Being a former border reporter and an eager student of social media, I am always keeping my eyes open for ways that these two interests of mine intersect. A couple examples from this year demonstrate how social media is playing a role in cross-border investigations.
And now a story in The Guardian sums up why it’s a good idea to understand what’s public and what’s not in Facebook – especially if you are a fugitive hiding out in Mexico.
According to the story (which I first read in Mashable), Maxi Sopo fled the United States earlier this year after allegedly getting involved in a fraud scheme and learning that investigators were looking into his possible involvement. Rather than lie low online as well as offline, Sopo started updating his Facebook status with descriptions of the good times he was having in Cancun. One of his Facebook “friends” was a former justice department official who apparently met Sopo at a Cancun nightclub and had no knowledge of Sopo’s fugitive status, according to the story. Read The Guardianfor more details, but I would venture to guess that Sopo’s updates from jail probably aren’t so pleasant.
Thalia is a well-known Mexican singer and former TV soap star. I remember watching her in the Maria la del Barrio series that was on Mexican television in the 90s in which she portrays a trash picker rescued by a wealthy benefactor and eventually finds true love after tearful betrayals and misunderstandings. In real life, Thalia Sodi Mirana married music executive Tommy Motolla.
According to The New York Times, the event will be rebroadcast Thursday on PBS stations as part of the series “In Performance at the White House.” It is also to be shown Sunday on the Telemundo network.
QUESTION: Was the president’s dance out-of-bounds? There seems to be a lot of chatter on the Internet about whether or not Michelle Obama looked annoyed or gave him the cold shoulder afterwards. Thoughts?
The striking thing about the fate of Mexican defense attorney Americo Delgado, who defended various Mexican drug traffickers over the years, is not so much that he was murdered recently – but that he had apparently lived to be in his 80s.
The Los Angeles Times’ Ken Ellingwood reported on Delgado’s killing in this story, which explains how Delgado was stabbed to death by a group of men in front of his home in Toluca, Mexico.
I remember reaching Americo Delgado by phone once when I was a reporter at The San Diego-Union Tribune, covering border news. I was seeking a quote from him in regards to the U.S. government’s efforts to extradite his client Benjamin Arellano-Felix, the former high-ranking member of the Arellano Felix drug group (Arellano was eventually extradited). The fact that he even took my call was somewhat amazing to me.
Over the seven years I worked in Tijuana, I interviewed or talked to several other Mexican defense attorneys who represented people who were either directly or indirectly involved with major drug groups. One of them was gunned down shortly after I chatted with him (no connection). Another one ended up being killed and stuffed inside a car trunk.
I occasionally wondered how Americo Delgado - who defended some of the drug world’s top lieutenants – managed to avoid the fate of his less-fortunate colleagues in this shadowy world where “just doing one’s job” is complicated by the deeper symbolism and loyalties that the drug trafficking world operates on. Delgado had most recently been defending suspected drug trafficker Alfredo Beltran Leyva, according to newspaper reports.
This is a story in The San Diego Union-Tribune about California being in line for federal funds to prevent border violence from spilling into the United States. All border states are apparently getting the funds, and it will be interesting to see how the money is used. Spill-over violence is something that has existed in a sporadic sense along the San Diego border but it seems to be getting extra attention these days, probably because of the drug violence that has been going on in Mexico.
Last month, I went to a quinceanera (15th Birthday party celebration) in Tijuana that included a clown on stilts who walked through the dance floor and did circus tricks. It was very Cirque du Soleil. Lucky, a Tijuana dog I take for occasional walks, didn’t have that kind of celebration for her own coming-of-age moment (see photo on right), but she was one of hundreds who participated in the city’s first-ever “Perroton” spay & neuter clinic that took place a few weekends ago.
There were no clowns, but outside the facility the atmosphere was very circus-like with a pet costume party, music and outdoor movies.
The “Perroton” (basically a play on the word ‘perro,’ which means dog, and ’marathon’) was a 24-hour all-nighter that took place at Tijuana’s Universidad Autonoma de Baja California with a team of veterinarians and volunteers dedicated to reducing the number of street dogs and cats in the Tijuana area. It is also an example of the cross-border collaboration that one sees along Baja communities like Tijuana and San Felipe - check out what’s going on with animal activists in Felipe- where U.S. expatriates have become active in working with local activists in addressing the problem of large numbers of street animals by holding adoption services and reducing the population through spay & neuter clinics.
More than 300 animals were spayed and neutered during the first-ever Tijuana “Perroton” event that was sponsored by a number of civic organizations, such as the Tijuana Humane Society, which regularly holds smaller-scale clinics for free or reduced prices, and the Preventive Animal Brigade. People came to have their cats and dogs spayed or neutered for under $30. The money is being collected to build a new animal shelter so that dogs like Lucky (who was rescued as a puppy from the streets of Tecate) can prosper and find new homes.
The Institute of the Americas at the University of California San Diego holds on Thursday another of its “Tequila Talks,” this time with Baja California Governor Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan (right), who will speak about public security issues and challenges along the border.
Still salivating from the Baja culinary trip I took this weekend (see previous post), I would be tempted to ask him about what are his favorite foods to eat south of the border.
If you are a member of the general public, register and pay here for the event, which takes place Thursday (July 23) . It costs $10 for the general public, but is free for journalists, teachers and students who can sign up here.
The presentation will be in Spanish, and it starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Weaver Conference Center at UCSD-Institute of the Americas. Get directions and parking instructions here: http://www.iamericas.org/en/about/latest/map.html).
I haven’t seen the governor in a while, but I send him my greetings. This photo (above) is from a Tijuana holiday gathering in December, 2007, shortly after he took office and when I told him I would be leaving The San Diego-Union Tribune after seven years covering the border beat. You can read a story about him here that was written that same year by my Tijuana colleague Sandra Dibble.
Tijuana has been the brunt of many a pothole joke. It’s not entirely an exageration. After years of living and working there, I was amazed at how they seemed to appear overnight. I once did a story on them, and was told as many as xxx existed in the city. Not even a a mobile pothole patcher designed in xxx seemed to keep them from popping up.
These days, however, the signs of street progress are clearly underway as huge swaths of pothole-pocked asphalt streets are being entirely replaced with sturdy concrete. You can get a taste of this when you enter Tijuana from the Otay Mesa port of entry where the new topping makes for a smoother and quieter entry experience.
The administration of Tijuana mayor Jorge Ramos apparently borrowed money to pay for the road work. It may be annoying to many Tijuanans who must navigate around orange construction cones and cement trucks, but I expect that new roads will leave a tangible impression on residents here, and it certainly won’t hurt the political aspirations of Ramos, who may just be interested in running for governor.
Tijuana has been the brunt of many a pothole joke. It’s not entirely an exageration. After living and working there, I was amazed at how they seemed to appear overnight. I once did a story on them for The San Diego Union-Tribune, and was told that as many as 800,000 existed in the city. Not even a mobile pothole patcher seemed to keep them from popping up.
These days, however, the signs of street progress are clearly underway as huge swaths of pothole-pocked asphalt streets are being entirely replaced with sturdy concrete. You can get a taste of this when you enter Tijuana from the Otay Mesa port of entry area where the new topping makes for a smoother and quieter entry experience.
It may be annoying to many Tijuanans who must navigate around orange construction cones and cement trucks, but I expect that a smoother driving experience here will leave a tangible impression on residents (and visitors). I wouldn’t be surprised if it also helps Ramos when Baja Californians vote for a new governor.
Rosarito Beach has become a popular hub for U.S. expats, many who rent or buy places along the coast. An estimated 14,000 of them live in this coastal city, about 15 minutes south of central Tijuana. Just like Mexican immigrants north of the border, not all of them have got their residency papers in order. About 8,000 expats are registered legal residents of Rosarito Beach. Rather than round up the rest of them for deportation, Mexican authorities have opened an immigration branch office to make it easier for everyone to be in compliance.
Here is the press release from Rosarito Beach’s communications office:
“A branch office of Mexico ’s department of immigration has opened at Rosarito’s City Hall to better serve the area’s large and growing expatriate population. Previously, the nearest office was in Tijuana . The Rosarito office will be open Monday through Friday from 8 to 1. Phone numbers are 661-612-7262or 661-612-7263.
Through the office people can receive advice and assistance with FM3s, FM2s and other immigration matters. Appointments are available by calling the above numbers or people can simply go to the office. Immigration officials also welcome presidents of the city’s several expatriate groups to contact them for information they can share with their members.
About 8,000 expatriates in Rosarito, primarily from the United States , are registered with immigration. Rosarito Beach Mayor Hugo Torres estimates that about 6,000 are not registered.
“This office is a welcome addition to the city and will make it easier for our residents to receive needed services,” Torres said. “Already, about 10 percent of our population are expatriates and we expect that number to grow significantly in the future as more Baby Boomers retire here.”
A reader posted a question recently about that new passport requirement for U.S. (and Canadian) citizens crossing the border from Mexico: What happens if you show up without your passport? I thought it was a good a question because it got me wondering about possible repercussions. …Is it like when you get a speeding ticket? Are we talking jail time? Handcuffs?
I passed on the message to Vince Bond, a spokesman over at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and he provided this helpful response, which he allowed me to re-publish here:
“Federal officers will not deny entry to any valid US citizen. Travelers may experience delays while CBP officers possibly refer them to secondary inspection so that their identity and admissibility can be positively determined.
Our officers have enforcement discretion to make the determination whether to allow a non-compliant traveler to proceed into the United States , with a written warning to obtain the proper travel documents, or to refer them to the secondary inspection area. The warning document explains that the traveler is not compliant with the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and explains what documents are acceptable and how to obtain them. Lots of information about this process is on www.getyouhome.gov .
We continue to encourage US citizens who cross the Canadian or Mexican land border to apply for and obtain a passport book, passport card, Sentri/Nexus trusted traveler card, or Enhanced Drivers License from participating states to facilitate their travel. I want to add that the overwhelming majority of traveling US citizens crossing the border already are WHTI compliant. Mexican travelers are unaffected by WHTI.”
Thanks to Vince for setting us straight. Here is a screen shot from a file he sent me about the notice you might get if you show up at the border without your passport:
Students from Tijuana elementary schools showed they could spell better than some of their counterparts north of the border in a special Spelling Bee contest done entirely in English.
An article in El Mexicano newspaper reports that ten of the 18 awards – three were doled out for each grade level – went to children from Tijuana. The recent contest pitted Tijuana students from the Instituto Juan Diego, Instituto Defensores de Baja California, Instituto Metropolitano, Colegio Eiffel, and Instituto Miguel de Cervantes de Tijuana against students from San Diego’s Capri Elementary, Del Sur Elementary, and Perkins Elementary of San Diego, according to the article.
Though the San Diego kids may have had the hometown advantage of being from an English-dominant country, The Tijuana students came from private schools where English is typically taught at a young age. I didn’t find a reference to the event in any English-language publications, but El Mexicano reported this was the second annual cross-border English spelling bee that is coordinated through a Sister Schools program.
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