Frontera NorteSur
February 2001

February 27, 2001
Large BC-Area Maritime Tourism Plan Could Threaten Region's Biodiversity

Environmental groups throughout Mexico warn that a plan to bring more maritime-related tourism to the Baja Peninsula could have an irreversible effect on marine and land ecosystems. Both the Baja Peninsula's Pacific coast and the Gulf of California (known as the Sea of Cortés in Mexico) are involved in the tourism project.

The "Grupo de los Cien," one of Mexico's most influential environmental groups, recommended that environmental impact studies be carried out and that a balance be drawn in the region between the conservation of natural resources and economic development.

Group president Homero Aridjis, a noted Mexican poet, stated that although the program is intended to increase maritime tourism it will take place in a region that is one of the most biodiverse in the world. The Baja Peninsula's Pacific coast is where gray whales reproduce and the Gulf of California, "is perhaps the richest marine zone on the continent," Aridjis said.

However, Aridjis warned that environmental organizations should not reject the plan before the results of environmental impact studies are known.

On Wednesday, February 21, a plan to integrate 22 ports and restore a cross-peninsula highway was presented to President Fox and the governors of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora and Sinaloa. The project would bring in over US$1 billion in hotel and maritime investments over a ten-year period.

According to the Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo (National Fund for Tourism Development) the program would bring 70,000 boat trips per year to the region.

February 23, 2001
BC Governor Against IVA Increase

The governor of Baja California, Alejandro González Alcocer, announced today that he is against President Fox's plan to raise the Value Added Tax (Impuesto al Valor Agregado, IVA) in Baja California. The IVA tax in the Mexican border states is currently 10% although Fox wants to make it equal to the interior states' IVA rate of 15%. While Fox and González are both members of the PAN political party, the BC governor contends that life in BC is already more expensive than in other states and that it is not right to increase the IVA in the state.

Governor González is also against Fox administration plans to increase water rates and to apply the IVA tax to medicines. Fox wants to subsidize medicine for low-income individuals by using money generated by the taxation of medicine. The increased price of water is to be used to finance the nation's much needed improvements to the water infrastructure.

Governor González noted that Méxicali is one of the cities in the nation with the highest rates for electricity, natural gas and gasoline. Any tax increase would be a serious blow to the Méxicali economy, González said.

While the governor understands that the Fox administration is behind the tax increases he believes that the Congress might feel differently about passing the increases.

The proposed tax increase is also widely disliked in the other Mexican border states.

February 20, 2001
200,000 Visitors to Ensenada for Mardi Gras

Organizers of this year's Mardi Gras celebration in Ensenada, Baja California expect more than 200,000 visitors over the course of the week-long event which runs from February 22-27.

Alfredo Mendoza, president of the organizing committee, said in a Tijuana event to promote the celebration that Mardi Gras is the longest running tourist even in Baja California. "It began 83 years ago," he said.

Mendoza also stated that the Ensenada Mardi Gras draws families from all of Baja California and from California, USA. He expects more than 200,000 people to come to the event this year.

Mardi Gras in Ensenada is a free family event according to Mendoza. There will be parades, athletic competitions, cultural events and other activities. The parade will have over 20 floats sponsored by all parts of Ensenada society including companies and city, state and federal government.

February 16, 2001
More BC Funds for Training the Unemployed

For the year 2001, the Baja California Servicio Estatal del Empleo (State Employment Service, SEE) is increasing funding for its scholarship program by 31% over the year 2000 level. This year there will be 25 million pesos (approximately US$2.5 million) to give scholarships for training programs to 10,000 unemployed workers.

Known as the Programa de Becas de Capacitación a Trabajadores Desempleados (Scholarship Program for Training Unemployed Workers, Probecat), the scholarship program pays its participants minimum wage during their training in addition to paying the cost of their programs. To qualify for Probecat money one must be between 16 and 55 years old and know how to read and write. Participants cannot be students and cannot be employed while in the program.

In the year 2000, according to SEE Director Efraín Ortiz Castillo, Probecat trained 9,606 people and gave out 4,068 scholarships in Tijuana, 3,033 scholarships in Méxicali, 2,260 in Ensenada, 235 in Tecate and 10 in Playas de Rosarito.

The SEE uses the worker training program along with its employment bureau to help the state's unemployed find jobs in industry or become self-sustaining. The SEE also aims at helping people over age 40 and people with disabilities. It offers classes in sewing and soy bean production. In Playas de Rosarito and Tijuana it offers courses in the production of piñatas.

Through its employment bureau (bolsa de trabajo) in the year 2000 the SEE found jobs with companies or businesses for 2,753 people, 852 from Méxicali, 1,161 from Tijuana and 740 from Ensenada.


February 14, 2001
Binational Fight Against Diabetes in US-Mexico Border States

This March, the US-Mexico border states in conjunction with federal governments from both countries will begin an extensive and joint diabetes prevalence study of border communities.

The Border Health Initiative will coordinate the California portion of the US-Mexico Border Diabetes Project which will cover San Diego and Imperial counties. The collaborative project involves The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mexican Ministry of Health, the ten U.S. and Mexican border states, as well as numerous non-governmental organizations.

"The border region sees the highest rate of mortality from diabetes for both countries, and has a diabetes prevalence that is three times higher for Hispanics than non-Hispanics," said Dr. Oscar De La Riva, diabetes coordinator for the Border Health Initiative. "And according to a variety of studies, it seems to be on the rise."

The five-year project will begin with the study to determine the prevalence of diabetes along the US-Mexico border and to develop binational diabetes prevention and control programs based on the study's findings. "This will also help us measure how much people know about diabetes and the access that they have to health services," added De La Riva.

In Ciudad Juárez and El Paso the Proyecto Fronterizo México-Estadounidense de Diabetes (US-Mexico Border Diabetes Project) will examine and follow the health of 350 volunteers in Cd. Juárez and an equal number of people in El Paso, according to the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario.

According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) the number of people with diabetes is skyrocketing, affecting at least one in every 20 people. PAHO estimates that along the US-Mexico border diabetes mortality represents 30 deaths per 100,000, almost twice the national figures of the United States. There are indications that nearly 10% of border residents
are diabetic and that over one third of them are unaware they have the disease.

"Diabetes, the sixth leading cause of death in the Americas, is showing up in new and unlikely places," said PAHO Director Dr. George Alleyne. Currently, diabetes is the third leading cause of death in Mexico and the seventh cause of death in the United States.

Source: Border Health Initiative & El Diario, February 14, 2001. Article by Lorena Figueroa.

February 12, 2001
Tijuana to Regulate Prostitution

According to Salvador Morales Riubí, the general secretary of the Ayuntamiento (city administration), the Tijuana Ayuntamiento is going to propose to the Cabildo (city council) that it pass an ordinance to regulate prostitution in the city.

Morales told Tijuana's Frontera newspaper that he is against minors being "bombarded" by prostitutes offering their services outside of schools and churches. To combat this problem he proposes that the city designate once and for all an area where prostitution will be tolerated.

Juana Pérez Floriano, a PRI member of the Cabildo, said that prior to regulation there should be changes to local health laws. While in favor of regulation Pérez says that prostitutes should not be victims of excessive fines or penalties leveled by the city.

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), February 12, 2001. Article by Aline Corpus.

February 8, 2001
Gray Whale Found on Beach Near Tijuana

Tijuana's Frontera newspaper reports that an eighteen-foot long, male, juvenile gray whale was found dead on a beach only a few meters from the US.

Area residents alerted the Mexican environmental agency Semarnap (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca) to the presence of the whale and the agency sent an investigator to the scene.

Yanina Guerrero Martínez, the Semarnap investigator, said that the whale showed no physical damage caused by humans or boats. Guerrero said that the whale died a natural death which was not caused by pollution either.

Rodolfo Anguiano Gaspar, president of the environmental group Gaviotas, said that Semarnap should investigate whale deaths in the region as a similar case appeared last year.

Anguiano added that high levels of pollution in the area could have contributed to the death of the whale and that it is unlikely that it died a natural death.

Because of its size the whale will be buried in a three or five-meter deep grave near its current location on the beach.

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), February 8, 2001.

February 6, 2001
BC Electricity to California will stop in May

The electricity that the Baja California Division of the Federal Electricity Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE) is selling to California is surplus electricity that exists within the Mexican system only during the winter months, according to CFE San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora Superintendent Humberto López Guzmán.

López said that the sale of electricity to California will end in May when "summer arrives to the region and the demand for power doubles." Heightened summer demand for electricity is due to the use of domestic and business air conditioning. Irrigation well pumps also contribute to the region's increased summer-time power needs.

The CFE's BC Division, which is currently helping California, is comprised of the cities of Tijuana, Méxicali, Ensenada and San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora (located on the BC-Sonora border).

The power is produced at a geothermal plant in Cerro Prieto, near Méxicali, and a thermoelectric plant in Rosarito, BC. During the summer months, two oil-burning plants in Méxicali and Ensenada help meet regional power needs.

López also refuted statements by PRD politicians alleging that the CFE was giving lower prices to US consumers than it was to its Mexican customers.

January 31, 2001
BC Gives Free Insulin to Diabetics

The Baja California Department of Health (Secretaría de Salud) announced on January 17 that it will give insulin, free of cost, to insulin-dependent diabetics in the state. To receive the free insulin diabetics must only agree to join Mutual Help Groups (Grupos de Ayuda Mutua) that are located in centers run by the Department of Health.

A Department of Health spokesperson said that in the Mutual Help Groups diabetics will hear talks about nutrition, exercise, personal care and other subjects. There are currently 29 of these groups across the state.