Frontera NorteSur March 2001

Ruffo criticized the SRE for the way in which it tries to deal with all its problems with the US at one time. The US, he says, prefers to work on issues separately, one at a time.

Speaking at an education conference on the subject of the economic duties that were conferred on him earlier this year by President Fox, Ruffo said that water is an economic problem from Matamoros to Tijuana. Ruffo also stated that Tijuana needs to increase its infrastructure building as the city grows by 5.5% per year.

Although his position has still to be approved, Ruffo also indicated that perhaps the border should change from an assembly zone to a manufacturing zone where fewer workers would be paid better salaries. Ruffo said that to accomplish this workers would need more training and education. Industry would need to invest more and buy more heavy machinery.

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), February 7, 2001. Article by Kenia Rojas.

BC Council Formed for July 8, 2001 Elections

The creation of voting and campaign procedures for the July 8, 2001 Baja California election of governor, deputies and mayors has begun with the creation of a new State Election Council (Consejo Estatal Electoral, CEE). A new CEE president has been sworn in along with representatives from all of BC's major political parties, the PRI, PAN, PRD, PT and PVEM. CEE meetings will be held the last Wednesday of every month.

According to the new CEE president, Víctor Everardo Beltrán Corona, among the council's responsibilities are the guidance and protection of BC voters' political freedoms which have developed a high degree of maturity in recent years through the dependability of voting procedures and mechanisms.

With the help of the other council members, political parties and candidates Beltrán will make an unprecedented effort to raise voter participation in the July elections.

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.

Juárez Wants New City-Owned Bridge, Fights Tax Increase

City spokesperson Javier de Anda stated that Ciudad Juárez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo has informed the Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores (Secretary of Foreign Affairs) that a new bridge needs to be built between Cd. Juárez and El Paso, TX. Unlike other bridges in the city, the new bridge would be controlled by the city.

The bridge would connect Avenida Cuatro Siglos in Ciudad Juárez with Yarbrough Avenue in El Paso. El Paso officials have also begun the process of getting approval for the new bridge.

According to bridge-crossing data from the US Customs Service, approximately 4.5 million people cross into El Paso from Cd. Juárez on three bridges every month.