San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
STRENGTHENING BINATIONAL TIES GOAL OF BAJA’S NEW GOVERNOR-ELECT
Marina del Pilar Ávila visits S.D. before inauguration
Baja California’s governor-elect, Marina del Pilar Ávila, assured that there will be close collaboration and communication with the San Diego region and California officials during her six-year term that starts in November.
Ávila met Sept. 24 with several elected leaders from around the county, as well as with Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol leaders, as part of a visit to continue strengthening ties between both sides of the border, she said.
“It’s a great region. We share concerns, but the most important thing is that we must share solutions,” Ávila said in an interview at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.
Ávila spoke about several shared issues, including the second port of entry in Otay Mesa, the Tijuana River Valley pollution and migration.
In June, the governments of Mexico and California signed an agreement committing to work together to open a second border crossing at Otay Mesa by the end of 2024.
During her visit to San Diego, Ávila toured the construction site.
“It is very different to read about it or see it through a screen than to experience it and realize the great progress that the U.S. government has made,” she said. “In Mexico there are still many steps to be taken in which we have to start so that we can get to September 2024 and open this new port of entry.”
To do so, she said she will work hand in hand with the federal and municipal governments, both from her own Morena party, to expedite the project on the Mexican side.
“I am convinced that it will be one of the priority projects in the coming years, and we will make the necessary arrangements with the right authorities,” she said.
Otay Mesa East, also known as the Otay II project, will help reduce wait times at existing border crossings and is projected to provide an economic boost of $1.8 billion annually.
She also said she was committed on doing her part to address the Tijuana River pollution.
She said she will continue with ongoing projects and will start others required to solve the long-standing problem. In addition to the Tijuana River, she said they will focus on tackling pollution in the Río Nuevo in Mexicali and Rosarito.
On migration, she said it must be met with a social approach, as it involves people who have left home in search of better living conditions.
She added that Baja California “is a state of open doors” that has been founded by migrants, and therefore, her intention is to seek policies to economically and socially integrate migrants who wish to do so.
“Although many say it is a federal issue, at the end of the day we end up taking care of it, both the municipalities and the state in coordination with the federal government certainly,” she said.
For several months now, hundreds of migrants have been living in an encampment set up at El Chaparral plaza just on the Mexican side of the Pedwest crossing.
Although she did not want to discuss a possible relocation of the migrants, noting that is a federal matter, she said she has held meetings with Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard to discuss the situation.
“We are going to seek, especially now that new caravans are coming, a solution that we will surely take in coordination with the U.S. government,” she said.
During her one-day trip, Ávila met with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, county Supervisor Nora Vargas, SANDAG officials, National City Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-solís and Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina.
She also met with Friendship Park advocates, who are seeking more access for families that rely on the binational park to be closer to their loved ones.
Ávila also met with CBP Director of Field Operations Pete Flores and U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector Chief Aaron Heitke. She closed her day by throwing out the first pitch at the Padres’ game against the Atlanta Braves at Petco Park.
In early September, Ávila visited Sacramento, where she met with California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.
Subsequently, she visited Silicon Valley, where she plans to establish a Baja California office to attract investments for the state. “I want to let them know that we can be great allies to expand what is being produced and developed in California,” she said.
Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in San Diego, considered that Ávila’s tour through California, just weeks before her inauguration, is a good sign of what the binational relationship will be in the following years.
“Our economy is largely tied to California’s economy, and I think it is fundamental that the governor-elect takes the time to come with her closest collaborators, to get acquainted with the people she will be working with on a daily basis,” he said.
Ávila, 35, who belongs to the Morena party, will begin her six-year term in November. The former congresswoman and Mexicali mayor will be the first female governor of Baja California and will begin her administration almost seven months pregnant with her second child.
Ávila accepts that being the first carries a responsibility. “We are going to do it with that great conviction to serve our state, and that the girls who see us know that they can be mothers, governors, housewives, employees or whatever they want to be. You can be that and a mother at the same time.”
She said she will continue with the daily press conferences known as “mañaneras,” started by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and replicated by her predecessor, Jaime Bonilla.