BAJA CALIFORNIA AWAITS WHEN YOU’RE READY
Details continue to emerge about a vicious attack by gunmen on four Americans in Mexico last week. Authorities say two were found dead, one of the two survivors was severely injured, and an innocent Mexican woman was shot and killed by a stray bullet during Friday’s kidnapping in Matamoros, Mexico.
The four Americans had traveled there from South Carolina because one was seeking a cosmetic surgical procedure. Medical tourism is a huge industry in Mexico, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border, including in Tijuana, and Americans may be wondering whether it’s safe to cross into Baja California for procedures or for other reasons now.
The answer is yes. A tragedy that left three people dead is terrible. It kindles anguish and other emotions, but shouldn’t affect how all of Mexico is seen.
Like many other residents and local institutions, The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board values our binational region’s economic, cultural and social ties. Some of our board members live along the border, have family members on both sides of it, cross frequently. Our board has long seen the border as something that connects the cities of San Diego and Tijuana rather than divides them, and we’ve bemoaned both the demagoguery of the border and longstanding failures by those in political power to remedy massive problems like large cross-border sewage spills and excessive waits at the border.
There are plenty of reasons to visit the nation to our south. Medical tourism, for one, is an $800 million a year industry in Tijuana. Americans routinely travel there for doctor’s appointments, dentistry, surgery or veterinary care for pets. There’s no need to curtail that now though there is a need for caution, as there always is when traveling anywhere.
Yes, the State Department has issued a level 4 “do not travel” advisory, its highest warning, for six
Mexican states, including Tamaulipas where Matamoros is located. But Tijuana is 1,500 miles away from where the four Americans were attacked.
And yes, the State Department is advising people to “reconsider travel” to seven states, including Baja California, because of varying levels of crime and kidnapping. But everyone should know exactly what it said in its guidance about Baja California.
The State Department said that “transnational criminal organizations compete in the border area to establish narco-trafficking and human smuggling routes,” that “violent crime and gang activity are common,” and that U.S. citizens and green-card holders have been kidnapped. (Left unsaid is that kidnappings of U.S. nationals are unusual.) The U.S. government also cautioned travelers to “remain on main highways and avoid remote locations” and added, “of particular concern is the high number of homicides in the non-tourist areas of Tijuana.”
The State Department added that “most homicides appear targeted; however, criminal organization assassinations and territorial disputes can result in bystanders being injured or killed.”
In other words, be careful.
It’s smart to look up the U.S. government’s warnings, of course. But whether you’re traveling to Tijuana for tacos, for a medical appointment or to be with friends or family, it remains close, it remains inviting, and it remains worth your while.
Your trip home may involve an hourslong wait at the border, so it’s smart to look up the U.S. government’s real-time border wait estimates as well. The long delays plaguing everyday people trying to cross into the United States are as worthy of the U.S. government’s attention as any assessment of a potential trouble spot for traveling Americans. In fact, the waits are a persistent problem almost every day.