Dave
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Every cloud has a silver lining
Funeral homes see big rise in business
TIJUANA – Manuel GarcNa has worked up to 14 hours a day for the past month outside the coroner's office, which now doubles as a municipal morgue.
The wave of violent crime in Tijuana has filled the refrigerated rooms of the building, and GarcNa is among at least half a dozen employees of funeral
homes who mill around the hearse entrance, hoping to sell their services to the families of the deceased.
When the families arrive, GarcNa tries to be the first to approach them. He speaks softly, hands them a business card and tells them the price.
“It all depends on what the family wants and what they can afford, although the competition also matters,” said GarcNa, 32.
He offers services rangng from low-cost funerals for 6,500 pesos (about $500) to the most elaborate, complete with metal caskets, for 30,000 pesos
(about $2,300).
The other salesmen offer practically the same prices. Some may drop their price by $50, which comes out of their commissions.
It's their job, and business is booming.
Tijuana has registered 10 new funeral homes in the past two years, bringing the total to 25, with two more applications pending.
The state Attorney General's Office has transported more than 600 bodies to the coroner since January. The victims were predominantly males under 25
who were believed to be linked to organized crime. Most were shot to death.
Juan Isidro Maldonado, a distributor for Sonora-based Grupo RI, which supplies caskets to the main funeral homes in Tijuana, said the company's sales
doubled in the last quarter.
“We used to sell around 49 caskets a month,” he said. “Since August, we've been selling that number every 15 days.”
VNctor Manuel Lizárraga, president of the Tijuana Funeral Home Association and owner of Funeraria González, the city's oldest, has a different
assessment. He said the increase in funeral services mirrors the city's population growth of about 5 percent a year.
“Contrary to what you might think, funeral homes aren't awash in business,” he said. Most murder victims are not claimed by their families and wind up
in a communal burial site at a city graveyard in eastern Tijuana, he said.
The association, however, doesn't count all the city's funeral homes as members, Lizárraga acknowledged. Only five of the 25 in the city belong to the
organization.
Officials from the San José, Funerales de Baja California and San Ramón funeral homes said their sales have increased between 10 percent and 40
percent this year compared with 2007.
This is significant, given the poor economy in the region.
A state agency, the Family Development Office, offers funeral services to low-income families at a much lower cost, from $235 for infants to $450 for
adults.
The agency provided 5,074 services from January to September of last year, compared with 4,738 in the same period this year.
But that comparison doesn't tell the entire story.
The agency provided 556 funerals in September alone, 148 more than in the same month last year. Violence in Tijuana started its dramatic increase in
late September as gang warfare intensified.
For his part, Francisco Acuña, director of the state coroner's office, said the department was performing an average of 13 autopsies a day.
Many of the victims suffered gunshot wounds, and the medical examiners' work can take up to 11 hours per case, he said.
No matter how long that work takes, the funeral salesmen wait outside the office, ready to pitch their services in a soft voice to the endless line of
grieving relatives.
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BajaGringo
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I hope you will also be able to see the same "silver lining" when a friend/loved one of yours passes away...
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Dave
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Your point is?
| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaGringo
I hope you will also be able to see the same "silver lining" when a friend/loved one of yours passes away... |
They do so regularly. And as I age, more frequently. 
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bajaandy
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I think title of this thread is more akin to the way George Carlin used to say it: "And remember, inside every silver lining, there's a dark cloud!"
(Only when he said it, it was funny.)
subvert the dominant paradigm
"If you travel with a man, you must either fall out with him or make him your good friend."
JBL Noel
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tjBill
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| Quote: | Victor Manuel Lizárraga, president of the Tijuana Funeral Home Association and owner of Funeraria González, the city's oldest, has a different
assessment. He said the increase in funeral services mirrors the city's population growth of about 5 percent a year.
"Contrary to what you might think, funeral homes aren't awash in business," he said. "Most murder victims are not claimed by their families and wind
up in a communal burial site at a city graveyard in eastern Tijuana", he said |
This is another silly example of media sensationalism. Since most dead narcos do not hold funerals.
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CaboRon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tjBill
| Quote: | Victor Manuel Lizárraga, president of the Tijuana Funeral Home Association and owner of Funeraria González, the city's oldest, has a different
assessment. He said the increase in funeral services mirrors the city's population growth of about 5 percent a year.
"Contrary to what you might think, funeral homes aren't awash in business," he said. "Most murder victims are not claimed by their families and wind
up in a communal burial site at a city graveyard in eastern Tijuana", he said |
Don't you remember that scene at the funeral home in The Godfather ??
................................ 
This is another silly example of media sensationalism. Since most dead narcos do not hold funerals. |
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tjBill
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
Don't you remember that scene at the funeral home in The Godfather ??
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I don't remember the funeral scene, but that's a cute skeleton. 
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