers and confiscated two ships and two trucks.
The Defense Ministry handed over the presumed criminals, the drugs, the ships and the vehicles to the Prosecutors' Office in
Tijuana. (NorthernLight)
6-23-01
AND AGAIN: Mexico's Navy announced that a mystery ship that it had been hunting for a week in the Pacific ocean off the Baja California coast had been found, adrift and crewless with more than five tons of marijuana aboard.
The Mexican-flagged fishing vessel Marset XI had proved something of a phantom ship, after the navy began a search using ships and helicopters after the
boat was spotted and suspected of carrying drugs. The ship simply disappeared for a week, until sailors found it
adrift and apparently abandoned in Colonet Bay. An inspection found 5.1 tons (4,096 kilograms) wrapped in over 3,000 small packages hidden throughout the boat's compartments. The vessel was towed to the nearby port of Ensenada.
On a different note, another ton of marijuana proved easier for the Navy to find: it was found floating in 715 bales in the waters off Ensenada. Sailors hauled in 1,047 kilograms of marijuana, and took it to the nearby naval base for investigation.
(SignOnSanDiego)
6-25-01
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|  13
inmates escape from Mexicali jail: One inmate was captured and 12 more were still on the loose after they dug a 52-foot-long tunnel and escaped from a jail near the U.S. border. Ten of the fugitives had been serving time for drug smuggling, assault or car theft. Two were involved in homicides and one was a convicted kidnapper. Witnesses reportedly saw the fugitives climb into a green van and leave the area. The van was later found near a motel on a federal highway close to the Mexicali airport.
(KGTV)
6-22-01
|
| American arrested on sex charges in Tijuana:
James E.
Sutton, 63, from the United States, is facing
sex crimes charges after
state agents found him with two young girls in a house filled with
pornographic material, state police said. Sutton claimed to reporters
that he's innocent. State police said Sutton
has been living in Tijuana for the past five years, but previously lived in
Newport Beach. State police began investigating Sutton when they found large quantities of pornography
at his home, where they had gone to interview him about an unrelated
homicide.
They obtained
an arrest warrant and raided his home earlier this week. They said they
found him there with two girls, 15 and 16, in what the police described as a
compromising position.
State police
said they also found about 500 photos in albums. Some were ordinary
portraits, but others were nude shots.
State police
said they suspect that Sutton cajoled his subjects into taking off their
clothes, offering them $10 to $30 to pose nude. Authorities are also
investigating a computer system found in Sutton's home to determine whether
the photos were being sold through the Internet.
The state
police said U.S. authorities told them Sutton had a prior conviction for a
sex crime. Sutton, now in custody, faces charges in Tijuana including
corruption of minors, child pornography and attempted rape. (SignOnSanDiego)
6-22-01
|
| Baja agencies put restrictions on alternative health clinics: Mexican government officials said that they are closing a loophole that has allowed the border area to flourish as a mecca for unproven alternative medical treatments.
For decades, alternative clinics, many run by foreign operators from San Diego and elsewhere, have drawn thousands of desperately ill patients to Tijuana for experimental therapies.
Now, for the first time, Mexican immigration authorities will seek the approval of local health officials as they decide which foreigners should be allowed into Mexico to practice medicine and other health-related professions.
The changes in procedure for the Mexican federal immigration authorities come as Baja California health authorities have struggled to gain control over the alternative health care facilities that flourish in the Tijuana-Rosarito area. The clinics draw most of their patients from the United States, though some fly in from as far away as England and Korea for treatment.
In the past few decades, the region has grown into a center for alternative health therapies not sanctioned by the medical mainstream -- either in the United States or Mexico.
Ranging from Laetrile therapy to insulin comas to shark-cell injections, the treatments draw desperately ill cancer patients and others who say they have lost faith in traditional medicine. Such patients staunchly defend alternative care as their last and best hope.
(SignOnSanDiego)
6-21-01
|
| Mexico tries to put lid on prescription drug trade: Americans have been stepping across the border for years to buy medicine at lower prices. But alongside the legitimate businesses that serve them is a darker trade in controlled substances -- a black market where Valium, a sedative and muscle relaxant, is especially popular.
Mexican regulators say they are fighting an uphill battle to control the black market. The city has about 1,400 pharmacies -- almost twice the number that existed two years ago -- with much of the growth in the Viva Tijuana and Avenida Revolución tourist districts near the border.
"We're fighting a monster with 1,000 heads," said Dr. Ruben Reyes of the Baja California Health Department, which regulates pharmacies. "In the time it takes to close down one pharmacy, five others open."
Officials say the persistence of the illicit trade in controlled substances points to the involvement of organized crime. Many pharmacies sail through inspectors' surprise visits by keeping their clandestine stock off the premises. When a customer comes in, a clerk steps out to a nearby building or car and brings back the medication.
By law, the sale of controlled substances in Mexico requires the prescription of a Mexican physician. But in some cases, doctors working in tandem with pharmacies illegally "sell" prescriptions. And in many cases, medications are sold without any prescription.
South of the border, Mexican regulators say they can only do so much to stop the illegal sale of drugs. The black market will continue to thrive, they say, as long as foreign customers remain ignorant of Mexican law -- or are willing to risk a stay in a Mexican jail.
Said Reyes, of the Baja California Health Department, "We need people to cooperate, and not go around buying."
(SignOnSanDiego)
6-17-01
|
| Family fears for Orange County man falsely held in Ensenada: The
family of David Cathcart, a Laguna Niguel man wrongly jailed for 6 1/2 years
on charges of molesting boys at a Mexican orphanage, pushed for his release
Friday, saying they feared for his life in advance of a hearing next week on
what they consider a trumped-up drug-possession charge. Two prison guards
allege they found heroin in Cathcart's shirt in 1998. William Bollard, his
attorney, says his client wasn't charged until this April, days before the
molestation case was reopened. Neither the heroin nor the shirt was produced
at a hearing Wednesday that lasted from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Cathcart first went
to the Door of Faith orphanage
to inspect its books after officials at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in
Laguna Niguel began to suspect that some of the $140,000 that parishioners
donated to the home was being diverted. Cathcart's suspicions were raised
when director Gabriel Diego Garcia pulled up in a new Ford Bronco, although
the orphanage seemed in need of repair. Garcia ran Cathcart off the property
when he asked to see the books. Cathcart returned to Orange County. The next
day, he was asked to return, told that a child had been hospitalized. When
Cathcart got to the hospital, he was arrested and later sentenced to 12
years in prison. Recently, the boys recanted and told a Mexican judge that
Garcia coerced them into lying. The boys said they were beaten at the
orphanage, deprived of food and locked in a room without food or water.
Judge Marta Flores Trejo, who cleared Cathcart of the sex charges Thursday,
said the four boys had been sodomized but found no evidence that Cathcart
had attacked them. Flores also said that her investigation found that U.S.
visitors were allowed to take children from the orphanage to local hotels
for sex.
(LATimes)
(OCRegister)
UPDATE: David Cathcart was released today and returned home to
his family in an emotional reunion. (SignOnSanDiego)
(LATimes)
(OCRegister)
5-29-2001
UPDATE 2: Many of the donors and volunteers are more cautious now after hearing about the
Cathcart's case, and that he says Garcia orchestrated false charges of child molestation against him in 1994 to avoid an audit.
(OCRegister)
6-16-01
|
|  81 year old
arrested in Tijuana: Saying his life is at risk, family and supporters of an 81-year-old American retiree who crossed the border to purchase Valium are calling for his release.
George Paul Murl, a World War II veteran who suffers from prostate cancer and other ailments, has been moved to the infirmary of La Mesa State Penitentiary, where he was taken following his May 24 arrest.
"It's a matter of a day or two -- if he doesn't get out of there, he's going to die," said his ex-wife, Rose Burgess, of Oxnard. "He wants to go to a hospital where they can treat him carefully for his condition."
Murl was stopped and found to be carrying 600 Valium pills at the Pueblo Amigo shopping center near the U.S.
border. He did not have a prescription for the pills. Murl, a former Navy deep sea diver, came to Tijuana like thousands of other Americans to take advantage of lower
pharmaceutical prices, Burgess said. (SignOnSanDiego)
6-6-01
UPDATE: Murl was allowed to visit a Tijuana hospital for a checkup, where he answered questions from reporters.
"I'm in a cell with a man who is 78-years-old. He commited no crime. I've seen things here I never believed existed," Murl said.
Looking frail and unsteady, Murl said that he had no bed in the prison. "I laid on a wet cement floor (with) no blanket. The next two nights, I stood against a cell for 12-14 hours," he said.
Murl also said that he is not being given any medication stronger than aspirin while in the prison.
"I've had pain for a while. I asked for medication. They give me some aspirin. I gave it to somebody who needed it more than
me." (KGTV)
6-8-01
UPDATE 2: Murl refused medical treatment and asked to be returned to prison.
"I'm not going to eat until I hit the American side," Murl said. "If I don't hit the American side, they can carry me over in a box."
Hours later he was back at the overcrowded La Mesa State Penitentiary, drinking water and fruit juice but refusing all solids.
Conditions at La Mesa State Penitentiary are not ideal. Built to hold 2,000 inmates, it now houses 6,530.
"They can't just bring you into a hole, throw you there and leave you to die," Murl said. "If I'm going to die, I'm going to die of my own accord, not by their help."
Murl said the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana has not helped him as much as he had hoped, and he accuses it of delaying the transfer of his medical records.
In the meantime, Murl's ex-wife, Rose Burgess, of Oxnard, has been fighting to get him treatment. Murl loves Mexico, she said, and has been coming down for years, bringing toys and clothes for Mexican families.
Murl doesn't deny that he broke the law. "Sure, I've done wrong, but not to the extent of my punishment," he said. "I have served more than my punishment."
(SignOnSanDiego)
6-8-01
UPDATE 3: Murl agreed to return to the hospital, and a federal judge
made an unusual bedside visit to get a firsthand look at the
prisoner/patient's condition. "If I don't get out and have treatment
(in the United States) I would rather die," he told Judge Gerardo
Eduardo García Anzures. His attorneys hope to convince García that Murl
should be released because of his advanced age and many illnesses. Murl told
the judge he suffers from prostate cancer, emphysema, arthritis,
diverticulitis and limited motion of his right arm. "Anything
else?" asked the judge through a translator. "Not that I know
of," Murl replied. The judge's visit brought a flurry of activity to
the sparsely furnished internal medicine ward of Tijuana's public hospital,
where the city's poorest and sickest patients go for treatment. Three guards
waited in the hallway as García, of the 6th Federal District court in
Tijuana, stood at Murl's bedside. Prosecutors, Murl's attorneys and a
representative of the U.S. Consulate hovered in the background as García's
secretary typed notes into a laptop computer. Murl told the judge he began
buying Valium in Tijuana several years ago, when Veterans Affairs doctors
changed his prescription to another drug that didn't work as well. "I'm
very hyper. It slows me down. I sleep better," Murl told the judge.
"I just feel more relaxed; I'm not shaky." (SignOnSanDiego)
6-9-01
UPDATE 4: The judge releases Murl. He returned to San Diego and
was taken to the VA hospital in La Jolla. (KGTV)
6-13-01
|
| Tijuana hires PR firm to clean up image: In an effort to shed a
Wild West reputation that has lured generations of tourists to drink and
carouse, Tijuana and neighboring towns have hired a U.S. public relations
firm. Taking their cue from more polished tourist destinations such as Las
Vegas, Nev., local business and government leaders hope to give the region a
new, upscale, family-friendly image to attract a more well-heeled, and
well-behaved, brand of tourist. For those who still can't resist Tijuana's
rougher edges, Baja's public-relations team is taking note. In some cases,
they are exerting pressure to soften negative coverage. Sigfredo Pineda,
manager of the Tijuana Tourism Trust, said the idea was to dispel the notion
of Tijuana as a center of violence and corruption, "the black legend of
Tijuana," as he calls it. "We want tourism that is more interested
in shopping and artisan products," he said. "Tourists with more
interest in the cultural and historic things." Promoters hope to
encourage more families to come on road trips, stay longer, attend festivals
and spend more money. Such image revisionism is not unprecedented: In recent
years, Las Vegas, similarly dogged by a reputation for vice, has remade its
image through shrewd promotion. Baja's tourism interests would like to
counter a handful of high-profile incidents in which tourists have met with
trouble with Mexican authorities. The government has been criticized by U.S.
officials for delaying medical care following accidents involving tourists,
and more recently, the arrest of an elderly man with health problems who
obtained pharmaceuticals in Mexico. "I think they are extremely
uncooperative. I don't care how good a P.R. firm they have, going to Tijuana
is just not safe. Period," said San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn.
Money pooled from a five-year-old hotel tax, and supplemented by Baja
business interests, has made the new promotional efforts possible. There are
new Web sites, brochures, and most recently, the $100,000 yearly contract
with the public-relations firm, Matthews/Mark of San Diego. Matthews/Mark's
role "is to combat a number of misrepresentations and stereotypes about
them," said Scott McGaugh, the company's executive vice president. Juan
Tintos Funcke, Baja tourism secretary, went further: "We want people to
know that if you are basing your decision to come here on the hours of bars
or [the drinking age], don't come," he said. Working with Baja
officials, the firm has worked to educate tourists on safety, urging them to
abide by local rules and secure proper insurance. It has also hosted
numerous U.S.-based travel reporters on tours to the area, often paying
their way. "They have had an image problem for a long time," said
Automobile Club travel writer David Brackney, who has just completed a Baja
guidebook, with some help from promoters. "Any time an American gets
into trouble down there, it tends to resonate. Obviously, they are trying to
counteract that." (LATimes/Sun-Sentinel)
6-13-01
|
|
 Japan
puts whale of pressure on Mexico: Fear
that Mexico may cave in under the immense pressure Japan is exerting to win
Mexico's vote to authorize whaling at the next meeting of the International
Whale Commission meeting, has led Greespeace to demonstrate in front of
Mexico's Minsitry of Foreign Relations offices. Members of Greenpeace-Mexico
led by their national director, Raul Benet, unfolded a banner, which
depicted the whales huge tail covered with blood, in front of the Ministry.
The group presented a letter destined to the Secretary of Foreign Relations,
Jorge Castañeda, requesting he instruct the Mexican Ambassador, Andrez
Rozenthal, to the International Whale Commission to vote against any
proposal to reopen whale hunting in any form. "Mexico
must vote against hunting of whales," Raul Benet told the press,
adding, "The Mexican people oppose any such action." According to
Greenpeace-Mexico there is no justifiable reason why Mexico should take a
stand contrary to that which it has had for over a decade and commitment to
save and protect the Gray Whale. (HispanicVista)
6-11-01
|
|
Tourism:
On May 15, 2001 the Baja California State Department of Tourism (Secretaría
de Turismo del Estado, SECTUR) released new tourism indicators that show
that hotel occupancy increased statewide from 58% in 1999 to 60% in the year
2000. Traffic down the scenic Pacific-coast highway increased from 9,703,805
vehicles to 10,584,115 over the same period and the number of vehicles on
the Tecate-La Rumorosa highway went from 1,188,166 to 1,348,115. The number
of cruise ships that stopped in BC ports also increased as did the number of
passengers. In 1999 257 ships stopped in the state carrying 342,252 people.
In the year 2000 there were 283 ships with 358,127 passengers that came into
BC ports. The only decrease in tourism-related indicators was in the area of
air travel. In 1999, Tijuana moved 3,420,000 passengers on 52,689 flights.
In the year 2000, there were 42,967 flights with 2,742,922 passengers.
Between 1999 and 2000 hotel occupancy went from 58% to 60% in Tijuana, from
48% to 49% in Tecate, from 47% to 49% in Playas de Rosarito, and from 34% to
37% in San Felipe. Hotel occupancy remained unchanged in Ensenada at 48% and
decreased in Méxicali from 73% to 66%. (Frontera)
6-10-01
|
|
Lines at the border getting longer and longer: Immigration and Naturalization spokeswoman Lauren Mack said officials have been working with Tijuana police to divert traffic to the
San Ysidro port's east side, but that because of poor signage, drivers sometimes think they are being directed to
Otay Mesa. But Tijuana police spokesman Lorenzo Garibay said police have been diverting vehicles to Otay on weekends to prevent gridlock. He said traffic has been backing up into downtown and to the cultural center in the Rio Zone.
While passenger vehicle arrivals at California ports of entry have increased to more than 30 million a year, the number of inspectors has shrunk. The INS and U.S. Customs Service don't have the staff to open all 24 lanes at San
Ysidro, Mack said.
A marked increase in the smuggling of illegal immigrants and drugs at the port also has contributed to longer waits, customs spokesman Vince Bond said.
San Diego Dialogue, which was conducting a monthly analysis of how often border waits took 20 minutes or less, canceled the study early this year because it seemed no one was acting on the data. Chuck
Nathanson, who heads the organization, said, "Wait times kept going up and up and up and nobody in INS and customs felt compelled to do anything about it."
James H. Banks, the San Diego State University civil engineering professor who did the study, said that by the end of last year, the 20 minutes were being exceeded 70 percent to 90 percent of the time.
In the San Diego region, the INS is authorized to have 527 inspectors, but only has 455, down from a peak of 495 in 1998. Customs has 619, down from a peak of 701 in 1998. Budget woes have kept the numbers down, in addition to problems attracting and retaining inspectors, Mack said.
The 7,400 people with the $129 SENTRI commuter-lane cards are waiting less. About 3,000 vehicles are using San Ysidro and Otay SENTRI lanes daily, and often only wait a couple of minutes, Mack said.
Mack said processing time for SENTRI applications is down to about six weeks, as opposed to the six months or more it had been taking for background checks.
Customs provides border wait times at (619) 671-8999 for Otay and 690-8999 for San
Ysidro.
(SignOnSanDiego)
6-8-01
|
| Dolphin Death in La Paz Brings Scrutiny: An ugly international
scandal is brewing over a dolphin named Luna. Captured in the Pacific Ocean
on New Year's Eve, Luna was crated and brought to La Paz to delight and swim
with tourists. Five weeks later, she was dead; a postmortem exam found
ulcers in her belly. Luna's death has inflamed a passionate debate about one
of the world's most lucrative and fastest-growing tourist industries:
swimming with dolphins. (Washington
Post) 3-20-2001
UPDATE: The U.S. Humane Society has entered the fray. It's
reported that several dolphin professionals who have visited the facility call it the worst they have ever seen.
Conditions such as the following:
 | The dolphins' enclosure is near a sewage outflow. |
| The water is so shallow (approximately 40'' at low tide) that the summer sun will
cause it to rise to dangerously high temperatures. It is unlikely that dolphins could survive in water that temperature. |
| The shipping lane adjacent to the facility is acoustically hazardous for the dolphins.
(2-12-01) |
UPDATE 2: Mexican Environment Minister Victor Lichtinger is fuming
over a judge's order to reopen the ``swim-with-dolphins'' facility.
Lichtinger, furious over the judicial ruling, said the lives of the seven captive dolphins, kept in terrible conditions for tourist shows in the city of La Paz, are in danger if they can't be released soon.
And in an extraordinary move, the environment minister appealed to the international community to keep up the pressure on the owners of the La Paz ``Dolphin Learning
Centre'' known as FINS. The FINS dolphin pen is in shallow water on a beach owned by La Concha Beach Resort & Condominiums, just outside La Paz.
Lichtinger said the judge's decision shocked him because of the evidence his ministry has seen. It includes proof of brutal treatment of the dolphins in a video shot by Juan Antonio Ramirez, of Channel 10 in La Paz, and
the death of an eighth dolphin, Luna, after one month in captivity. However, the minister said he has not given up hope that FINS owner Javier Enriquez Serralde will change his mind and agree to release the animals.
A rescue and rehabilitaiton plan had already been worked out by the Mexican Marine Mammal Conservation Society and the World Society for the Protection of Animals, and approved by Lichtinger's office.
The Mexican navy was to loan two helicopters to transport the dolphins back to their home waters in Magdalena Bay, on the other side of the Baja peninsula.
(Toronto
Star) 6-8-01
|
| Fight in TJ's Club Iguana ends in death; 5
arrested: The beating death of a 27-year-old Oakland man at an
Avenida Revolucion nightclub was triggered by a racial comment, the victim's
brother said. Lamont Hill, an African-American from Oakland, died from
strangulation and other injuries he suffered during the brawl witnessed by
his brother and others at Club Iguana. State police have arrested five men,
most of them employees of the nightclub, after detaining more than 60
witnesses for questioning. The unidentified suspects have been charged with
"aggravated murder." Hill's brother, Anthony Hill, 31, said he and
his brother, who was single, and a friend, Teran Bryant, who is also black,
were targeted because they had dates with Mexican women. He said his brother
did not receive proper medical attention. "If it happened the way I was
told it happened, it's not acceptable," said consulate spokesman
Clinton Wright. "We ask that in future cases police would have better
training and that medical assistance would be more readily available."
The three burly men tried to fight off their attackers but were overwhelmed
by their numbers. Several of the attackers brought down his brother, who was
6 feet 8 and weighed 350 pounds, by choking him. "When they finally got
him down they stomped him on his head and chest," said Hill, who said
he was also being held down. Hill, an electrician, said he tried to revive
his brother by using CPR but said the authorities at the scene did not
respond to his cries for an ambulance. The two men helped identify the five
suspects but said they were attacked by at least 12 people. (SignOnSanDiego)
5-31-01
UPDATE: A Tijuana judge said there was enough evidence to prosecute a
nightclub waiter for manslaughter in the death. Four other employees of the
club had a similar charge against them dismissed. The finding against Felipe
Patricio Wasserteil Carrillo was made by Judge Alberto Molina Hernandez.
Anthony Hill said "I can't believe this, I am angry. Eight people did
the beating, including some police, and only five get arrested, and now it's
down to one. It's outrageous. They beat and choked my brother to death and
all they have is just one person out of eight. It's like the law there is
saying you can just beat up people and take someone's life and just walk
away." Anthony Hill said he was told the hearing would not be for a few
more days, and it appears to him from the way the case was handled that
"the legal system (there) is being very sneaky. They are trying to
secretly do this. If I had known they were going to do this (Monday) I would
have been down there. "The district attorney didn't try to contact us.
From day one nothing has gone right." Anthony Hill said his family is
going to consult a lawyer to see what legal action can be taken. "We
are going after everything," he said, including trying to get more
convictions and suing the nightclub, police and the Tijuana mortuary that
left his brother's body in horrible condition after the autopsy was
performed. Because the Tijuana mortuary did not refrigerate Lamont Hill's
body or properly embalm it before the trip back to Oakland, the family
cannot have the open casket funeral it wanted. The body had to be cremated
because it deteriorated so badly. (NewsChoice)
(SFGate)
(SignOnSanDiego)
6-5-01
|
| McMillin and Hengeveld capture overall wins at Tecate SCORE Baja 500
(SCORE)
6-5-01
|
| Gateway of the Americas project underway: The 67 acre project is
slated to have retail stores open in November, hotels later, and then phase
2 of the project calls for a spectacular suspension bridge crossing the
border. (KGTV)
(ABC)
6-3-01
|
|  High
Ranking Tijuana Cop Faces Charges: Hugo Díaz Rodríguez, 29, a
high-ranking municipal officer that supervised the Mesa de Otay district,
where a truck carrying U.S. visas was hijacked faces charges of impropriety
in the robbery. State officials said they believe more police are involved,
and they are readying warrants. Apparently the police stumbled across some
visas the robbers left behind. Three days after the heist state police
arrested six people, including a former delivery company employee, and
recovered 1,109 of the visas. But the robbers said they took only one bag of
visas. The robbers "were afraid that if they took more it would bring
more attention and cause more problems," said Francisco Javier Cossío
Gutiérrez, head of the state attorney general's office in Tijuana.
"What they didn't think of was that the municipal police would find
these visas and keep them." (SignOnSanDiego)
6-1-01
|
| Baja California state officials have signed an agreement with a private
railroad company to operate 44 miles of track. U.S.-based
Carrizo Gorge Railway, in conjunction with Mexican company Peninsular
Railways of the Northwest, plans to repair portions of track and to add
trains in upcoming months. Baja officials joined Carrizo Gorge officials at
the Campo station to symbolically mark their agreement of the 25-year
concession. The track, owned by the state of Baja California, is part of the
163-mile San Diego & Arizona Eastern rail line, which runs south from
San Diego into Mexico at Tijuana and then returns into the United States
east of Tecate. The track has been operating in bits and pieces over the
past two decades. A fire destroyed a tunnel in the Baja portion last
December, for example, which is being rebuilt. Repairs also need to be made
east of Campo, which is another paralyzed leg of the track. But once fixed
up, the track has the potential to connect with lines throughout the United
States and the interior of Mexico. Last year, after two failed attempts to
auction off the line, the Mexican federal government handed over the
railroad authority to state officials. Baja California Gov. Alejandro
Gonzalez Alcocer said the state has great plans for the railway's future,
including a track between Tecate and the port city of Ensenada. "All
the businesses in our state . . . will be able to move their cargo
in the future from coast to coast throughout the United States in a very
easy manner," he said. (SignOnSanDiego)
5-31-01
|
| DEA fears Russian mafia has joined forces
with Mexican mafia in drug trafficking: U.S. authorities are concerned
the Russian mob is collaborating with Mexican drug traffickers to ship
cocaine and heroin. U.S. intelligence authorities believe the Mexican drug
cartels are following the example of Colombian drug traffickers and forming
alliances with Russian organized crime groups and other criminal
organizations in eastern Europe. An anonymous source said the alliance is
led by the Tijuana drug cartel and is involved in shipping cocaine and
heroin. Concerns arose in the United States after the recent capture on the
high seas of 20 tons of cocaine found aboard two fishing boats crewed by
Russian and Ukrainian sailors. One of the ships, identified as the "Svesda
Maru," was captured on the high seas and taken to San Diego along with
the 10 Russians and Ukrainians that formed its crew. Once in port, U.S.
authorities discovered 13 tons of cocaine found in the ship's hold. The San
Diego chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Errol Chavez,
said the crewmen aboard the Svesda Maru must have gotten permission from the
Tijuana cartel to ship cocaine so close to their territory. According to the
source, collaboration between the Russian mob and Mexican drug traffickers,
which could worsen the drug trafficking problem, functions as it does with
Colombian drug traffickers. Russian collaboration offered Colombian drug
traffickers a new market for the drugs they produce and access to
sophisticated military equipment. (Hispanic
Vista) (KNSD)
5-28-01
|
|  Evicted
Americans Vent Frustration: Americans that lost beach homes in a
Punta Banda land dispute urged fellow citizens not to buy real estate south
of the border. Carrying signs with messages such as, "We got robbed in
Mexico," about two dozen of the U.S. citizens who lost weekend and
retirement homes staged a protest at the border crossing. "We feel we
are owed some type of compensation and we hope this will be resolved in our
lifetime," said Patty Amato, an office supervisor from Moreno Valley.
Many of the Americans have joined a petition filed under the North American
Free Trade Agreement that demands $75 million in compensation. "Nothing
is happening so we decided that instead of sitting and waiting, we'd be
better off coming down here to make our cause known," said Anne Stiles,
who estimated the value of the home she lost at more than $250,000. On
the other side of the border, members of the Mexican land collective staged
a separate protest in support of the Americans, partially blocking traffic
heading north and worsening an already nightmarish traffic jam. (SignOnSanDiego)
(AP
via OC Register) 5-26-01
|
| 3 state officers arrested for extortion in
Ensenada: Three Baja California police officers were arrested in
Ensenada this week after they allegedly tried to extort money from a
California man, a federal official said. The suspects, posing as federal
officers, approached the 50-year-old man near his Ensenada home Thursday.
They were dressed in black and carrying high-caliber weapons. They
threatened to accuse the man of selling drugs unless he gave them $10,000,
federal officials said. Instead, he gave them about $1,450 and promised to
pay the rest at a designated area. They decided to meet again at the city's
civic center at about 8 p.m. The California man, however, went to
authorities. Real federal agents organized a stakeout at the meeting place
and captured the suspects. Once in custody, the trio were found to be state
agents. In Mexico, state police are in charge of investigating kidnappings,
killings and other assaults. Federal police handle sensitive crimes related
to drugs and smuggling. (SignOnSanDiego)
5-26-01
|
| The state Department of Insurance has accused Oscar Padilla Mexican
Insurance Services, one of San Diego's biggest and oldest sellers of
Mexican auto insurance, of engaging in unfair and deceptive acts over the
past eight years. In a filing of accusations announced yesterday against
Oscar Padilla, the department said thousands of drivers involved in car
accidents in Mexico have been stuck with unpaid claims. The department is
seeking to revoke the Padillas' operating license and impose a penalty of up
to $10 million. Oscar Padilla said he is devastated by the allegations and
the impact they might have on the business he has operated since 1951. He
called the allegations "outlandish and ridiculous." Based on an
investigation that examined practices dating back to June 1993, the
department alleges that the Padilla agency:
| failed to safeguard those it insured; |
| used unlicensed agents to write policies; |
| wrote or issued insurance policies on a Mexican company, Noroeste S.A.
de C.V., even though the Padillas knew the Mexican government had
withdrawn the firm's operating authorization, and |
| sold annual tourist insurance using motor club rates, although the
premiums were too low to sustain the Mexican insurers, and the insurers
were forced into liquidation.
|
Padilla said only 206 -- not thousands -- of motorists he insured had
problems with claims after the Mexican government took over Noroeste's
parent company. He has appealed to government officials to honor the claims,
which amount to $150,000, he said. He also said he does not use unlicensed
agents to write policies. Regarding the allegation that his agency has
forced Mexican companies into liquidation, Padilla said "it's
absurd" to think the agency, a business that in its best year earned a
little more than $4 million, could collapse Mexican insurers. (SignOnSanDiego)
5-12-01
|
| Violent murder in Cabo: A woman from Lansing, Michigan who disappeared in Cabo San Lucas
after a late-night argument on the street with her boyfriend, six days later
has been found partially-buried near San Jose del Cabo. (AP
via Yahoo) (WDIV) 5-5-2001
|
| Drug cartel member extradited to U.S: A suspected leading member of
the Arellano Félix drug cartel was extradited to San Diego from Mexico City
yesterday, the first action taken under a precedent-setting Mexican Supreme
Court decision clearing the way for Mexicans to be sent to the United States
to stand trial. Arturo "Kitty" Páez Martínez, a Tijuana man in
his mid-30s, is charged with smuggling more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine
into the United States for Tijuana's Arellano Félix cartel. (Reuters
via Yahoo) (SignOnSanDiego)
5-5-2001
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|  Baja
California was wrenched from mainland Mexico 6.5 million years ago by a
series of earthquakes, starting in earnest the peninsula's 160-mile push to
the northwest. Michael Oskin, a graduate student in geology at the
California Institute of Technology, said he has found and matched identical
volcanic rocks on opposite sides of the gulf (the Tiburon fracture zone)
that allowed him to pinpoint the size, timing and rate of the movement
between the two plates. By correlating the different tie-points - now
separated by the roughly 160 miles of slip that has taken place along the
fault system - Oskin said that Baja California started pulling away 12.5
million years ago, but the bulk of the peninsula's movement has taken place
within the past 6.5 million years. (AP
via OCRegister) 5-4-2001
|
| Ads Name 4,516 in Baja with Arrest Warrants: The Baja California
attorney general's office took out advertising space in local newspapers
this week to list the names of 4,516 people with outstanding arrest
warrants. Those named are accused of lesser crimes such as fraud, drunken
driving, and nonlethal assaults. They represent about half the state's
outstanding arrest warrants. Francisco Javier Cossío Gutiérrez, head of
the attorney general's office in Tijuana, said the agency hopes the ads will
motivate people to step forward and take care of their legal matters. Some
of the warrants have been outstanding for as long as four years. Mexican
President Vicente Fox has also called for publicizing arrest warrants as a
means of regaining trust in government law enforcement agencies.
(SignOnSanDiego)
4-28-2001
UPDATE: The
publication of a "black list" by the BC Attorney General's Office
with the names of 4,510 people with outstanding arrest warrants for
non-violent crimes has been deemed a failure by state judges. The list was
made public by the Procuraduría General de Justicia en el Estado (PGJE) on
April 23, 2001 and so far only two people and one person's lawyer have
presented themselves at state courts.
(Frontera)
5-3-01
|
| Two men slain outside Baby Rock, a Tijuana nightclub: Juan Carlos
Balderrama, 26, with crime histories in both Tijuana and San Diego, and
Christian Jesús Santillán were hit by more than 20 bullets as they were
leaving the nightclub around 4 a.m. in their 1997 Land Rover. Their
attackers used as many as three AK-47s. They escaped by car, and no arrests
have been made. The two men are believed to have been U.S. residents, and
Balderrama apparently was originally from Fresno, but both moved frequently
between San Diego and Tijuana. Mario Rivera, in charge of the state police
homicide unit in Tijuana, said the two had a pattern of coming to Tijuana to
drink and party and then returning to the United States with smuggled drugs.
(SignOnSanDiego)
5-1-2001
|
| Disney captures Newport-to-Ensenada: Roy E. Disney navigated
Pyewacket to first place in the 125-mile Newport-to-Ensenada International
Yacht Race and claimed the First-to-Finish Trophy this weekend. Chance,
skippered by Robert McNulty, was second in the 54th running of the race. (OCRegister)
4-29-2001
|
| Fox Says He'd Back Legalizing Casinos: "Yes I'm in favor (of
legalizing casinos), in a controlled, supervised manner, above all in places
visited by foreigners," Fox told reporters at a tourism fair in the
Pacific beach resort of Acapulco. (Reuters-Excite)
4-24-2001
|
| Ricky Martin Look-Alike Accused of Tijuana Rapes: Juan Francisco Kuñasich
Gamero was arrested by police in Tijuana on March 31, charged with attacks
on two American teens, and authorities believe more victims may yet come
forward. The 28-year-old Tijuana resident won a Ricky Martin look-alike
contest in Las Vegas several years ago, Mexican authorities say, and dressed
and cut his hair to match the famous Puerto Rican singer. Detective
Alejandro Avilez Lopez, of the Baja California attorney general's office,
said the resemblance was more striking in person than in file photos.
(ABCnews)
4-5-2001
Follow-Up: "Hunt for Rape Suspect Became Cop's Quest" (SignOnSanDiego)
4-10-2001
|
| Shell Considers Shipping Liquified Gas to California by way of Baja:
Shell is considering shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Asia to
California to try to exploit the soaring price of gas on America’s
energy-starved West Coast. The Anglo-Dutch company would build an LNG
receiving terminal in Mexico and pipe the gas into the Southern Californian
market. Sources within Shell said that high energy prices in California had
transformed the economics of such a venture. Baja California in Mexico is
the likeliest site for a terminal because of political and environmental
obstacles to building it in the US. (Times
UK) 4-2-2001
|
| Drug cartels, such as the Arellano Félix organization of Tijuana,
continue to maintain a stranglehold on drug trafficking across the Southwest
border, according to Donnie Marshall, administrator of the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration. "The power and influence of these
organizations is pervasive and continues to expand to new markets across the
United States," Marshall told the House Judiciary Committee's
subcommittee on crime. Recently, the cartels seized on weaknesses in the
law-enforcement system and the North American Free Trade Agreement,
according to Michael Scott, chief of the Texas Department of Public Safety's
criminal law enforcement division. "Mexican drug trafficking
organizations have exploited our collective inability to inspect vehicles
and pedestrians entering this country," Scott said. "They have
purchased trucking companies and maquiladoras in Mexico in an effort to
promulgate the illegal industry." (SignOnSanDiego)
3-30-2001
|
| Vicente Fox signs agreements in Sacramento for programs to reduce
air pollution in Tijuana, treat industrial wastewater and protect the Gulf
of California. (SFGate)
3-24-2001
|
| Avenida Revolución Visitors drinking until the wee
hours of the morning will find some notable changes: more cops walking
around, less time to imbibe. Merchants and city officials say it's part of
an ongoing effort to clean up the street's image, which started on the most
basic level a few years ago when garbage crews began picking up trash three
times a day instead of just once. (SignOnSanDiego)
3-24-2001
|
| New highway to stretch the length of the
peninsula?: Mexico's Transport & Communications Secretariat (SCT) is
studying ways to finance construction of some 5,000km of main roads in
Mexico that will complete the 10 "Ejes Troncales" highway
projects, according to SCT spokesperson Javier Munoz. The Ejes Troncales
projects were started under the administration led by Ernesto Zedillo and
are due for completion during the current six-year term of President Vicente
Fox. Some 6,000km have already been paved, Munoz detailed. The 10 highways
include: routes linking Mexico City with Nogales, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad
Juarez and Chetumal; an axis stretching the length of the Baja California
peninsula; Mazatlan-Matamoros; Veracruz-Monterrey; and a bi-oceanic corridor
from Acapulco to Veracruz via Mexico City. All roads will be four-lane
highways built to international standards. (BNAmericas)
3-20-2001
|
|
Tijuana
police get raise: Hopes are high that pay increases to police personnel
will stem the tide of corruption long plaguing the police force. City
residents were asked to cooperate by not going along with the
"cultural" habit of giving "mordidas" to police
personnel. Police pay has been increased by 33.5 per cent; bringing pay
increases to 114 per cent since the present city administration took office
three years ago. A police officer received 1,210 pesos (about US$130) per
month, which had been increased to 5,420 pesos (about US$570) a month, and
with this new raise will increase to 6,630 pesos (about US$698) a month. (HispanicVista)
1-11-2001
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