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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2007 
Surf’s Up, and So Is the Crime Rate on Baja’s Beaches
 Marc Lacey - NYTimes
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| | Frankie Cruz, a surfer from Temecula, Calif., making his way along the rocky beach to catch some waves near Ensenada, Mexico. (Sandy Huffaker/New York Times) |
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 here 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 here. 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, Mr. Weber, who estimates that he has brought 130 groups to Baja beaches on surfing trips over the years, has vowed 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 Mr. 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, Calif., 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.
Mr. Wampler said that surfers are 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 American 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 Calderón 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 Mr. 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.”
Mr. 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 Ms. 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.
Ms. Conroy said that 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.”
Mr. 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.”
Mr. 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.” |
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