Story still running...yesterday's New York Times..
Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:13 am (PST)
Tourists want more protection in wake of armed attacks
Marc Lacey, New York Times
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Rosarito , Mexico -- Surfers talk endlessly about waves - their size, their intensity, their
roll. And crime waves are no exception.
In surf shops, on bluffs and even out in the ocean while waiting for the water to crest, Baja
California's surfers have been rehashing a series of recent armed attacks on foreigners,
many of whom had been frequenting the beaches just south of Tijuana for years.
"It's all we talk about," said Doug Wampler, 55, who has surfed Baja's waves since 1967.
"We analyze each incident, and we wonder if we're going to be next."
Pat Weber, 47, who runs the San Diego Surfing Academy, was attacked by two armed men
in ski masks while camping with his girlfriend on Oct. 23 on a remote bluff near Rosarito.
They fired shots at his camper to get them out, then put a gun to his head, sexually
assaulted his girlfriend and made away with his laptop, camera equipment and cash.
Shaken, Weber, who estimates that he has brought 130 groups to Baja beaches on surfing
trips over the years, has pledged never to return to Baja, where he said he had been
surfing since 1984. The worst he had to put up with previously, he said, were occasional
encounters with police officers demanding bribes. "It's the end of an era for me," he said.
"No more Mexico."
A month earlier, on Labor Day, three surfers from San Diego said they were pulled over
near Tijuana by a car with flashing lights. The attackers - who might have been lawmen,
outlaws or, as is sometimes the case in Mexico, both - stole the surfers' car at gunpoint,
they said.
"I'm never going back," said one of the victims, Roger, who allowed only his first name to
be used because he fears retaliation from the assailants. He said he was made to kneel
down and then a gun was put to his head. "It's just unbelievable how bad it is down there,"
he said.
In another robbery, on Sept. 16, three surfers, who were camping in the same area where
Weber was attacked, reported being held up by two armed men.
"Until authorities get a handle on the situation, we urge anyone planning or considering a
trip to Baja to be aware of these recent events, be careful and be safe," the San Diego
chapter of the Surfrider Foundation told members recently.
"It could happen to anyone," said Brian Ramirez, 37, of Mission Viejo (Orange County), a
surfer who was coming in from the water near Ensenada the other day, board in hand. But
he said the waves were still worth the risks.
Wampler said surfers were targets because they are becoming more prosperous, driving
luxury vehicles and carrying wads of cash. "The surfing population is aging, and they have
gobs of money now," he said.
Just how high the crime rate has risen is a subject of debate. Mexican officials call the
recent crimes isolated incidents. A spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana told a local
newspaper, "We're still establishing whether or not this is a trend."
But most officials acknowledge that the high-profile crimes have at least created a
perception problem. "Security for tourists is one of my main concerns," said Hugo Torres,
the newly elected mayor of Rosarito and a prominent hotelier, who acknowledges a surge
in crime but dismisses reports of a Wild West atmosphere in Baja as overblown.
Earlier this year, President Felipe Calderon sent troops to Baja California as part of his
nationwide crackdown on the narcotics cartels that control huge swaths of the
countryside. Getting to some surf stops still requires passing camouflage-clad soldiers,
who search cars for guns and drugs.
"We need a safe zone from Tijuana all the way down to Ensenada," said Torres, who as a
mayor has little ability to quell the problem without federal aid. "We need tourist police
who speak English and a 24-hour ombudsman to help tourists."
Torres, who surfs, said he values the long connection Baja California has had with surfers.
"The surfers have been visiting us for more than 50 years," he said. "Surfers may be only 5
to 7 percent of our total visitors, but just about everybody who comes down here knows a
surfer or has been one or likes to see them in the waves."
Surfers have not been the only targets. Recent foreign victims have included fishermen and
the crew for a participant in a road rally. Then there are the many residents whose
encounters with criminals never make the papers.
"We have chaos here," said Nancy Conroy, editor of the Gringo Gazette, a local newspaper
geared toward expatriates. "It's very dangerous."
When Conroy's paper reports crimes, she said she is criticized by those building and
selling the luxury condominiums along the coast. Too negative, they say, and not
representative of the tranquil lives most expatriates live in Baja.
Conroy said an e-mail message circulated among the developers suggesting that one of
the recent attacks was made up to scare surfers away from Baja and keep the crowds
down. That message appears to be false, according to interviews, although that has not
stopped many from believing it.
"If one of them was fabricated, maybe all these stories were," said Gabriel V. Robles,
president of the Association of Tourist Developers of Baja California, who forwarded the e-
mail message to his members. "One gets reports of a lot of stuff, but I can't say how much
of it happened. I'm not a cop."
Robles said he was not trying to play down the crime problem. "Our point is that the
authorities need to resolve it," he said. "No one is trying to avoid it or pretend it's not
true."
Weber, who reported his run-in with Baja's criminal elements to the Ensenada police, said
he was saving some evidence for those who doubt his story. He will replace his motor
home's shattered window but fill the bullet hole that pierced the vehicle with a wine cork,
he said.
"It will be a reminder of what happened," he said, "and a reminder that I'm lucky to be
alive."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
