Tijuana and Baja Deal with Drug Wars
Monday, December 15th, 2008
Many people consider Baja California to be the best place to visit in Mexico. The excitement and energy of Tijuana is offset by the under-explored beaches further south. Baja is the perfect answer to all those over-crowded Mexican resorts.
But drug trafficking has made it difficult for travelers to ensure their safety. Tourists are not targets of drug cartels. They never have been. But the fighting between rival organizations has come to resemble full-scale combat, not merely gang shootouts. Sometimes, cartels will come at police or Mexican army units with guns blazing. The danger comes from getting caught in the crossfire. Cartels have little regard for civilian life, staging major firefights near crowded shopping areas in Tijuana and Juarez.
Even smaller towns are not immune from this type of violence. Many innocent bystanders have been killed. It is estimated that there have been 600 deaths this year in Baja California alone. A majority of those were civilians with no ties to either the cartels or the police.
The news of the frequent shooting has left Tijuana and its sister city of Ensenada with a severe economic problem. Tourists feel that it is just too risky to venture south of the border anymore. Shops, hotels and restaurants have seen falling profits and the once riotous areas of the cities are now ghost towns.
The Mexican government has vowed to fight the cartels. However, that merely means that, for the time being, more bullets will be flying because the cartels are not intimidated, and in many places are better equipped than the military.
The poorer economy and increasing sense of lawlessness also means that rural roads and isolated camping areas are targeted by robbers and carjackers. Business travelers have to take precautions and, in some cases, even hire personal security. Tourists often don’t have that luxury. And so, for now, much of Baja seems off limits.