When U.S. was attacked in '41, Tijuana felt the concussion
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20030414-9999_1c14...
By Enrique Garc?a Sanchez
April 14, 2003
Alda Bustamante Carmelo and her sixth-grade classmates in a downtown Tijuana elementary school jumped from their desks and, as orderly as possible,
left the building for a nearby shelter.
It was 1942 and the children were responding to sirens sounding in San Diego and Tijuana warning of possible air attack by the Japanese.
Bustamante is almost 75 years old and she does not remember Tijuana feeling the effects of war so intensely until now, when the United States is
fighting Iraq.
Luis Flores Silva's experience is similar. A retired lieutenant colonel with the Mexican army, he remembers the expulsion of U.S. troops from Tijuana,
where they had wanted to extend the protective net for military installations in San Diego south of the border.
This chapter in Tijuana's life takes only a few lines in the books about local history, but the details have been passed from one generation to the
next by those who lived them.
When Mexico decided to enter World War II in May 1942 after German subs attacked Mexican oil tankers, the pall of war had already permeated Baja
California.
After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Mexican government considered it prudent to take protective measures to guard its Pacific
coast against incursions from foreign nations.
Lazaro Card##as, a former president of Mexico and former military man, once again put on his general's uniform and was named commander of the Pacific
zone, a newly created post with headquarters in Ensenada.
Card##as operated out of what was the former Riviera Pacifico Casino of Ensenada and the Agua Caliente Casino in Tijuana, which had been expropriated
two years before by Card##as when he was still president.
With the San Diego region experiencing an intense, dynamic period of growth in the labor, military and economic fields, thousands of Mexicans came to
Tijuana attracted by the prospect of working for American plants.
Downtown Tijuana was dotted with bars and nightclubs that catered to U.S. servicemen looking for a temporary escape from war tensions. The curio shops
and myriad other businesses tied to tourism also benefited from the economic boom.
Suspecting that the Japanese had already infiltrated Baja California to conduct espionage, U.S. military commanders asked their counterparts in
Tijuana for authorization in December 1941 to enter Mexican soil to fortify, monitor and guard the coast.
A report from Col. Federico Montes Espinosa de los Monteros says a U.S. military contingent entered Mexico with the conditional authorization of the
Mexican government.
Confusion regarding the breadth and reach of that authorization created confrontations between both countries. It also resulted in the U.S. contingent
returning home 45 days later, after a tense face-off between it and Mexican troops south of Ensenada.
Between the months of January and March 1942, military commanders from Mexico and the United States met to talk about the installation along the Baja
California coast of a protective shield.
During the negotiations, Mexican officials organized civil defense committees to impede, if necessary, the crossing to Mexican territory of U.S.
troops posted in San Ysidro.
Bustamante remembers that it was a news article that mobilized the citizens. That day, she says, she and her family traversed the wooden bridge known
as La Marimba that connected the border crossing to downtown Tijuana.
They were not alone. "There were a lot of people. We walked all the way to the crossing and we stayed there with our soldiers and the rest until the
American troops left," says Bustamante, whose parents established a business in the heart of downtown, across the street from the old City Hall, in
1939.
Finally, the two countries arrived at a solution at the end of March. The U.S. government agreed to provide equipment and training to Mexican
personnel, and the assistance of a few of their specialists in installing radio transmission systems and radars.
"We went up and down the peninsula to do all that," recalls Flores, who at one time operated the radio transmission equipment in the basement of what
today is the Tijuana House of Culture (Casa de la Cultura de Tijuana).
With the crisis resolved, San Diego and Tijuana prepared to face an eventual enemy attack by air or sea.
"San Diego donated a great siren that was placed at the Fire Department, which back then was right next to City Hall," said Gabriel Rivera Delgado,
director of the city's historic archive.
Every time the sirens sounded on both sides of the border, Tijuana went dark. People used thin plates to darken the beams in their cars, and in homes
they brought down the blinds, closed the curtains or simply turned off the lights. In schools, teachers and students practiced safety routines
constantly.
Another aspect of the war became apparent at the home of the Bustamantes. Homero, older brother of Alda Bustamante, as well as their uncles, enlisted
with the Mexican army just in case they were needed.
It was around that time that Alda and her friends were surprised at the movie theater when, while watching a news reel, they saw a familiar face.
Their friend, Rogelio Berman, was right next to U.S. Army Gen. George Patton, as American troops entered Germany. "We couldn't believe it, there he
was, with an American uniform and the American flag, ready for action," said Bustamante.
With time, tranquillity returned to the city, but then like now, the air of tension because of the war touched every aspect of the locals' lives.
Inspections at the San Ysidro border crossing were thorough and time-consuming, and the war and its possible consequences became a predominant theme
of conversation.
"Moods became heated a bit," explained Flores Silva, who is writing a book about the impact of World War II on Tijuana.
Flores Silva is an exhibitor at events dealing with history, at which he shows hundreds of photographs, documents and antiques. He dedicates his time
to putting together what he expects will be a modest museum where residents and visitors will appreciate his collections, which will have a permanent
home.
In comparing the early 1940s with today, he said, "It's like all we did was change eras."
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