Frontera NorteSur
2006

Journalistic Icon Blancornelas Dies

An icon of Mexican journalism, Jesus Blancornelas died November 23 in a Tijuana hospital from long-running health problems. Praising the 70-year-old Blancornelas as a "paragon of journalism," Tijuana journalist Oscar Genel said society should not "underestimate" the contributions of the late investigative reporter and columnist. Best known as the former editor of the scrappy Tijuana daily Zeta, Blancornelas had a long and illustrious career as a newspaperman. Beginning in his native state of San Luis Potosi , Blancornelas moved on to Sonora and later to Tijuana , where he first founded the ABC newspaper before launching Zeta in 1980 with the late Felix "El Gato" Miranda.

A public hit, Zeta acquired a reputation for probing government corruption and organized crime. Blancornelas was especially known for investigating the Arellano Felix Cartel, an activity which the author of the long-running "Private Conversations" syndicated column claimed earned a bounty of $250,000 dollars on his head. "He never sold out," said Francisco Bazan Penaloza, president of the Tijuana Bar Association. "He was a person who was true to what he did. He also put the name of Mexico high on the world stage."

The author of 5 books, Blancornelas won numerous awards from Columbia University , UNESCO and other organizations. A co-author of From Lomas Taurinas to Los Pinos, Blancornelas advanced the controversial thesis that the assassin of slain 1994 PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio acted alone.

A faithful Catholic, Blancornelas was pained by the murders of two close colleagues: "El Gato" Miranda, who was killed in 1988, and Zeta co-editor Francisco Ortiz Franco, who was murdered in 1994. Miranda's killing has been tied to former bodyguards for the current mayor of Tijuana , Jorge Hank Rhon, but the Ortiz murder remains unsolved. Asked to comment on Blancornelas' passing, Mayor Hank extended condolences to the late journalist's family but said there would be no public commemoration of his life.

Blancornelas was a victim of the violence he so often penned about in his reports and columns. Ironically, he was a featured speaker at a November 1997 Investigative Reporters and Editors conference held at the Hotel Lucerna in Ciudad Juarez on the same afternoon a former policemen was executed gang-land style in a sushi bar only two blocks away from the meeting site. Days later, Blancornelas was ambushed in Tijuana by five gunmen. The feisty journalist survived his wounds, but his bodyguard, Luis Lauro Valero, was killed.

Following the 1997 attack, Blancornelas' movements were heavily restricted. Escorted everywhere he went by a squad of Mexican soldiers sent to protect him, Blancornelas was reluctant to go out in public or to social gatherings. Under doctors' advice, he formally retired from Zeta in April of this year and passed on the torch to a new generation. However, Blancornelas continued writing when he could and had plans to publish two books next year about the leaders of the Tijuana and Sinaloa drug cartels.

In an interview granted to Proceso magazine only one month before his death, Blancornelas told journalist Ricardo Ravelo that his major goals were to interview Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the purported chief of the Sinaloa Cartel, and Enedina Arellano, a woman Blancornelas considered the true head of the Arellano Felix Cartel. "She's the only woman who heads a criminal organization," Blancornelas maintained. "There is not another one."

"I want to speak with Enedina Arellano to ask her if they are still planning to kill me," Blancornelas said. "I believe the time has come to talk. The most rigid men of the cartel are not around anymore. I want to speak with (the cartel) to make this clarification, and also for a journalistic reason."

The day-to-day risks encountered by Blancornelas and other journalists were tragically played out in the six-week period leading up to the Tijuana legend's death. Since October, four journalists have suffered violent or mysterious deaths in Mexico . The victims include US filmmaker Bradley Will, who was shot to death by presumed government officials in Oaxaca; Roberto Marcos Garcia, a reporter for Veracruz magazine Testimony, who was gunned down by unknown assailants; Misael Tamayo, the owner and editor of the Despertar de la Costa newspaper in Zihuatanejo, who was found dead in a hotel with mysterious puncture marks in his body, and Jose Manuel Nava, a former editor of Excelsior, who was discovered stabbed to death in his Mexico City apartment. A fifth journalist, Guevara Guevara Dominguez, an editor for the Century 21 news organization, vanished after leaving Guadalajara for Chihuahua on October 8.

According to the Paris-based organization Reporters Without Borders, Mexico is the second most dangerous places in the word to practice journalism, surpassed only by Iraq . The Office of the Federal Attorney General set up a special unit to handle crimes against journalists, but to date none of the latest or previous violent crimes against journalists have been successfully prosecuted.

“President Vicente Fox's term of office is ending with the grim toll of 20 journalists murdered, without any of the instigators of these killings every being bothered by the authorities,” said Reporters Without Borders in a recent statement.

In a speech last year, Blancornelas summed up the murky web of power that confronts Mexican muckrakers. "Narco-politics is what dominates a big part of the public spectrum of the country today," Blancornelas contended. "It has infiltrated (political) parties, judges, police, etc." Despite his international stature, Blancornelas was buried in a quiet Tijuana ceremony attended by close friends, colleagues, family members, and priests.

Sources: Proceso/Apro, October 24 and November 24, 2006. Articles by Homero Campa and Ricardo Ravelo. Frontera, November 23 and 24, 2006. Articles by Ariel Montoya, Daniel Salinas, Luis Adolfo San, and editorial staff. El Universal/Norte November 23, 2006. El Universal/EFE, October 25, 2006. La Jornada, November 16 and 21, 2006. Articles by Andres T. Morales and editorial staff. Despertar de la Costa, November 10, 2006. Article by Luvos Cesar Amaro. El Sur, November 11 and 14, 2006. Articles by Brenda Escobar and Ezequial Flores Contreras. rsf.org. protectiononline.org. pgr.gob.mx

Baja's Cry for Social Peace

A 16-day march against public insecurity and for the rights of crime victims culminated last weekend in the Baja California state capital of Mexicali . Organized by the Public Safety Citizen Council of Baja California, a non-governmental group, the march kicked off on October 21 in San Quintin, passed through Playas de Rosarito, stopped in Tijuana and Tecate and terminated in Mexicali at a November 5 rally attended by 1,200-1,500 people, including crime victims, businessmen, motorcycle club members, government bureaucrats, and civic and church groups. Along the march route, crosses commemorating victims of violence were erected.

"We want to leave in peace! We want to live in peace!" chanted marchers dressed in white as they gathered November 5 in Mexicali 's Civic Center . "Corruption is the mother of impunity" and "Out with functionaries who don't function" were the messages leaping from protest signs. "Let's not be satisfied with the rhetoric of the authorities," thundered Alberto Capella Ibarra, the president of the statewide Citizen Council. "We're not going to take it anymore!"

Catalyzing the march was a rapidly deteriorating public safety climate. Almost 400 people have been murdered in Baja California Norte so far this year, with more than 300 of the killings registered in Tijuana alone. Official and non-official sources also report a rise in the number of kidnappings and "levantones," or forced disappearances carried out by organized crime groups.

According to Baja California State Attorney General Jose Carlos Vizcarra, 29 people were kidnapped in Baja California from January to September 2006, a sharp jump from last year when 9 individuals were kidnapped during the course of the entire year. Levantones, which typically don't involve demands for ransom and end in executions, reached 75 during the first 9 months of the year, compared to 93 for 2005. Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon recently acknowledged that at least 10 of his acquaintances have suffered kidnappings.

Many sources contend that the official crime statistics understate the extent of the violence overwhelming Baja California . Jose Carlos Vizcarra Lomeli, the president of Mexicali's Public Safety Citizen Council, estimates that 80 percent of the crimes committed in his state are not denounced because of "fear of the police" and the widespread belief that authorities are not going to resolve anything.

David Fuentes, a researcher at the Institute of Social Research of the University of Baja California , attributed the crime upsurge to the diversification of organized crime as well as the corruption of authorities.

"Despite the accomplishments of state police, the situation has not improved but worsened," Fuentes said. "This has to do with the profound level of decomposition of the different police agencies, and although almost 90 people have been detained and sent to maximum security prisons, the criminal bands continue growing."

In recent months, at least 12 officers of the State Preventive Police (PEP) an agency envisioned as a "clean" force above the corruptions of other departments, have been murdered. New officers are reportedly in fear of their lives, and some only accepted assignment in Tijuana under protest. PEP recruits have complained that they are lodged in flea-bag hotels and "left to die alone."

Fed up with the growing violence and mayhem, the Citizen Council and crime victims decided to organize a statewide march to put all levels of government on notice that decisive actions need to be taken.

An October 29 stop in Tijuana drew the largest participation in the march, when 5-9,000 people turned out to hear speakers that included Sara Ruiz, the mother of slain Tijuana teenager, Sara Benazir, whose 2005 murder allegedly at the hands of the son of a government official symbolized the violence and impunity that have plagued Baja California in recent years. Receiving applause, Ruiz blamed authorities for the high rates of crime.

Although much of the marchers' rhetoric was directed against government officials, Baja California Governor Eugenio Elorduy of the PAN party, State Attorney General Martinez and Mexicali Mayor Samuel Ramos joined the protest procession on its final legs.

Besides strongly criticizing the Mexican authorities, some march organizers took aim at the United States government as well. Genaro de la Torre, for instance, contended that US authorities allow known drug traffickers to reside in their territory unmolested, and permit arms to flow south to criminal enterprises. "They should collaborate with the government of Mexico to detain (criminals) and undertake a more active struggle against drug trafficking," de la Torre demanded.

The gravity of Baja California 's growing problem with violence was tragically evident during the long public safety march. Six suspected murder victims were discovered in Tijuana on November 4 and 5. A few days earlier, three women inside the city's New Image hair-styling salon were shot and wounded in broad daylight by a two-man fire team who showed up at the business establishment dressed in black and blasting AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles. The victims included the owner, Mariza Migueles, an employee and a customer. A small child, who was in the bathroom with his mother at the time of the shooting, escaped injury.

Sources: Frontera, October 21 and 29, 2006; November 5 and 6, 2006. Articles by Luis A. San, Manuel Villegas, Angel Ruiz, Carlos Acevedo, and the Notimex news agency. La Jornada, November 6, 2006 . Article by Antonio Heras. La Voz de Nuevo Mexico /Reforma News Agency, November 3, 2006 . El Universal, October 4 and 21, 2006; November 5, 2006 . Articles by Julieta Martinez and Rosa Maria Mendez Fierros.

Real Estate Development Grips Mexico 's North

Backed by some of the world's biggest names in capital, mega-projects are transforming the landscapes of northwestern Mexico . Representatives of US tycoon Donald Trump, for instance, recently announced a new $200 million-dollar condominium development slated for Baja California 's Rosarito Beach area, a popular tourist destination located about 30 minutes south of San Diego . Sources inside Trump Ocean Resort Baja disclosed that the 400-unit condo complex in the exclusive, ocean-front Punta Bandera zone will be flanked by a shopping center and world-class restaurants.

Gabriel Robles, president of Tourist Developers Association of Baja California, commented that Trump's project joins the fast pace of growth in the Tijuana-Rosarito-Ensenada corridor, where 2,500 new projects are underway. "This shows us that foreign capital is confident about investing in Mexico , especially Baja California ," Robles said.

The Baja real estate boom is the Pacific Coast 's version of a similar condo and real estate frenzy that is unfolding across the Gulf of California in the state of Sonora . As a result, residents of Phoenix , Arizona , once consigned to a landlocked, blistering piece of desert described by some as a hell-hole during the high months of summer, now enjoy their own beach. The three-and-one-half hour trip from Phoenix to Puerto Penasco , Sonora , is getting cut considerably with the completion of a coastal highway in northwestern Sonora . Already, an estimated 1.6 million tourists, especially Arizonans, visit Puerto Penasco and Rocky Point every year.

Boosting the fortunes of Puerto Penasco's tourist industry is the propensity of US tourists to seek safe vacation getaways in the wake of 9-11, according to some observers. Following the pattern of international tourist development, Puerto Penasco has become a second home for many affluent tourists who were enamored by their first visits and then decided to purchase land.

Some credit fallout from the US housing market across the border for also propelling Puerto Penasco's rapid growth. "Low mortgage interest rates and the boom in real estate values in the United States allowed many people to make extra money to invest it in cheaper properties," said Juan Luis Martin, president of the Playa Norte company.

Investments in the once-quiet resort have soared from an estimated $56 million dollars in 2001 to a projected $1.2 billion dollars for the 2006-09 time period. Residential real estate sales are so hot in Puerto Penasco that tiny apartments in the upscale Bella Sirena development fetch about $600,000 dollars. Still, for the less well-heeled, Puerto Penasco offers options in the form of 4 trailer parks that rent lots with utility hook-ups for $20 dollars per night.

Exploding on the coastal fringes, northern Mexico 's development bonanza could move inland if an idea floated by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu comes to pass. The head of the new Ideal development and construction company, Slim recently proposed the construction of a new highway along the northern Mexican border.

Speaking at a border development forum in Mexicali this month, Slim suggested the opening of a Mexican highway running parallel to US Interstate 10 across the border. According to Gabriel Flores Viramontes, the president of the Business Coordinating Council of Ciudad Juarez, Slim contended that a new border highway would enhance the economic competitiveness of Mexico 's northern border cities. Among others, outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox and prominent Ciudad Juarez businessman Miguel Fernandez Iturbide attended the Mexicali meeting.

Sources: Norte, October 13, 2006 . Article by Cesar Ruiz. La Jornada, October 8, 2006 . Article by Antonio Heras and the AFP news agency. Agencia Reforma/La Voz de Nuevo Mexico , July 21, 2006 .