Monday, May 4, 2009
Mayor of Rosarito Beach Speaks out Against U.S. Media
by Hugo Torres, Mayor of Rosarito Beach, Mexico

ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO – In Rosarito Beach, as in much of Mexico, we are fighting two battles these days. One is against organized crime. The other is against misleading media coverage that wrongly implies that much of Mexico is unsafe for visitors and residents, and which is devastating our economy. Some reporters, stories and outlets have been responsible and balanced, including some of those who know this area best. Many, perhaps most, have not.

The war that Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon has launched against drug cartels, which are fed in part by a $38 billion yearly U.S. drug market, is indeed a serious one, one of vital concern for both our countries.

We welcome and invite serious and analytical coverage of this struggle. Such coverage can be of significant help to both countries, which have much at stake. What we don’t welcome is inaccurate, sensationalized, unbalanced and unfair coverage, which provides no insight but only promotes fear and misunderstanding. There has been far too much of this and it continues largely unabated.

Some media reports are simply biased and inaccurate. They are from individuals or media outlets that have an agenda against Mexico and will publish anything to promote it, whether or not it is true. What is more troubling are reports from mainstream media that present an unbalanced, superficial and worrisome portrait of what life is like in Mexico, including Baja California.

This is sometimes done because sensationalism sells; other times because of lack of understanding: many reporters never even visit. At other times, the situation in one city is presented as if it represents all of Mexico, a vast country.

Reports repeatedly talk of 6,000 drug-related deaths in Mexico in 2008. That surely is a troubling number, as is the existence of organized crime and the corruption it has caused. We’ve had to work hard in Rosarito to clean it up and it is a continuing challenge. But what the reports don’t mention when they talk of killings is that Mexico is an immense country of 110 million people.

The reports often don’t mention that while some law enforcement personnel have been killed, cartel members primarily are killing each other as it becomes harder for them to do business, as they fight each other for shrinking territories.

What the reports also don’t mention is that in 2008, according to MSNBC, the murder rate in New Orleans was much higher than that of Tijuana. Yet you will not see many, if any, stories warning people not to go to New Orleans. Much of the U.S. media uses far different standards when reporting stories outside the U.S.

More troubling, the reports seldom state clearly that 90 percent or more of the killings in Mexico are drug-related. The typical resident is not targeted, nor is the visitor. As in New Orleans—as in gang wars in Los Angeles—the tourist is not the target.

Yet, those who watch or read many sensationalized media reports in the U.S. have become afraid to visit our region of Mexico, where tourism has dropped more than 50 percent, a reduction that has caused painful economic hardship here.

Sometimes reports cite, out of context, the U.S. State Department alert concerning travel to Mexico, indicating it advises people not to go.

In fact, while noting that drug-related violence has increased recently in Mexico, the alert (not a warning) in part advises “common-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate businesses and tourist areas.” That’s good advice for travelers most anywhere.

The U.S. State Department also notes that “millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year (including thousands who cross the U.S. land border every day for study, tourism or business).” You can read the entire alert on the U.S. Customs website.

Our many frequent visitors and expatriate residents—we have 14,000 in Rosarito alone—are among those who speak strongly of feeling secure here. They know the situation first-hand—not from media reports.

This is not to say that Mexico does not have some crime problems, or that no visitor or U.S. resident will ever be victim of a crime in Mexico. With more than 20 million annual visitors and hundreds of thousands of expatriate residents, a crime will occasionally happen, just as it does in the U.S. and other countries. But that is rare here.

More typical is the experience of Jack Flynn, owner of the Professional Longboard Association, who is a part-time Rosarito resident and has been coming here for decades to surf. He never has had one problem. He encourages people—including fellow surfers—to come see for themselves.

A graduate-level public affairs class at Emerson College, a prestigious communications school in Boston, recently began doing a study on U.S. coverage of Mexico. Already it has found many instances of sensationalism and bias, including some from prestigious media outlets from which better should be expected.

No one at Emerson is getting paid for this project. It is being conducted because the professor of the class, Gregory Payne, saw a vast difference between life in Rosarito, where his family has a home, and what the media was reporting.

He simply could not recognize the safe and enjoyable Rosarito he knows first-hand from the one he was encountering in media reports. He knows that with recent changes, Rosarito probably is safer than ever—despite the impression created by many media reports.

We hope the Emerson project, along with other efforts and the media’s self-examination of its own reporting, will result in fairer coverage in the future. In the meantime, please talk to those who know the area first-hand—or visit yourself—to get an accurate picture.

Right now, you’re not getting one from many media reports.

Hugo Torres is in his second three-year term as Mayor of Rosarito, which he began in December of 2007. Since taking office, he has reformed the police force, adding a special tourist police force, and an office for visitor assistance.

No politician is perfect, but this guy makes a lot of sense. I hope it works.

Rosarito Beach Mayor Hugo Torres Begins San Francisco Promotional Tour Today


ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO---Mayor Hugo Torres and other city officials today began a two-day San Francisco visit to promote tourism, business investment and real estate opportunities in this region.

The focal point of the visit is a forum called “Doing Business In Mexico,” which also includes representatives of other regions of the country.

Both the federal government of Mexico and the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco assisted in arrangements. Rosarito Economic Development Director Hector Reyes and Convention & Visitors Bureau President Laura Wong also are on the trip.

“Rosarito has been a popular tourist destination for the U.S. for decades, and we are the focal point for the construction of vacation and retirement homes along Baja’s Gold Coast,” Torres said. ”About 14,000 foreign nationals now call Rosarito home. In addition, many foreign firms have recognized the advantages of doing business here.”

But Torres said the some unbalanced media coverage of Mexico’s crackdown on organized crime have falsely created the impression that the area is unsafe.

“The battle against drug cartels is an important one that is of vital concern to both Mexico and the U.S.,” Torres said.

“But our visitors and typical residents are in no way at risk from it, despite many media stories that have suggested otherwise.

“Most recent stories and media outlets now recognize that fact, which has been verified by many leading U.S. officials, including the U.S. consul for Baja. But much damage has been done and we need to work hard to reverse the inaccurate perception.

“Trips like this will help do that by informing people that we have wonderful things to offer visitors, residents and investors, all in a safe and welcoming environment.

“We’ll continue with similar trips and other efforts in the future, to make sure the accurate story of our area is told.”

To the Foreign Community in Baja California:

Below in this email you will find a letter that Mayor Hugo Torres sent to Mr. Rodolfo Elizondo, Mexico's Secretary of Tourism (SECTUR) regarding the efforts being made by the city of Rosarito to regain tourism, the results and petitions to the Federal government.

You can also find this letter at http://www.rosarito.gob.mx/rto/English/English.aspx.


Mr. Rodolfo Elizondo Torres
Secretary of Tourism
Mexico City.

With a cordial greeting I inform you that since the first day of operation in the fight against organized crime led by President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, this municipal government has made a special effort in coordinating actions to wage battle and make our country a decent and safe place for future generations. In our administration we have decided to strengthen the federal government actions, we have cleaned our police forces and have made unprecedented efforts for the safety of our visitors to avoid being affected by violent acts of war against drug trafficking, Our Secretary of Public Safety is an official licensed by the Mexican Army.

However, due to the broad and ill-intentioned coverage given by American media to the violent events, we had an increase in notes and reports of crime and high impact incidents have changed the perception of tourists safety that used to visit our tourist corridor. (See Annex 1, article "Murder by Media" as my written response to these facts).
Exaggerated and negative coverage by the media especially in California, has created panic among most of the population. There are notes that go around the world and back again and again without specifying dates and suggests that the events are repeated regularly as this is not true. Our tourists have the idea that by visiting our cities they are at high risk of being kidnapped or killed, as many warnings issued by the U.S. federal government.

The coastal tourism corridor has lost 90% of an American tourist who visit us by road, and more efforts have been carried out, the influx of tourism has not been sufficient to restore the sector and offset the lost tourists . There are many businesses closed, there is unemployment in the area and temporarily close business that if they don’t recover soon, will be decommissioning. We have lost business opportunities in sectors like real estate and the film industry which translates into losses worth millions to our economy.

There are currently more than 3,500 condo units that are not being purchased by the Baby Boomers, who are afraid to come to Baja California. Our unemployment is higher in former employees of the construction industry and tourism.

Attracting tourism to Rosarito was estimated at over one hundred million dollars a year, roughly one fourth of the total captured in the Tijuana-Ensenada corridor. Tourism is no longer an option, our town lived primarily in income received by the spending of the visitor. It is a very difficult situation for the population of an entire city.
In Rosarito, and often with the support of our State Secretary of Tourism, we have made promotional trips abroad on a permanent basis to try to counteract the bad image they have of us. We have participated in forums, we have toured with media support from the consulates, we visited the media, we have responded to erroneous reports and articles explaining the real situation through press releases and interviews with editors and news directors, we have talked to chambers, organized goups and participated in bilateral meetings in our attempt to support the sector in this unfair coverage that goes beyond us. However, our efforts are not enough.

We must do something to restore the region's economy and we must do in the short term.

We have done an analysis and we bring to it the following requests:

a) Declare that the tourist corridor of Tijuana-Rosarito-Ensenada as a priority on economic recovery for the federal government.

b) That Sectur helps in our efforts with the federal government to dialogue with their Mexican counterparts in the United States and revokes or lowers the intensity in the warning issued to U.S. citizens warning them of the dangers of visiting Mexico and especially the border. (See Appendix 2 for the department of weapons, alcohol and drugs in his Los Angeles office advised not to visit Tijuana and Rosarito, see a copy of the warning issued today by the U.S. government).

c) To implement a coordinated marketing campaign in support of our Governor and Secretary of Tourism, in terms of image recovery and help regain the confidence of visitors to this border area.

d) That such a campaign is launched from the United States with professionals and sensitive to the geographic area and issue that suppot efforts to decentralize and has a better use of resources.

e) That an extraordinary amount of allocated resources by the federal government be given to conduct such a campaign to change the perception of coastal tourism corridor of Baja California.

f) Be included as a location for the music concerts of "Vive Mexico" with a free concert with artists that might be of interest to the American and Hispanic market from the United States.

g) To note that the border has been the hardest hit in a matter of perception and less favored in resources to increase tourist numbers.

Let’s remember that Tijuana is the world's busiest border and that Rosarito and Ensenada are cities that attract the most road visitors from the United States in all Baja California and without any doubt, the Mexican border.

h) We are confident that as we recover our lost tourism, the federal government will recover the money invested in us by the capture of federal taxes such as VAT and income tax. The economic income will rebuild confidence in foreign investment, creating jobs and economic prosperity for all sectors, but especially tourism.

We are very grateful for the efforts made by Sectur, but we need at this very difficult time more of its support to succeed.

We know they are difficult times for the whole country, but our situation at the border after the war in which thousands of drug trafficking have been killed in a tragic, bad image of us that are exacerbated by the recent problem of the Influenza virus H1N1, obligation to have a passport to cross into Mexico, the restrictions for buses under 25 passengers and now, the slow border crossings expected after the soon implementation of SIAVE Program in our border, will eventually destroy the tourism that was so popular a few years ago among Americans, and we will loose the wealth and benefit we received as Baja California residents.

Always asking for your kind willingness to listen and address our problems, we know that this desperate situation that begun nearly two years ago is completely shared and understood by you and your team.

Hoping that our requests are met, I thank you and always appreciate your fine attentions.

Respectfully,

C.P. Hugo Torres Chabert

Mayor of Playas de Rosarito
Baja California, Mexico.


ccp Lic Felipe Calderón Hinojosa - CONSTITUTIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC
c.c.p. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán-GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF BAJA CALIFORNIA
d.c. p. C.P. Oscar Escobedo Carignan .- STATE SECRETARY OF TOURISM

Rosarito Beach Mayor Tells International
Law Enforcement Group Of Police Reforms

ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO---Mayor Hugo Torres told an international law enforcement organization of the many improvements made in his city’s police force in the past 18 months.

“I ran for office because of the problems in the police force,” Torres told a July 9 meeting at the Chula Vista Golf Course of the International Liaison Officers Association, which represents Southern California and Baja agencies.

The changes have come with the support of the Mexican federal and Baja state governments, which are working together on fighting organized crime influence and reforming police departments, he said.

“This is an ideal time to work together with these levels of government,” said Torres, who took office in December of 2007. “We’re all on the same page.”

Since he took office, Torres said:

· About half of Rosarito’s then-149-member police force has been replaced, after testing showed that many did not meet department standards for honesty and other criteria

· Under new Police Chief Jorge Montero, a retired Army captain, the police force at the same time has been increased from 149 to 217 officers, many of them former military

· City officers have been provided with better equipment, pay and other benefits

· The city, a popular destination for visitors from California and the Southwest, also has created a special Tourist Police Force of its best officers

· Discussions also are underway to create a special police force that would serve the tourist corridor from Tijuana to Rosarito to Ensenada

Despite the improvements, Torres said, tourism in Rosarito has been down by 70 percent or more in the past year.

That’s largely due to the mistaken impression, partly created by some misleading media reports, that the government’s crackdown on drug cartels and organized crime has made the area unsafe for visitors, he said.

In his talk, the mayor provided the law enforcement group with several examples of coverage that gave a misleading impression of Rosarito.

In fact Rosarito has never been safer, he said.

“It’s the same as New Orleans or Las Vegas, if you stay in the tourist areas you’re not going to have any problem,” he said. “The tourist has never been a target.”

Some of those present also expressed their intentions to visit Rosarito this summer with family and friends.

Mayor Torres also thanked the important bi-national law enforcement group for providing him with the opportunity to talk about progress in Rosarito.