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9:24 AM, December 2, 2008 Blood continues to spill in Tijuana and and other border-area communities. And the debate rages on as to whether it's safe for surfers, campers, fishermen and other tourists to travel in northern Baja California. Jim Gerber, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at San Diego State University, addressed to students and faculty, pertaining specifically to travel into Tijuana, and to a U.S. State Department travel alert issued recently and spread around campus. Gerber called the drug wars "real" and urged anyone traveling into Tijuana "to exercise the same caution that they exercise when in any major city." Gerber, however, assured that the violence "has been going on for several years" and that the travel alert is merely "a re-issuance of an alert that has been in place for some years." Gerber stated that the murder rate in Tijuana is less than 40 per 100,000, or between that of Oakland and St. Louis. "That is high, but less than Baltimore and Detroit (mid-40s) and well below New Orleans (65 to 95, depending on who you talk to)." Gerber continued, "New Orleans is a great place to visit, and we have yet to meet anyone who decided not to go due to its murder rate." |