Frontera NorteSur
November 2002

November 21, 2002
Christmas Season Price Monitoring to Begin in Tijuana

With only about five weeks until Christmas, the Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor (Federal Consumer Protection Agency, Profeco) has announced that it is beginning its regular year-end inspection program that will last until January 7. 

Starting this week, Profeco will be monitoring the prices of seasonal goods like Christmas trees and seasonal foods like olive oil and cod, said René Mendivil Acosta, the head of Profeco in Baja California.

The consumer protection agency will also be letting vendors know what procedures to follow so as not to violate the rights of consumers. 

Not only will Profeco be going to businesses to check their scales and other measuring devices, but it will also be making sure that prices are displayed for all products on sale. 

In its monitoring of the service industry, Profeco will make sure that discounts and promotions are honest in the vacation, restaurant, hotel, night club and car rental industries. 

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), November 21, 2002. Article by Rosa Arce. 

November 11, 2002
Tijuana and Méxicali Domestic Abuse

Between January 1, 2002 and November 8, 2002 more than 7,000 cases of domestic abuse were reported in Tijuana and more than 5,000 cases were recorded in Méxicali. These figures are based on calls made to the 066 emergency phone number in these cities (the US equivalent would be 911). 

In Tijuana, the high level of interfamily violence led to the creation of the Unidad Contra la Violencia Doméstica (Anti Domestic Violence Unit, UCVD) in March, 2002, according to the Tijuana newspaper Frontera (no relationship to FNS). 

Olivia Margarita Vidal Plata, the head of the UCVD, said that domestic violence in Tijuana had increased in the months before March so the city created the UCVD to respond to the cases. 

Between March and October, 2002, the UCVD sent 240 cases to the Ministerio Público for further investigation. 

While Tijuana and Méxicali law enforcement get approximately 1,300 calls per month related to domestic abuse, the actual number is much higher. A study performed by Mexico's social service system, Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF), found that 76% of domestic abuse victims did not report the abuse they received to law enforcement. 

In that same study done by DIF's Centro de Atención Social de la Mujer y Orientación Familiar, 128 victims of interfamily violence were interviewed. Of the victims, 95% were women and 5% were men. The form of abuse was 32% verbal, 28% emotional, 22% physical, 10% economic, 5% sexual and 3% mixed. Of those that were abused, 51% were married, 25% were living together but were not married, 12% were separated from their partner, 6% were divorced, and 6% were single.

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), November 11, 2002. Article by Said Betanzos & Manuel Villegas.

November 5, 2002
Mexican Feds Respond to Sand Mining Issues

Carlos de la Parra Rentería, the director of the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, Semarnat) in Baja California, told the Tijuana newspaper Frontera (no relationship to FNS) that Semarnat will begin working to better regulate the mining of sand in the state. 

Parra said that Semarnat will establish tougher restrictions on sand mining, especially with regards to people that have begun operations without the proper authorization or without having completed an environmental impact statement. Semarnat will also move against operations that are extracting more sand than permitted or that are mining too quickly the allotted amount of sand. 

The environmental impact studies themselves will be modified, according to Parra, because they currently do not conclude how much sand can be removed from a site without causing damage to the area. 

Jorge Escobar Martínez, the state director of ecology, has said that meetings with US officials will help establish controls for the proper exportation of sand. Other Mexican agencies will help monitor sand-mining concessions. 

Escobar also stated that authorities need to establish which mining areas are in need of restoration because of over-exploitation. According to Escobar, a number of areas have been gravely damaged by sand-mining operations. 

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), November 5, 2002. Article by Zulema Flores.