"Los Aztlanes" will become our Juarez.
Posted on 05/21/2005 8:51:39 AM PDT by Scenic Sounds
TIJUANA – Fear of being kidnapped is prompting some of Tijuana's middle-and upper-class families to move across the border to San Diego County neighborhoods where they feel safer.
In a recent case, a Tijuana businessman said his family paid several hundred thousand dollars for his release after he was kidnapped this year. The family never reported the incident to police, he said. Afterward, he and his family decided to move into the county.
"Many friends of mine have already decided to live in the United States – they are refugees from fear of Tijuana," the man wrote in an e-mail to The San Diego Union-Tribune. He declined to be identified out of fear of aggravating his kidnappers.
Official statistics that illustrate the situation are nearly impossible to find, mostly because kidnap victims and their families are too frightened to report the crimes to police, but anecdotal evidence keeps growing:
More houses are for sale in affluent neighborhoods in Tijuana, according to observers of crime trends in Mexico.
Real estate agents in San Diego County, such as those who sell homes in Bonita and Eastlake, say they are seeing more clients from Tijuana.
Experts say more Tijuana residents are concerned that they are vulnerable to kidnapping.
Victor Clark Alfaro, director of the Tijuana-based Binational Center of Human Rights, said more kidnappings have occurred over the past few years, mainly because drug trafficking groups are finding kidnapping to be a relatively easy way to earn quick cash.
"It's a way to finance their activities," Alfaro said.
In a recent interview with Tijuana's Frontera newspaper, Jaime Valdovino Machado, president of the Tijuana Chamber of Commerce, said the city's business people "don't feel secure" because of crime and kidnapping risks.
Valdovino wasn't available for comment this week, but other Tijuana business people say people move from Tijuana to San Diego County for many reasons – not just fear of kidnapping.
"It's a binational culture, and the question of living in Tijuana or not has been around for many years," said Daniel Romero Mejía, president of the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial de Tijuana, an umbrella group of business organizations.
He said some of the other factors are education, finances and quality of life.
"I have had the option, but I have never decided to go there because I don't believe I can live better there than here," he said.
Typically, families that make the move have dual citizenship or U.S. residency status through family or marriage.
Nine kidnapping cases were reported to Mexican state authorities last year in Baja California, according to Raúl Gutierrez, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office.
But that number is believed to be low because many cases are not reported to police. Family members often are afraid that it would anger the kidnappers or that local police are in collusion with the kidnappers.
"It's common that one learns when talking with friends of the middle or upper classes that this or that person has been kidnapped, and that's how you usually find out because they aren't usually made public," Clark said. "The statistics don't reflect the reality."
Clark said he is aware of two recent cases of business people who were kidnapped and released but did not go to police. He declined to give full details to protect the identities of the victims.
In one of the cases, he said, the family paid $150,000. In the other case, he said, the family paid $1 million – and then moved north of the border. That person still maintains his business in Tijuana, Clark said.
Most families don't want to talk about the experience. The kidnappers' method typically is to grab people at gunpoint as they are on the way home or headed to work. Most of the victims are men.
The Tijuana businessman who contacted the Union-Tribune shared details of his kidnapping but asked that they not be published out of concern for his safety.
Abraham Cecena, an agent with Prudential California Realty's Chula Vista office, said he is seeing more people from Tijuana moving to places such as Eastlake and Rancho del Rey.
"It's something that is becoming of greater concern to people down there, especially affluent families," he said. "The crime over there is just getting out of hand, from what they are telling me, and they don't feel safe."
The communities that people are moving to are the same places where some members of Mexican drug cartels – who also commit kidnappings and abductions – live for similar security reasons.
Last year, a man charged with participating in kidnappings for the Arellano Félix drug cartel was linked to a home in Otay Lakes. Others with ties to the cartel, such as money laundering suspect Ivonne Soto Vega, have been found to be living in upscale communities such as Bonita.
U.S. law enforcement officials say they also have noticed that kidnappings have prompted people to move north.
Kroll Inc., an international risk consultant, estimates that 3,000 kidnappings occur in Mexico each year. In Latin America, only Colombia surpasses Mexico, according to the firm.
Those who don't move are taking greater precautions, said Ron Kimball, president of a San Antonio-based company that bullet-proofed 50 cars for Mexican residents last year.
The company, Texas Armoring Corp., equipped six of those for Tijuana families, Kimball said.
"In almost every case, they have told me that they had a family member who has been kidnapped and rescued by ransom," he said. "Normally, it's people involved in major industries like banking or ranching."
Armoring a sport utility vehicle can be done in 90 days and costs about $70,000, Kimball said. The idea is to give the driver enough time to survive an ambush and drive out of danger, he said.
Victor de la Garza, an assistant state attorney who oversees Baja California's organized-crime investigations – including kidnapping cases – didn't return phone calls. If convicted in Baja California, a kidnapper faces 20 to 40 years in prison.
Kidnappings of business people or other residents are typically committed by drug trafficking groups or by rings that specialize in kidnappings.
Those are different from the abductions that drug trafficking groups carry out against rivals, informants or people who owe them money. In those cases a ransom may be collected, but the person is often killed.
Mexican federal authorities often intervene in cases that have a strong drug link. But sometimes residents turn to them to investigate other kinds of kidnappings because they see federal agencies as more trustworthy.
An official with the Mexican attorney general's office in Tijuana said federal agents are investigating three kidnapping cases not connected with drug trafficking groups. The official declined to be named because of the agency's policy against talking with the media.
The rings evade authorities by negotiating on phone lines routed through other cities or countries to make the calls harder to trace. Kidnappers often leave the community once their job is done.
While most kidnappings last a week to a month – enough time for the family to negotiate and sell off assets to pay the ransom – quicker variations have emerged.
"Express kidnappings" take place when a person is targeted for a smaller amount of money – such as $5,000 to $30,000 – and is released within a few days after the family provides the cash.
Other groups have used extortion to commit "virtual kidnappings" in which a caller demands money from people so that they won't be kidnapped. In 2003, 10 members of Tijuana's business community reported such threats, and some ended up placing as much as $40,000 in designated bank accounts.
Romero said ensuring the safety of the city's business class is important for keeping and attracting investment. He said Tijuana's business leaders have been meeting with police.
"We need a greater police presence in the area to prevent these kinds of activities," Romero said.
Romero said ensuring the safety of the city's business class is important for keeping and attracting investment
What about everyone else?
I went to Acapulco for Spring Break this year, and while planning, i thought it my be a good idea to get a plane ticket to Mexico City and rent a car to drive to Acapulco because i would save about $800. After a few minutes of consideration i decided to go with a direct flight. (thank god)
LOL. Maybe someday we'll see a government somewhere that works for everyone else, but probably not in my lifetime. ;-)
Mexico is no longer gringo/gringa tolerant. Only a fool would venture into that third world cess pool. I would rather play russian roulette than to become a victim of an alleged cult murder in mehico. The truth of the murders of American citizens are always sugar coated. Troops on the borders and no more give away programs. NSNR
"Official statistics that illustrate the situation are nearly impossible to find, mostly because kidnap victims and their families are too frightened to report the crimes to police, but anecdotal evidence keeps growing:"
Is this sorta like the 'Koran flushing' incident where you just make up a crisis even tho there is no real hard 'proof'?
Any thing that the left coast can do to support illegals, it will do.
Yep, and Vicente got pissed when the U.S. was going to issue travel warnings.
Drugs, a "victimless" crime.
Doing the kidnappings that even American blacks won't do. -- Vicente Fox
Any thing that the left coast can do to support illegals, it will do.
You're a fool being a just parrot who doesn't know what s/he's talking about
"Los Aztlanes" will become our Juarez.
"There you go again".
Isn't this just the rich mans method of illegal immigration?
(Wonder if poor Blacks qualify for kidnapping?)
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"Many friends of mine have already decided to live in the United States – they are refugees from fear of Tijuana," the man wrote in an e-mail to The San Diego Union-Tribune. He declined to be identified out of fear of aggravating his kidnappers.
"There you go again".
You have me at a disadvantage. Am I supposed to know what that quote refers to?
In the east Chula Vista community where I live, it is known as the place where the drug-mony families from Mexico come to live.
There is no point in reporting an incident to the probably perps.
LOL. Now, you just try to be a bit more patient with people, lewislynn! ;-)
Tiajunna's beeber is completely stuned.
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