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Mexico Business Center Update
By James Clark, Mexico Business Center Director General

The media, in both broadcast and print, have done an excellent job in scaring San Diegans about travel to Tijuana and Rosarito Beach.   Unfortunately, the coverage has been unbalanced, sensational and just plain unfair. 

There is no doubt that President Calderon’s war against the drug cartels has caused a spike in violence in Baja California.  In 2008, the murder rate in Mexico was .033 per 1000 and in the United States it was .028 per 1000.  Not much of a difference.   In Mexico, however, it has been primarily cartel members killing each other as they fight for shrinking territory.   In the United States, murder is not so tidy.   

Also, media reports describe situations in one city, usually Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, as if it were the entire country of 110 million people.   Nevertheless, the fair question for us here is still, “Am I safe in Tijuana and the rest of Baja California? 

While no one can give a 100 percent guarantee of safety, you can be relatively sure that your will be safe unless your visit involved the buying or sell of drugs or prostitution.   For most of us, we go to Tijuana and Baja California to shop, to dine, to visit relatives, to play on the beaches, explore the museums and tour such beautiful areas as the Guadalupe Valley Wine Country.

On March 10, MBC Chairman Steve Williams and I accompanied the LEAD San Diego Class of 2009, for a day in Tijuana.   We visited the High Performance Athletic Center, the high tech headset manufacturing facility of Plantronics, visited the new El Cubo Fine Arts Museum at the Tijuana Cultural Center, the tourist zone of Avenida Revolución, enjoyed wine tasting at the Cava LA Cetto, had lunch at a great restaurant and stopped by Tijuana City Hall.   The most common comment from the group was “It’s so normal here.”

Normal it is.  People go about their lives going to work, shopping, and church, dining at restaurants, taking their kids to school, gossiping in the sidewalk cafes and wondering what all the fuss is about.

Another friend just came back from a wedding at Calafia just south of Rosarito Beach.  She saw no one armed, had no anxiety and no problems—except for the wait time at the border returning to San Diego.  Those are getting shorter with new technology as well as a special lane for tourists who spend more than $60 in selected hotels, restaurants and other facilities.

People ask, “What about the U.S. State Department warnings?”  Actually, it’s an “alert” not a “warning” that has been given.   The alert advised “common-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate businesses and tourist areas”—the sort of thing visitors should do when the come to San Diego.