Frontera NorteSur April-May 2003

Ex-Mayor of Palermo Visits BC to Help Against Organized Crime

When organized-crime fighter Leoluca Orlando became mayor of Palermo, Sicily in 1985 there were 250 mafia-related murders in that city of approximately 700,000 people. Fifteen years later the city reported eight murders, none of which were related to organized crime. 

In Mexicali on Saturday, March 29, 2003 to talk about what Baja California can do to create a "culture of law," Orlando found himself in a state that has seen nearly 100 narco-related murders since the beginning of the year, according to the Mexicali newspaper La Crónica. However, Orlando said that Baja California's efforts to end organized-crime related murders show that the state is on the right path. 

In 1997, Orlando was in Tijuana for the first time, and had the impression that it was a city with characteristics similar to those of Palermo in the 1980s: that it was a city full of embarrassment and full of fear. Now, six years later, the former mayor of Palermo sees a city that is about more than just  insecurity and narcotrafficking. 

Orlando's strategy for Palermo, which he also suggests for BC, has three parts. Announce that change will take place, let people know that everyone has to change, and change some cultural characteristics and attitudes. 

As in many large Mexican cities, people often do not look at organized-crime related murders as "real" murders. Orlando says that this attitude has to change and that everyone has to begin denouncing narcotraffickers and killers. Once a substantial number of people begin blowing the whistle on crime, then it will be easier and much safer for others to do so. 

The full participation of the police is also necessary, according to Orlando. While police must be given the tools they need to arrest suspects, they also need to be monitored and integrated into the community because if they are left alone they will be corrupted, he said. 

Finally, cultural models have to be changed. Orlando states, ". . . you cannot have just legal punishment, there has to be also social, moral and cultural sentences . . .," against narcotraffickers. 

Orlando also believes that while wealth is important, it is not a value. To him, wealth founded on violence is not worth the price paid in fear and the resultant loss of freedom. 

Asked about former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has been hired by Mexico City to help fight crime there, and about Giuliani's zero-tolerance style, Orlando said that zero-tolerance is just a tactic and can not alone win the war on crime. Laws, sentences and law-enforcement officers should be more humane, according to Orlando. Abuses of power by New York City police when Giulani was mayor show that zero tolerance can lead to another sort of violence: police violence. 

Source: La Crónica (Mexicali), March 31, 2003. Interview by Moisés Márquez. 

New Mexicali Neighborhood Receives Some Utilities, Questions of Land Ownership Persist

Mexicali's Tavizon Silva neighborhood was created six years ago when squatters invaded land that belonged to the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. However, until just a few months ago, the colonia had no city services. First came communal water sources installed by the Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Mexicali (State Commission for Public Services in Mexicali, Cespm). Then, on Christmas Eve--a most fitting occasion--Tavizon Silva was added to the electrical grid and light became cheaper and more abundant. 

According to the Mexicali newspaper La Crónica, the arrival of utilities to the neighborhood represents a real triumph for its residents. Far from the cool California Pacific coast, Mexicali is very hot in the summer but this year, for the first time, residents will be able to plug in air conditioners and fans. 

Juan Maltos Barbosa, who lives on Río Fuerte street in Tavizon Silva, said that he remembers last summer when people slept on their front patios or on top of their homes. The nearest Cespm water source is far from his home so Maltos bought some pipes and now the water comes to him. He even uses some of it to irrigate a few young trees that theycity government gave him.

Maltos says that he bought his land in 2001 from a man for 5,000 pesos (approximately US$500). 

Maltos' neighbor, María Ortiz Medrano, said that she is still dealing with Baja California's land-ownership regularization office to see how much she will have to pay for her property. Currently, the office is still measuring and setting the boundaries for streets in Tavizon Silva, she stated.  

Source: La Crónica (Mexicali), March 12, 2003. Article by Rodrigo Pedrin.