San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
CABALLERO, FIRST WOMAN ELECTED AS MAYOR OF TIJUANA, IS SWORN IN
It’s the beginning of a new chapter in Baja California politics. Tijuana’s new mayor, Montserrat Caballero, was sworn in for her threeyear term that started Friday.
“Today in our city, begins a new stage of political, cultural and economic transformation,” Caballero said Thursday, during her speech at Tijuana’s City Hall. “A government based on respect, plurality and inclusion.”
Caballero, from the Mexican president’s Morena party, is the first woman mayor elected at the polls in Tijuana and the second overall.
One year ago, Karla Ruiz became the first one in the post, after then-mayor Arturo González stepped away to explore the possibility of a gubernatorial run.
In the front row Thursday was Gov.-elect Marina del Pilar Ávila, also from the Morena party. In November she will become the first female governor of Baja California.
Among those in attendance were California state Sen. Ben Hueso, Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas-salas and Mexico’s Consul General in San Diego, Carlos González Gutiérrez.
In her speech, Caballero pledged to “bring back to Tijuana the security it demands from us.” To do so, she said she will work in coordination with the military and the state authorities.
She also called for unity to work in favor of all communities. “It is clear to us that our city suffers from great contrasts; on the one hand, there is the face of development, tourism and modernity, and on the other, our forgotten neighborhoods.”
Caballero, 39, was born in Oaxaca and moved to Tijuana when she was 2 years old. She started in politics more than a decade ago. Previously she served as a state congresswoman.
During her inauguration ceremony, a video was shown of the time when Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador referred to Tijuana as “an example for the nation” for electing a migrant woman as its mayor.
In August, Caballero met with several officials in San Diego, including Mayor Todd Gloria and Casillassalas.
Casillas-salas made the trip to Tijuana to witness Thursday’s ceremony. “We share ties between Chula Vista and Tijuana, and I had the honor of meeting her before, and she is a wonderful, powerful, young woman, and I believe she is going to do a lot of good things for the people of Tijuana,” she said.
Hueso said he is looking forward to working together with the new mayor. “She will be a key leader ... on important issues such as water, environment, and the economy,” he said.
Hector Vanegas, Borders Program manager with SANDAG, highlighted Caballero’s visit to San Diego, as well as the governorelect’s visit last week.
“We are very interested in working with the authorities south of the border, and we saw this as a gesture that there is the same interest,” he said.