Baja to step up security on roads for holiday
Baja to step up security on roads for holiday
By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE
September 2, 2006
TIJUANA ? Baja California authorities said this week that extra patrols will be assigned to roads used by tourists during the Labor Day weekend after
several recent incidents, including the drive-by shooting of a U.S. woman, raised concerns among people who frequently travel in Mexico.
?We don't have any proof that these are focusing on tourists, but we are coordinating with the cities and federal authorities to have even more
presence in these places,? said Antonio Martinez Luna, Baja California's attorney general.
Monica Vejar, a spokeswoman for the state's secretary of tourism, said the state traditionally steps up enforcement during holiday periods when large
numbers of tourists are expected.
Three roadside crimes against U.S. citizens have been documented in recent weeks along Baja California's main freeway and a toll road section near
Rosarito Beach.
Raquel Duarte Fife, 64, was killed Aug. 22 as she and her husband, Larry Fife, were driving north from Bahia de Los Angeles, eight hours south of the
border. A gunman shot at them about 40 times from a beige Buick, striking the car about 18 times, according to a report by Mexico's Federal Preventive
Police. Fife, who ran a hotel in Bahia de Los Angeles with her husband, died after being hit in the head.
An American man, Cameron Fraide, provided the Union-Tribune with copies of a report he filed with Mexican and U.S. agencies regarding an Aug. 13
incident in which he was held at gunpoint while his car was stolen. He said it was taken during a stop he made at 6 a.m. on the freeway just north of
Ensenada.
Another American, John Thomas Nisbet of Atascadero, was shot in the leg Aug. 20 while he was driving with his family at 3 a.m. along the toll section
of the road, near Rosarito Beach, in what he believes was an attempt to rob him of his truck. He filed a report with San Diego Police, who forwarded
it to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana. Martinez Luna said this week that he was aware of all the cases, and they are being investigated. He said
officials haven't determined if there is a connection or if the timing is coincidental.
Martinez Luna said investigators are trying to reconstruct the shooting that killed Fife. He said they don't know whether the attack was aimed at her
? or if it may have been a case of mistaken identity.
?The only thing I can say is that the bullets were focused on the passenger,? Martina Luna said.
Fife's family members said this week they believe it was a random act of violence. They said the couple hadn't received threats.
?It's not our goal to scare away tourism,? said Pam Lemos of Louisiana, one of the Fifes' daughters. ?It could have happened up here or wherever there
is a lack of police on the roads.?
Martinez Luna said that no threats had been made previously against the couple, as had been suggested by other state officials and in comments posted
on a tourist Web site, Bajanomad.com, where some members have raised concerns that U.S. citizens are being targeted.
?This was an isolated incident,? Martinez Luna said. ?We are dealing with this with the greatest priority to clear it up, and it's important that it's
not perceived as an attack against U.S. citizens.?
The robbery victim, Fraide, who mostly lives in California but goes to Mexico on weekends, said he recommends travelers don't stop at the side of the
road, where they can be easy targets, and to try to travel in caravans.
This week, family members of Raquel Fife said they hoped Raquel's killers would be caught, but they also said it would be hard to identify them.
Larry Fife said he was concentrating on evading his pursuers and never got a good look at the shooter's face. He said he was trying to stay in front
of them as shots came from behind.
He said state investigators provided him with a photo of a possible suspect, but he could not identify him.
Fife said the couple, who used to live in California and Texas, have been going to Bahia de Los Angeles for decades, and they have never had problems.
They started living there permanently in 1997, and they opened a hotel. Raquel Fife's children said this week she had a natural curiosity and became
an expert on desert plants and wildlife.
Guests to the couple's hotel remembered the quality of the food she prepared and her grandmotherly personality.
Larry Fife called the attackers ?dirt? and said they ?killed an angel,? but he said he was trying not to hate them. He said he plans to continue going
to Bahia, which he described as an ?unbelievable place . . . beautiful.?
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Anna Cearley: (619) 542-4595; anna.cearley@uniontrib.com
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