Tijuana shots

“A Tijuana Christmas Tree” by Kinsee Morlan

Border agents under attack

“Street Shrine” by Kinsee Morlan

Reports about the increased use of pepper spray and tear gas by U.S. Border Patrol agents and the unintended results (read: agents are allegedly affecting Tijuana residents who live near the border) are rapidly piling up, but none I’ve seen so far have answered the obvious question: What kind of training do U.S. Border Patrol agents undergo? Are they trained to use these nonlethal weapons?

Wendy Lee, the local press officer for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, says agents are trained to use the spray and their collapsible steel batons, but she wasn’t sure about the tear gas. She said agents undergo four months of training at an academy in New Mexico, describing it as “a lot like the police academy.”

Four months certainly doesn’t seem like much time to me. If these problems persist, the Border Patrol might want to consider tacking on some more training time.

Mexican labor laws don’t mean squat to foreign owners

The Muebles Fino workers in Tijuana are still upset. I recently went to a gathering they held outside of the now closed maquila where some of them built furniture for over 15 years.

The rain kept most away, but the dozen or so workers and supporters who showed up were fervent in their demands for compensation. Mexican labor law, you see, demands the company give the longtime employees a severance payment.

According to the spokesperson I talked to, only a few of the workers have been paid any money and all. None have been paid what they’re owed. Somehow, though, the owners, a company called California FineWood Co. based in Carson, Calif., manages to pay the three or four security guards we saw blocking the entrance to the defunct maquila. There is still furniture and expensive equipment inside, which the workers argue should be sold off to pay the severance packages. Apparently, the California-based owners feel as though paying the security guards is a better use of their money.

The factory has been closed for nearly a year now and the case of the workers is still caught up in the equivalent of the Tijuana labor board. According to signs posted on the maquila, however, the company says the deadline for payment has past.

Unfortunately, this is just one example of how the Mexican labor laws are trampled on by foreign owners who use Mexico as their assembly plants.

Come out of the closet, Kubrick fans

Not that being a Kubrick fan is anything to be ashamed of, but it isn’t often that we get to view his films in public.  Come one, come all to Casa de la 9.

No Borders Camp video

“Strike” by Memho Sepulveda

I was at a San Diego bar last weekend when a stranger started talking to me about living in Tijuana and immediately brought up the No Borders Camp video that had been flying around the Internet a few weeks ago. Of course I’d seen it, I told her.

She followed up by saying the press hadn’t covered it at all. I didn’t have a good answer as to why not, but frankly, I’m not sure that the mainstream press would do a good job with it. It’s best to just see the video yourself.

So, in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video of what happened at last month’s No Borders Camp in Calexico/Mexicali.

Damn.

 

“Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road? Because He was in Tijuana” by Kinsee Morlan

Most people squirm at the thought of visiting Tijuana.  What about the hassle at the border?  What about the corrupt police? And what of the violence and danger?

I like to tell folks that there’s nothing they can’t handle and that the rumors they hear are often untrue and overblown. Tijuana is just like any other city, I tell them, it’s got good parts and bad.  But then reports like this one about a recent string of professional robberies carried out on American tourists  come out, and I’m reminded that I may be a bit naive in my summation.

I guess I’m going to have start telling folks to come, but be careful.