Free Republic

Mexican soldiers discovered the largest marijuana plantation in the country's history, hidden under black cloth in the middle of the desert. The 300-acre plantation is four times larger than the previous record discovery by authorities and workers had even installed toilet facilities, the Defence Department said. The towering pot plants sheltered under black screen-cloth in a huge square on the floor of the Baja California desert, more than 150 miles south of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.

Baja California authorities seized 105 tons of marijuana Monday morning in what is believed to be one of the largest drug busts in recent Mexican history, according to Mexican authorities and media reports. About 10,000 packages of marijuana were hidden inside six cargo containers stored in a warehouse in an industrial area of the border city of Tijuana. The marijuana was discovered after police on routine patrol intercepted a convoy of vehicles escorting a tractor-trailer that had left the warehouse, officials said. After a shootout, 11 people were arrested. Police and soldiers, acting on information from the suspects, raided the...

Geological experts say the millions of people who felt everything from intense shaking to gentle rolling from Sunday's powerful earthquake near the Mexico border should expect more to come. Powerful, magnitude-7.2 quake strikes along U.S.-Mexico border."Don't be surprised if you feel something in the next few days," said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones. "We need to remember that every earthquake we have has the possibility of triggering another earthquake." Aftershocks began shortly after the earthquake, including a powerful tremor early this morning. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake was the strongest to hit the regionin decades, felt more than 300 miles...

Californians amaze me on two counts: the apparent willingness and ability to turn their state into a bankrupt liberal social experiment gone horribly wrong, and the calmness with which they deal with movements of the Earth’s tectonic plates. [VIDEO on site]

Wow...that was a good shake...it went on for quite a while. Everybody ok?

Magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits northwest Mexico near California border

The End of the World A mile east of the Tijuana International Airport is an area police call El Fin del Mundo, the End of the World, where drug-cartel assassins dump their victims. Both Mexican and American citizens have been found there. On December 18, 2004, according to Sergeant Tom Bulow of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, San Marcos resident Noé Chávez García was lured to Tijuana by two acquaintances who shot him several times and left him in this corpse-disposal zone. He survived his wounds to tell his story to the FBI and Mexican officials. His is a...

HURRICANE JIMENA DISCUSSION NUMBER 15 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL EP132009 200 AM PDT TUE SEP 01 2009 THE SMALL EYE OF JIMENA BECAME LESS DISTINCT IN SATELLITE IMAGERY AROUND 0500 UTC...HOWEVER SINCE THAT TIME IT HAS WARMED AND IS EMBEDDED WITHIN VERY COLD CLOUD TOPS AND A RATHER SYMMETRIC CDO. THE LATEST DVORAK CI-NUMBERS REMAIN 6.5 FROM TAFB AND 6.0 FROM SAB...AND OBJECTIVE ADT ESTIMATES ALSO CONTINUE TO HOVER AROUND T6.5. BASED ON THE SATELLITE APPEARANCE AND UNCHANGED SATELLITE ESTIMATES...THE INITIAL INTENSITY WILL REMAIN 135 KT FOR THIS ADVISORY. AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TO...

Earthquake Details Magnitude 6.0 (Preliminary magnitude — update expected within 15 minutes) Date-Time Monday, August 03, 2009 at 18:40:53 UTC Monday, August 03, 2009 at 11:40:53 AM at epicenter Location 29.568°N, 113.578°W Depth 11 km (6.8 miles) set by location program Region IS. ANGEL DE LA GUARDA, BAJA CALIF, MEX. Distances 134 km (83 miles) N (351°) from Santa Isabel, Baja California, Mexico 185 km (115 miles) NNE (18°) from Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico 187 km (116 miles) SW (227°) from Caborca, Sonora, Mexico 259 km (161 miles) WNW (283°) from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico 465 km (289 miles)...

Earthquake Details Magnitude 6.9 Date-Time Monday, August 03, 2009 at 17:59:59 UTCMonday, August 03, 2009 at 10:59:59 AM at epicenter Location 29.372°N, 112.814°W Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Region GULF OF CALIFORNIA Distances 122 km (76 miles) NNE (25°) from Santa Isabel, Baja California, Mexico142 km (88 miles) WNW (294°) from La Doce, Sonora, Mexico163 km (101 miles) SSW (203°) from Caborca, Sonora, Mexico182 km (113 miles) W (281°) from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico533 km (331 miles) SE (130°) from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.2 km (4.5 miles); depth fixed by location program...

Old Hugh Hewitt is apparently getting good intel (14 August FR Post "Military Coup in Mexico"). Powerful and influential senior Mexican General, General Segio Aponte Polito, was recently removed from his position as the 2nd Military District Commander (LA Times, 9 Aug). Unlike the US, Generals in Mexico don't get “resigned”..they play major roles in many power broker positions (and yes, until late, behind the scenes). The Mexican Military is fed up with not being able to control the spiraling arms race and increasing sophistication of the cartels. Expect to see Aponte in the future..and before the US election...Wait and...

Organized, well-financed and violent Mexican kidnapping cells are targeting a growing number of U.S. citizens visiting communities popular with San Diegans and other California residents. Advertisement Last year, at least 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, local FBI agents overseeing the cases said yesterday.

TIJUANA – With cross-border visits showing marked declines, business and Baja California tourism officials are going into full-scale damage control in hopes of regaining ground lost over the past year. “The image of the security problem has hit the state very badly,” said Baja California's tourism secretary, Oscar Escobedo Carignan. At a news conference Wednesday at state government offices in Tijuana, Escobedo described a new program aimed at luring visitors back to the region's tourist spots. The program, called “Get Your Passport,” offers discounts at hotels, restaurants bars and shops to those holding a U.S. passport. On the promotional posters...

I'll Never Go to Baja Again They were looking forward to surfing the uncrowded south swell. A pending protest at the border on Friday was sure to slow down the normal throngs of south bound surfers. Baja at dusk. It should be an exciting time, but not a life threatening one. It was 4 a.m. Friday morning, August 31. Duke, Walt and Roger, three buddies from North San Diego County, were headed down to Mexico keen on surfing the predicted south swell. Their destination: San Carlos, Baja California for a Labor Day holiday weekend filled with surfing, kite surfing and...

Artifacts could be from early galleon Mon Feb 26, 11:42 PM ET MEXICO CITY - Archeologists said Monday that porcelain plates and other artifacts found along the Baja California coast could be from the wreckage of a Spanish galleon that sailed between the Philippines and Mexico hundreds of years ago. Seals and other markings on some of the estimated 1,000 fragments of porcelain plates found at the site indicate they were made in China in the late 1500s, said archaeologist Luz Maria Mejia of the National Institute of Anthropology and History. The site, near the port of Ensenada about 50...

Posted by Baja Cactus, owner of the Pemex station and motel in El Rosario. The Mexican government sets the price each month. As you all may already know, the last of every month, Pemex changes the fuel prices...usually only a couple of cents. So, here you go the prices for October 2005... Magna............$ 6.12 pesos per liter Premium..........$ 7.23 pesos per liter Diesel.............$ 5.06 pesos per liter These prices are in liters, and 1 gallon = 3.7854 liters. Today (october 4th) 1 dollar = $ 10.70 pesos (+/-) Using the previous information, this is what we have.... Magna............$ 2.165 dollars...

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) - Newly formed Hurricane Otis swept toward a sparsely populated stretch of Baja California on Friday, forcing dozens of people to evacuate low-lying neighborhoods on the outskirts of this western resort city. In glitzy hotel zones, tourists continued to splash around in cavernous swimming pools under skies that were mostly sunny, with intermittent bouts of rain. But on the outskirts of town - where many service industry employees live with their families in poverty - officials were bracing for heavy winds and driving downpours that could spark flash flooding. Mayor Luis Armando Diaz led a...

BULLETIN HURRICANE OTIS ADVISORY NUMBER 9 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 2 AM PDT FRI SEP 30 2005 ...OTIS BECOMES A HURRICANE.... A TROPICAL STORM WARNING AND A HURRICANE WATCH REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA...FROM SANTA FE SOUTHWARD ON THE PACIFIC COAST AND FROM LA PAZ SOUTHWARD ON THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA COAST. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS. INTERESTS ELSEWHERE...

MEXICALI – The whole menu of hot-button California immigration issues intruded yesterday on a long-awaited meeting between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Baja California counterpart. Schwarzenegger and Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy discussed cross-border cooperation on transportation, trade, education, environmental issues and immigration during a two-hour private meeting in the state government headquarters here. The two issued a joint statement with immigration couched in delicate diplomatic language: "Undocumented immigration is perhaps one of the most challenging and controversial issues that we face, but that does not mean that workable solutions cannot be found. Our dialogue with respect to this issue...

MEXICO CITY, June 22 (Reuters) - A man arrested in Mexico and named as a key terrorism suspect with possible links to the Sept. 11 attackers, is in fact a tourist who poses no security risk, red-faced Mexican authorities said on Wednesday. The attorney general's office set bells ringing on Tuesday when it announced it had detained Lebanese-born British citizen Amer Haykel at a fire station in the state of Baja California Sur in cooperation with U.S. authorities. It said Haykel was wanted in the United States and was "linked to extremist groups presumably involved in the Sept. 11,...

Mexico arrested Amer Haykel, a British man of Arab extraction, sought by US authorities in connection with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Attorney General's office (PGR) said on Tuesday. Haykel was arrested in Todo Santos, a town in the northeastern Mexican state of Baja California, officials said. "The PGR arrested... Haykel, whom US authorities have linked to extremist groups presumably involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York," the office said in a statement. Officials said Haykel was arrested at the Todo Santos fire department, following "investigative and intelligence work and...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Environmentalists filed a challenge with the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation on Tuesday against a U.S. liquefied natural gas import terminal planned off Mexico's Pacific coast, within sight of San Diego. Greenpeace Mexico and six other U.S. and Mexican organizations accused Mexico of failing to fully evaluate the possible impact of the plant near Baja California's Coronado Island on an endangered seabird known as Xantus' murrelet. "The Commission for Environmental Cooperation should consider this complaint, because this is a species of bird that migrates and involves all three (NAFTA) countries," Arturo Moreno of Greenpeace Mexico told...

Field between Tecate, Ensenada yields tools By Sandra Dibble UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 16, 2005 TIJUANA – For the first time in Baja California, archaeologists have found significant evidence of hunters who settled the region between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, known as INAH, announced the recent recovery of more than 150 stone knives, spearheads, cutting utensils and other carved items from an open field between Tecate and Ensenada. The items are being linked to the San Dieguito people acknowledged as the earliest settlers of the region. San Dieguito sites have been amply...

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) -- Hurricane Marty barreled toward the southern tip of Baja California on Monday, the second hurricane to threaten the popular resort region in less than a month. Residents who had barely finished cleaning up after Hurricane Ignacio hit in late August found themselves stocking up on emergency water and food supplies. Many nailed plywood over their windows, and residents living in low lying shantytowns were evacuated from their cardboard homes to shelters. Forecasters predicted the storm would hit land sometime early Monday near Cabo San Lucas, a resort town known for its golf courses,...

(La Paz, Mexico-AP) Aug. 24, 2003 - Authorities on the Mexican Pacific coast are scrambling as Hurricane Ignacio moves north. Ignacio appeared to side-swipe the resort of Cabo San Lucas. Authorities in the area had closed down the airport and evacuated hundreds of people. The storm is moving north along the Baja California peninsula and could be heading toward the Mexican state capital of La Paz. The governor there has ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas around the city and is urgently telling all vessels to leave the harbor. It's not clear if the eye of the storm will...

Energy plants face Baja backlashDumping ground feared by residents By Diane Lindquist STAFF WRITERNovember 29, 2002TIJUANA – Rich or poor, well-connected or disenfranchised, many people in Baja California are increasingly united by a common fear: that the area is becoming a dumping ground for giant industrial complexes that will supply energy to California. Two electricity power plants are under construction and four more are planned by 2010. At least five energy companies are competing to erect liquefied natural gas re-gasification facilities between Tijuana and Ensenada. "Why don't they put these plants on the other side?" asked Humberto Cervantes, a homeowner...

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico, Oct 24, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Hurricane Kenna on Thursday grew into one of the strongest hurricanes to menace Mexico's Pacific coast in decades. Forecasters urged urgent emergency action in an area that includes major tourist resorts, though the storm was veering away from a Baja California summit of world leaders. "This is a potentially devastating hurricane if it comes in at this intensity or even if it weakens a little bit," said Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. "Based on the records, which go back 40 or...