Tijuana Strip Turns Ghostly In Wake of Drug Violence

As Flores spoke, a man in a dirty T-shirt ducked his head into her doorway. Salvador Escareño had worked for 30 years as a salesman in a nearby shop. But the shop closed, and he now scrapes by with odd jobs. On this day he was trying to make a few pesos by selling five tiles scavenged from a remodeling job.

"Look, I've got two children, the food prices are going up and up -- I've got to do something," he said.

Méndez has had to close four of his six clothing stores and lay off more than 40 employees. He's down to just two workers, one for each remaining shop.

The downturn has had less obvious consequences, even endangering public health. In Tijuana's now mostly empty strip clubs, prostitutes have grown so desperate that they are increasingly willing to engage in risky behavior such as having unprotected sex.

"I'll do that now -- let the customer go without a condom -- if they pay me an extra $10," Katia, a longtime Tijuana prostitute, said in an interview. "I know I shouldn't, but I need the money."

The ripple effect goes far beyond the border area. Flores has to turn away the indigenous artists who travel from the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca to supply her store with wooden masks and delicate clay figures. Most are subsistence farmers whose art sales kept them out of extreme poverty, she said.

"I don't know who they'll sell to now," Flores said. "No one is buying."

Mexican tourism officials are alarmed and have accused Mexican and U.S. media of exaggerating the violence.

"The problem is that the perception of violence is much greater than the actual situation, especially in the city of Tijuana," said Escobedo, the state tourism secretary. "The city of Tijuana is much safer than Washington, D.C."

Escobedo cited official statistics showing there were 16 killings in Tijuana last year per 100,000 residents, though the rate appears to be higher this year. The homicide rate in Washington was 29 per 100,000 residents in 2006, according to the FBI's most recent annual report.

The state tourism agency has launched a promotional campaign, and Escobedo points out that spring break hot spots, such as San Felipe on the Gulf of California, are still doing well.

Tijuana officials responded to the problem of police demanding bribes from tourists by instituting a "safety zone" near Avenida Revolucion, and the state has deployed roving crews to help stranded motorists. But it's unclear whether the measures are having any lasting effect. Surfers, for instance, have been abandoning beaches near Tijuana after a recent string of attacks and robberies.

On the other side of the border, tour operators who once took busloads of passengers to Tijuana are beset by cancellations. Lenny Papp, a longtime guide, said five to 10 busloads of conventioneers used to travel from San Diego to Mexico each week.

"Now, you're lucky to get one or two a week," he said.

One recent afternoon, Papp found himself at Disneyland on a day he usually reserved to take tourists to Tijuana. Papp, who books tours from the Welk Resort in Escondido, just north of San Diego, said he believes Tijuana's shopping districts and other tourist attractions are safe. But he had to cancel the Tijuana trip because only six people signed up. Not long ago, he was routinely taking down two buses, with 47 passengers each, he said.

"The news they hear scares them to the point they say, 'I don't want to go down there and get shot,' " Papp said.

There is anecdotal evidence that Tijuana's problems may be benefiting attractions in San Diego. Tour operators say clients who used to shop on Avenida Revolucion are now bargain-hunting in San Diego's Old Town or opting for trips to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the Hotel del Coronado, where the Marilyn Monroe classic "Some Like It Hot" was filmed.

On a recent sunny morning, crowds strolled along the Embarcadero on San Diego's waterfront. Pete and Trudie Marceaux, who live in San Diego, had mapped out a chockablock touring schedule for Pete's sister, Rose Robideaux, and her husband, Clark. Mexico used to be on the regular route when visitors were in town, but not anymore.

"We feel a whole lot safer here than going down there and being part of a shootout with a drug cartel," Pete Marceaux said.

Papp, the tour operator, has heard the same thing. Ten years ago, he threw a 40th birthday party for his wife in Rosarito Beach, just south of Tijuana. Since then, he has bought a condominium in Rosarito, and he thought it would be the perfect spot for his 60th birthday bash this month.

He sent out invitations, but then the phone calls started. Suspiciously, it seemed, many of his friends -- some of whom had attended his wife's party -- said they were busy that weekend.

Finally, he said, one friend told him, "With all the stuff going on -- as much as we'd love to celebrate your birthday with you -- we'd rather wait. If you have it over here, we'll be there."

A few days before the party, he realized that not one friend would attend.