Frontera NorteSur
September 2001

September 25, 2001
Tourism and Business Off in Matamoros and Brownsville

As in most twin cities along the US-Mexico border, business and tourism is down in Matamoros, Tamaulipas and Brownsville, Texas since the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States. Newspapers all along the border have been reporting for days that tourism and retail sales in border cities have been hurt because of heightened security at US international ports of entry. US cities are finding that malls and downtown stores are not being visited by Mexican shoppers and Mexican cities are experiencing drops in tourists and border shoppers looking for less expensive pharmaceuticals, eye glasses and other goods.

César Dávila Guerra, president of the Matamoros Cámara Nacional de Comercio (Chamber of Commerce, Canaco), told the Matamoros newspaper El Bravo that he was going to seek a meeting with the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce because both cities are facing the same drop off in business activity. Dávila said that the two organizations should discuss a coordinated response and should look for bilateral action to help alleviate the current situation.

Dávila stated that Brownsville residents are not shopping in Mexico because they face long waits and exhaustive searches upon returning to the US. Matamoros shoppers are not going to buy in the US because they do not want to wait in long lines to cross to the US, Dávila said.

Dávila did recognize that the current economic situation in the two cities is the result of understandable actions taken after the tragic events that affected the US.

Source: El Bravo, September 24, 2001. Article by Norberto Calvario Razo.

September 13, 2001
Mexican Border Press Reacts to Attacks on US, Long Waits at Border

For the second day in a row, coverage of the September 11 attack against the US has dominated the front pages of the Mexican press in border cities such as Tijuana, Méxicali, Nogales, Hermosillo, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua City, Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa.

Coverage of the attack runs deep in all of the border newspapers with numerous articles that outline the events of September 11 and follow the beginnings of crime investigations. Other articles look at such things as Mexicans working in the World Trade Center at the time of the attack, Mexican law enforcement reactions to events, the economic effects of the attack and the effects of increased delays at the international ports. In Cd. Juárez, the newspaper El Diario ran--in just its first section--more than 60 articles and 20 photos related to the attack.

Under two front-page articles detailing World Trade Center rescue attempts and the alleged threats against the White House and Air Force One, El Diario ran an article about twelve missing Mexican citizens that worked in the World Trade Center and another article that looked at the financial effects of the attack.

According to El Diario, there were between 100 and 150 Mexican citizens that worked in the World Trade Center. Twelve of these people have disappeared since the September 11 attack, said the Mexican consul to New York, Salvador Beltrán del Río. The newspaper also states that unofficial sources have indicated that the bodies of four Mexicans have been found in the ruins of the World Trade Center.

Already concerned about the large loss of jobs in Mexico due to the US economic slow down, it's not surprising that El Diario's fourth and final front-page article looks at the economic consequences of the attack. Like most other border newspapers, El Diario noted that the attack closed New York stock markets but that there would probably be only a limited impact on the world financial system.

In Tijuana, the newspaper Frontera (no relation to FNS) reports four-hour waits to enter the US at the international ports there. In Cd. Juárez, waits have been up to three hours long and a false bomb threat closed the bridges for 45 minutes yesterday, according to El Diario. In Nuevo Laredo, a false bomb threat stopped traffic for twenty minutes.

The long waits at the border are due to the Level One procedures put into effect by Customs and INS after the attack against the US. These inspections are described by the INS as a "sustained, intensive, anti-terrorism operation."

More rigorous inspection at international ports has also begun on the Mexican side of the border. Mexican officials from along various parts of the border have said that they are watching for terrorists that might try and leave the US through Mexico.

Sources: El Diario, Frontera, El Mañana (Reynosa & Nuevo Laredo), September 13, 2001.

August 28, 2001
Mexican Environmental Office Seizes Exotic Species in Tamaulipas

Mexico's Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Medio Ambiente (Federal Environmental Protection Office, Profepa) reports that it has seized 114 exotic animals so far this year in the state of Tamaulipas. Among the animals seized were 76 song birds, 14 ostriches, two macaws, five elephants, four llamas, four tigers, a wild boar, eight rabbits and two deer.

The birds were confiscated when people tried to smuggle them into the US aboard commercial busses. Hidden in cardboard boxes, the birds' lives were in danger.

Many of the other animals seized by Profepa were taken from circuses. According to the environmental agency the circus owners did not have the proper paperwork for the animals. The owners also received fines from Profepa.

Aureliano Salinas Peña, head of Profepa in Tamaulipas, said that the circuses have a limited amount of time in which to produce the documentation necessary to regain custody of the exotic animals.

Salinas said that operations against the illegal transport of exotic species will continue in Tamaulipas. The operations are also supported by other law-enforcement agencies present in the state, he said.

Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), August 28, 2001. Article by Javier Terrazas.