bajabound2005
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Patrols to be added on Baja toll road
Patrols to be added on Baja toll road
By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
December 4, 2007
TIJUANA In response to attacks on American tourists, Baja California's coastal toll road will have round-the-clock patrols from all levels of
government, said the state's new public security secretary, Daniel De La Rosa Anaya.
Speaking yesterday after a closed meeting with tourism and real estate development representatives from the area, De La Rosa said security units from
the federal government and coastal municipalities will supplement patrols currently handled by state police and the federal assistance force called
Angeles Verdes, or Green Angels.
This should clearly help the security situation, he said.
De La Rosa said communications systems also will be improved.
The meeting was held at the urging of tourism businesses, which have seen tourism dip in the wake of several attacks on U.S. citizens driving along
the Baja California toll road that stretches 65 miles from Tijuana to Ensenada.
Paramilitary-style criminals driving vehicles with flashing lights and sirens carried out some of the armed assaults.
No attacks have been reported since they received widespread publicity in the media, said Nico Saad, director of the Ensenada Tourism Board.
I feel good about the meeting, he said later. Actions are going to be taken by the governor and the mayors. They are going to do whatever they need
to, to cool this off.
Although he didn't attend the meeting, Saad said tourism representatives from Ensenada, Rosarito Beach and Tijuana requested that additional steps be
taken to safeguard visitors from the United States.
Among the suggestions were that:
Mexican President Felipe Calderon take an active role in the effort to capture the perpetrators.
The color of police cars be changed so they can easily be identified.
Better lighting be installed on the toll road and its exits.
Roadside emergency phones be staffed around the clock instead of merely during the day.
We need that highway to have all the modern security available, Saad said.
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Diane Lindquist: (619) 293-1812; diane.lindquist@uniontrib.com
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
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bajadock
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To which drug cartel are the new patrols beholding? Free road works!
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Al G
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Well You can believe what you want...BUT
Mon Dec 3, 2007 9:17 am (PST)
MEXIDATA . INFO
Monday, December 3, 2007
By Nancy Conroy
A spate of recent reports in the US press about carjackings, highway robberies and violent
crime in Baja California, Mexico is threatening to destroy tourism. Over Thanksgiving
weekend, few visitors arrived in Baja California and major tourist destinations were empty.
Negative reports about Baja California crime are all over the Internet, with most people
saying that they are sick of everything about Mexico and will never travel there again.
Tourism officials are currently conducting emergency meetings, and they are expected to
make a public announcement within a week. But it is simple to predict what the officials
are going to say. They will claim that the crime wave was a brief aberration, measures
have been taken, and the problem has now been solved.
Believe that story at your peril.
Although the current crime wave has only now been reported by the US press, actually
these violent attacks on tourists have been occurring at least since last summer. The
reports currently coming out in San Diego are not necessarily new incidents. Some of
them happened last August or September, when the last wave of carjackings hit the Baja
California toll roads. The problem settled down in September and October, and then
started up again with a vengeance in November.
There was also a rash of attacks and carjackings in August of 2006, but that one was
covered up more effectively and most people have forgotten about it. But, "Baja 1000" car
racers have not forgotten the murder of Duane Curtis on a lonely beach last year during
the 2006 race. That memory is probably what prompted them to arrive late at the race
this year, leave early, and report all crimes to the US press.
Again, these incidents are nothing new, but the tourists and sportsmen are fed up with
them and finally going public.
Covering up incidents of crime against American tourists has long been a basic goal for
Baja California officials and real estate leaders. When a Baja California tourism e-
newsletter recently reprinted one of the crime articles, real estate and tourism officials
sent emails to the webmaster arguing that circulating such information was an act of
"negativity." The Gringo Gazette North, an English language newspaper in Baja California,
first reported the carjacking problems last September and received aggressive criticism for
doing so. Leaders and officials prefer to deny reports, ignore the truth, and lean on the
local media to kill the story. They do nothing about the problem until the US press starts
to report it.
Now the officials are in full PR and damage control mode. They will trot out an old script
that they have read to the US press before, saying that there will now be a safe, "no-
shakedown" corridor in the tourist zone. That story is an old yarn that sounds good in
press announcements, but has never actually been implemented. They will also say that
the crime wave was a temporary phenomenon associated with the change in government
administration, a claim that is disproved by the actual dates of the crimes. They will then
dramatically unveil new anti-crime initiatives, measures that have been tried before and
have never worked in the past. The idea is to convince the American newspapers to report
that safety programs are in place, the problem is solved, and Baja California is now safe
for tourists.
The Baja California officials genuinely would like to believe their own claims, but in reality
crime is out of their control. The carjackings are not being committed by ordinary
criminals, the perpetrators are armed commando squads affiliated with drug cartels.
Local, state and federal authorities do not have adequate resources to fight the "Men in
Black." The only action that has ever successfully decreased Baja California crime is
federal intervention by the Mexican military, and a tourism protection initiative proposed
by business leaders is not going to solve the problem.
In the past, drug crime in Baja California did not affect tourists or the American community
as much. Previously, the shootings and kidnappings seemed to be directed at police or
drug dealers, and Americans were largely unaffected.
Now however, the new carjacking methodology does specifically target Americans,
especially naive tourists. An unmarked vehicle, usually a pick up or SUV, flashes police
lights and sirens at a car with California plates driving on the toll road. Believing that the
car is a police cruiser, the American pulls over to the side of the road and is attacked by
armed commandos. Anyone with a sharp eye can learn to identify these vehicles with the
lights and sirens, and will soon realize that many of these cars roam the streets,
sometimes in caravans. This is a new phenomenon that has emerged over the last year,
one that represents a serious threat to American tourists as well as Mexico's important
tourism industry.
Nancy Conroy is the Publisher of northern Baja California's biweekly Gringo Gazette North.
She can be reached via e-mail at nancy@gringogazettenorth.com.
Albert G
Remember, if you haven\'t got a smile on your face and laughter in your heart, then you are just a sour old fart!....
The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.
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Al G
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Registered: 12-19-2004
Location: Todos Santos/Full time for now...
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IMHO
The fox is patrolling the hen house....
Albert G
Remember, if you haven\'t got a smile on your face and laughter in your heart, then you are just a sour old fart!....
The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.
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Terry28
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Location: S.Calif mtns.
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Mood: Thirsty
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While I often suspect the gringo gazette to suffer from "fuzzy" journalism skills she nailed this one........
Mexico!! Where two can live as cheaply as one.....but it costs twice as much.....
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fdt
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Posts: 4059
Registered: 9-7-2003
Location: Tijuana, Baja California
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Mood: Yeah, what if it all goes right
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At least now this writer Diane Lindquist got the name of De La Rosa Anaya right.
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
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gnukid
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4411
Registered: 7-2-2006
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I think we need to apply the same process we would anywhere to resolution here. This is a good step. Lets see what happens. Please use your cameras
whenever possible and be polite but get specific info and send it in.
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ELINVESTIG8R
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Great news if they follow through.
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Hook
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"No attacks have been reported since they received widespread publicity in the media, said Nico Saad, director of the Ensenada Tourism Board."
Would they even report them, if there were, after all this bad publicity? Did the Mexican authorities report the others when they occurred? Not that I
heard or read.
Still, they are trying to do something about this.
Much will depend on the level of trust people place in these new enforcers. You can be sure the perps will lay low for awhile................until
this latest enforcement effort fades away. Like the military presence did. Like the anti-ticket corridor did.
Man, why don't they just get an enclosed car trailer with a bunch of racing stickers on it and fill it with some TRAINED cops with automatic weapons
and start driving it occasionally at night.
I think I'll change my mood to "skeptical" for now..............
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajabound2005
TIJUANA In response to attacks on American tourists, Baja California's coastal toll road will have round-the-clock patrols from all levels of
government, said the state's new public security secretary, Daniel De La Rosa Anaya.
Speaking yesterday after a closed meeting with tourism and real estate development representatives from the area, De La Rosa said security units from
the federal government and coastal municipalities will supplement patrols currently handled by state police and the federal assistance force called
Angeles Verdes, or Green Angels. |
"closed meeting with tourism and real estate development representatives" ?? what was so secret that they needed to keep out the press? is this
article second hand info from the local biased RE agent??
Hard to trust an underfunded government to battle better-funded banditos. I suggest an enterprising Mexican offer armed convoys, leaving hourly from
the border to south of San Quentin. Kind of like a wagon train, with armed guards riding point and caboose. Pay your 30 bucks and get an armed
escort.
BTW, this ain't nothing like Mex City,... look forward to worse crime to come as population swells and coast becomes more densely populated.
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Al G
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2647
Registered: 12-19-2004
Location: Todos Santos/Full time for now...
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Mood: Wondering what is next???
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This should clearly help the security situation, he said.
Tell me please, how this is going to help the people who are assaulted and robbed at gun point on the beaches...how will this change or help with the
vehicles hauled off by the cops while you eat? How will this catch the criminals who committed these crimes?
This lip service will do nothing...why should the people of Baja and businesses of Baja live through this down turn in tourist trade...just to go
through it again next month...next year. There will never be change until they sting the corrupt cops...the men that assaulted the woman on the beach
were cops...I know that, you know that, they know that, and the cops know that. Look for us to be hashing this again in a few months....
If someone will translate this to Spanish I will send it to...who?
Albert G
Remember, if you haven\'t got a smile on your face and laughter in your heart, then you are just a sour old fart!....
The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no trade-in value.
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