Rosarito Beach mayor responds to U.S. agency's warning to stay away during spring break

Rosarito Beach mayor responds to U.S. agency's warning to stay away during spring break

The U.S. State Department has extended a travel alert for Mexican border towns and suggests that visitors to these areas exercise extreme caution because of ongoing violence involving drug dealers warring among themselves and police.

Now the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has chimed in with a stronger warning that urges college students to avoid parts of northern Mexico during spring break.

This includes Tijuana and nearby Rosarito Beach. The latter town -- for decades a festive spring break party destination -- has not been a focal point for violence, especially in recent weeks. On Tuesday its mayor, Hugo Torres, responded with this message:

"For decades Rosarito has hosted hundreds of thousands of spring breakers without major incident. With additional steps we have taken, such as starting a Tourist Police Force, they will be safer than ever this year and we look forward to welcoming them and ensuring they again have a safe and enjoyable visit."

"The violence we have had down here has been mainly between organized crime factions -- and we have had almost none of that recently. Tourists are not and never have been targets."

To be sure, the U.S. agency's warning represents a devastating and possibly unfair blow to a city trying desperately to regain the confidence of tourists, who are its life blood. During my recent visit I saw few tourists but sensed no fear among hundreds of lifelong residents and ex-pats walking the streets.

Rosarito Beach will host a pro surfing event April 3-5, and a Cinco de Mayo celebration in early May. I, for one, hope both are successful, well-attended events, as this town could surely use a boost.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of Rosarito Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau

Mexican tourism official: Travel alerts a ploy to keep dollars in U.S.

BY GEOVANA RUANO FONSECA, BAJO EL SOL

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. — The two travel alerts sent out by the U.S. State Department warning travelers about an increase in crime in border cities in Baja California and Sonora are really negative advertising to prevent American citizens from crossing to Mexico and spending their dollars there, said David Rojas Rojas, general director of the Mexicali COTUCO, the Comite de Turismo y Convenciones, the Convention and Visitor Bureau, known by its acronym in Spanish COTUCO.

Rojas, who promotes tourism in Los Algodones, Mexicali and San Felipe, said it was obvious that the economic crisis in the U.S. is the reasoning behind curtailing American tourism in order to prevent dollars being spent in Mexico.

“We are not minimizing the violence that exists in our country but we are doing well,” Rojas said pointing out that there is violence in the U.S. as well.

“We know that in Las Vegas there were 4,000 crimes committed and that in San Diego several people have been kidnapped and nothing is said and no one is alerted,” he said.

About spring breakers visiting San Felipe, Rojas said that hotels in the area El Cortez and San Felipe Marina already have a high number of rooms booked.

Just last week, San Felipe and Ensenada were filled with tourists participating in Fat Tuesday carnivals.

On a final note, Rojas said local, state and federal agencies on safety worked cooperatively to provide a safe 2009 Caribbean Series, an international baseball tournament that takes place in Mexicali as well as past international expos such as Agrobaja, a farming and fishing exhibition, which will be March 12-14.

“There will always be campaigning, but we want to make it clear that Mexicali is aware of the travel advisories and we take care of our visitors to the point of providing additional policing especially in tourist areas and events,” Rojas said.

Rosarito Citizens Committee Helps Residents with Security Issues

by Carlos Duran

Left to right: Adriana Garcia Torres, Administrative Assistant; Lic. Ricardo Moreno Villa, President; Yahaira Yarent Ramírez Leyva, Assistant to the President.

The State President of the Citizens Public Safety Committee, Lic. Jose Carlos Vizcarra Lomeli, recently explained that Rosarito police authorities have, as of late, greatly improved. “That doesn’t mean their work is finished, on the contrary, there is still much to be accomplished. As citizens, we need to participate by placing complaints concerning abuse of authority, a practice we, as a society, are still very afraid to do,” he explained.

“We must not be satisfied with simply complaining about it. We need to address the problems and place complaints utilizing the proper channels,” he continued, “Many of the arrests of late, have been due to citizens calling-in to report drug sales, or possible kidnapper’s movements. Calls that citizens have made have helped solve many of our criminal cases.”

“(Some) police have earned their reputation as being complicit with criminals, and many of them have been expelled. It is up to us to be vigilant and work with the police and other authorities who are, for the most part, trustworthy and reliable,” he explained.

To that end, Rosarito now has its own Citizens Committee for Public Safety to help residents wade through the bureaucracy of public safety reporting as well as follow-up.

The newly-elected president of Rosarito’s Committee for Public Safety, Lic. Ricardo Moreno Villla, and six members of the community, most of whom are bilingual, are actively involved in helping residents, with a storefront office located just one block east of the Kontiki bridge, next to a Bimbo bread outlet, and is open Monday – Saturday. Phone if 661-612-7657 for more information. Anonymous numbers for reporting suspicious activity directly to the Mexican military are 686-557-1095, 686-685-0297.