Mapping Dangerous Spaces: Working Paper

Tijuana, B.C.: Myth and reality of a dangerous space

Do not cite without authors permission

Sylvia Meichsner
Sociology Department - University of Essex - Wivenhoe Park - Colchester CO4 3SQ
smeich@essex.ac.uk

Welcome to Tijuana
Tequila, sexo, mariguana
Welcome to Tijuana
Con el coyote no hay aduana. i
Manu Chao, Clandestino

Speaking about Tijuana is a difficult enterprise. Whilst it is the Latin American city that has been
most widely written about (and has commonly been referred to in films, novels, poems and
songs (Palaversich 2003: 97)), the representation is incoherent is blurry and the information too
contradictory to easily make sense of this city. In what follows, I will try to sketch it out this city in
order to show why it is commonly perceived as a dangerous space by drawing on empirical
material collected during an extended fieldwork stay in 2008.

Tijuana sits at the half-island of Baja California, a geographically extremely isolated Mexican
state. In 2002, the urban settlement covered a surface of 23 572.07 hectare (Instituto Municipal
de Planeacin 2003: 38). Located at the extreme North-Western corner of Mexico and thus of
Latin America, its particular geographic position makes Tijuana a major hub for all kinds of
people who move forward and backward over the border for many reasons (Herzog 2004: 138;
Davis 2000: 31, Narvez Gutirrez 2007: 58).

Locally specific branches of the economy emerged in Tijuana, contributing to the creation of a
particular atmosphere that is perceived negatively at the other side of the border. In 1920, for

Mapping Dangerous Spaces: Working Paper

example, the American Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals of the Methodist
Church wrote about Tijuana:

Everything goes at Tia Juana. There are scores of gambling devices, long
drinking bars, dance halls, hop joints, cribs for prostitutes, cock fights, dog fights,
bullfights The town is a mecca of prostitutes, booze sellers, gamblers and
other American vermin. (Ridgely 1966-68 quoted according to Flix Berumen
2003: 178)
Almost 90 years later, the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the U.S. Department of State published
the following text about Tijuana on its web site:

Violent criminal activity fuelled by a war between criminal organizations

struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.Mexico border ()In its effort to combat violence, the government of Mexico has
deployed military troops in various parts of the country (). Armed robberies and
carjackings, apparently unconnected to the narcotics-related violence, have
increased in Tijuana (). Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or
murdered in Tijuana in 2007. Public shootouts have occurred during daylight
hours near shopping areas. Criminals are armed with a wide array of
sophisticated weapons (U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs:
Travel Alert)

Whilst police and military indeed appropriated the streets of Tijuana and other common spaces
(Ruz Vargas 2005: 154), this negative reputation itself functions as an incentive to some
tourists for coming to Tijuana as proved by the following comment:

I was feeling dark and I wanted something dark; I decided to travel down to the
Mexican-American border. () I thought how wonderfully seedy this was and
that I could easily be robbed or murdered up here. () I was seeking another
dark and sleazy experience (Hemmingson 2008: 78-79).

By the citys chronicler, this reputation is identified as an imaginary construction developed by

puritan Americans. Fuelled by mass media and arts ii the image of the hellish Mexican town
(Flix Berumen 2003: 239) composed by violence, immorality, vice and drug trafficking iii has
transcended the existing city. Imposing itself like a heavy burden (Flix Berumen 2003: 21), this
construction interweaves itself into reality and both mutually nourish each other (Flix Berumen
2003: 338). Thus the citys image shapes its social life and living conditions, mediated by

Mapping Dangerous Spaces: Working Paper

contradictory social representations, symbols, images and discourses (Flix Berumen 2003: 34,
38) iv .

According to Berumen, Tijuana has developed into a sheer emblem, into a lexicalized
metaphor and synonym of lawless grounds so predominant that finally nobody knows what
the city is all about in reality (Flix Berumen 2003: 236, 321) v . Everything had been said about
Tijuana, but being submitted to constant and inevitable change, tomorrow Tijuana is different.
Consequently, it is not possible to relate to Tijuana directly, but only to its representation:
Tijuanas culture is a bit like a huge buffet-lunch of pseudo-signs where everybody can pick
what suits them best (Yepez 2005: 27). However, to many people living in Tijuana it is just the
place and space they feel they belong to with all that this implies, a place charged with history
and memory (Palaversich 2003: 100).

In what follows, I will try to lift the fog from this imaginary construction which wraps reality in
order to for carve out where the one ends and the other begins. This will start with a look
towards the past as the current situation might hardly be understood without reflecting on recent
history.

The becoming of an evil twin

The location of Tijuana had formerly been inhabited by families belonging to the semi-nomadic
indigenous tribe of the Kumiai. In 1769, missionaries arrived. The main building of a ranch
called Tia Juana had been set up close to the temporary settlements of the indigenous
inhabitants (Piera Ramirez 1985: 52). The missionaries active in the Alta and Baja California
area were Dominicans and Franciscans (Piera Ramirez 1985: 24), Alta California back then
equalling what is today the American state of California. The borough of Tijuana was located in
this states extreme South, the San Diego mission, as there were Tecate, Rosarito, Otay and
San Antonio de los Buenos which is now a Southern suburb of Tijuana. This signifies that the

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Tijuana area had always been more closely linked to California than to Central Mexico (Piera
Ramirez 1985: 25) which might explain some of its particularities provoking the impression that
Tijuana is not Mexico (Flix Berumen 2003: 263-276). Despite this, the first years of Tijuanas
existence were characterized by a strong dependence from the U.S. that coincided with a lack
of economic integration into the rest of Mexico (Zenteno Quintero 1995: 129).

Perceived distance from Central Mexico expanded further when measures of the Federal
Mexican government found firm disapproval among the population in the Tijuana area. For
instance, former prison inmates were sent to settle in California in the first half of the 19th
century despite objections by many members of the population (Piera Ramirez 1985: 30).

Financially neglected by the federal government, Tijuana gained unavoidably economic

independence (Piera Ramirez 1985: 95) by drawing officially on revenues from gambling halls,
bars, clubs, brothels and drug trafficking since the beginnings of the 20th century (Flix Berumen
2003: 292).

Before the conquest (during the years of colonization and also during the first decades of
independence), the valley of Tijuana and the opposite valley of San Diego who share the same
climatic conditions and thus the same flora and fauna, had been one and the same (Piera
Ramirez 1985: 19). A clear separation occurred with the establishment of the border as it is
today, following the Guadalupe Hidalgo treaties in 1848 that were a consequence of the
Mexican-American war and converted more than half of the Mexican territory into the Southern
States of the U.S.A. as there are California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico (Piera Ramirez
1985: 39). Thus, the Tijuana valley became part of the border strip and Tijuana found itself now
being part of Baja California. Years of economic and social disorder followed which became
fuelled by gold findings in California attracting a huge crowd of adventurers in search of luck
(Piera Ramirez 1985: 60). To this added the economic and demographic boom following San
Diegos integration into the North American railway net (Piera Ramirez 1985: 62) all of which

Mapping Dangerous Spaces: Working Paper

had repercussions on the Tijuana area that, towards the end of the 19th century, started
gradually growing into a more urban settlement. A document finishing with long-term territory
conflicts that also encompassed a plan of the urban setting dates back to 1889. This had since
been considered as the founding year of the city of Tijuana (Piera Ramirez 1985: 64) and
suggests that Tijuana is a comparatively young urban agglomeration. Nowadays, Tijuana is not
only larger than its twin-town San Diego, but also larger than San Francisco, Portland and
Seattle whilst its formal economy and its public budget rather correspond to a city one-third of
its size (Davis 2000: 26).

During the first decades of the 20th century, Tijuana increasingly became a place for leisure
activities set up with the complicity of Mexican authorities (Flix Berumen 2003: 82) and
financed by U.S.-American capital vi (Flix Berumen 2003: 82). A high concentration of
nightclubs, bars and gambling halls made it a playground for a predominantly foreign audience
and a tourist town closely linked to the social and economic dynamics in the U.S.A. (Flix
Berumen 2003: 68-69) vii . The economic wellbeing of California moved across the border to the
Tijuana area, but it did not reach the average Mexican as foreign bar, shop and hotel owners
preferably employed foreign staff (Piera Ramirez 1985: 99; Zenteno Quintero 1995: 110) viii .
Mexican natives had to struggle to access to this section of the labour market and only
accomplished it little by little (Ruz Vargas 2005: 123).

What further fuelled Tijuanas development was that from 1920 onwards, the U.S.A. went
through a phase where the production and commercialization of intoxicating liquors as well as
gambling, box fights, horse races and other similar activities had been interdicted (Ley
Volstead, ley seca; Flix Berumen 2003: 80). This occurred at the same time as a puritan and
moralizing campaign in California was underway which aimed to address vice and 'profane
pleasures' (Campbell 2005: 17). Locating these criminal (but nonetheless profitable) activities
over the border bolstered Tijuanas economic, demographic and urban development (Flix
Berumen 2003: 80). Americans streamed into the city in their thousands in order to enjoy

Mapping Dangerous Spaces: Working Paper

weekend leisure activities which provoked a boom in bars, hotels, nightclubs, brothels, gambling
halls and commerce (Flix Berumen 2003: 61). Thus, what had in the U.S.A. been considered
to be sinful generated flourishing businesses in Tijuana whose profits were often reabsorbed
into the economy of the USA. (Flix Berumen 2003: 155, 157). This way, a polarization between
the twin cities each side of the border became more and more evident.

For example, Tijuana grew into the incarnation of the evil and the social chaos, into sin city,
and into a centre of moral corruption where good habits collapse and conscience looses its
ties (Flix Berumen 2005: 11). Meanwhile San Diego continued to represent the model of the
ideal city as clean and respectable, and populated by a hard-working community (Flix
Berumen 2003: 121). The border between Tijuana and San Diego, between Mexico and the
States, became a metaphor of the boundaries between the good and the bad, between the
moral and the immoral (Flix Berumen 2003: 102, 115). Whilst San Diego was the place of
legitimate reproductive sexual activity Tijuana became the place where non-reproductive sex
and sexual practices forbidden in the USA could be explored (Flix Berumen 2003: 74). This
development was compounded by the Second World War and the Korean War which saw
seamen from the naval base in San Diego streaming to Tijuanas bars and brothels. Linked
commercial branches like abortion clinics, brothels in the citys outskirts (kilometros), offices
for express marriages and divorces as well as the traffic with undocumented migrants (Flix
Berumen 2003: 158).
Another side-effect of the wars was a lack of workforce in the U.S.A.s agriculture that led to the
establishment of the bracero programme for Mexicans to step into the gap. This saw Mexicans
from all parts of the country, who felt that they have little or no life chances within Mexico, travel
to border towns like Tijuana in order to make use of an opportunity to help out in American
crops with planting, cultivating and harvesting (Piera Ramirez 1985: 170, 202).

By displacing opportunities for undesirable and/or illegal activities into the territory of their
Mexican neighbours, it was possible for those in the USA (and especially those in the San

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Diego area) to maintain a moral equilibrium and internal stability (Flix Berumen 2003: 120).
Conveniently located only a few hours away from Los Angeles ix and in immediate
neighbourhood of the large San Diego area from where people could easily travel southwards,
Tijuana served as a first class valve of release and this has not changed to date. The above
mentioned Ley Volstead has since long being history and both of the wars forgotten, the city
centre is especially on the weekends overcrowded with Americans. This is particularly true for
youth who hop over the border in order to dedicate themselves to binge drinking in the bars and
other distractions at Tijuanas Avenida Revolucin x . It is just a few blocks away from the border
and the centre of the area of main tourist interest that begins after a five minute walk from the
border crossing point San Ysidro. It encompasses basically the 15 square blocks beginning at
Calle Coahuila in the North and stretching out downwards towards the centre. This basically
coincides with the citys red light district, a space that is, according to a 39-year old American
volunteer, considered as a lawless zone (personal communication, 22/ 08/ 08) by some as the
rate of death through violence has over years been far higher than in other areas of Mexico
(representative of the Forensic Medical Service if Baja California, 14/ 08/ 2008).

Legal regimentations in the U.S.A. prohibit the purchase of alcohol by those younger than
twenty-one years of age. In Tijuana the legislation is more relaxed and the age of majority is
reached at 18 (Flix Berumen 2003: 75).

In the 1980s, Tijuana was in many ways like an island within Mexico. The main currency in use
was the dollar and those who dared to pay in Mexican Pesos were often viewed with suspicion.
There was only one local and one national TV channel available, all other TV-programmes
available were U.S. channels (DArtigues 2008: A14). With the signing of the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) whose implementation began in 1994, foreign business started
settling in Tijuana. U.S.-American chain stores (e.g. Blockbuster Video, Office Depot, Sears,
Direct TV, Costco, Wal-Mart), food outlets (including McDonalds, Carls Jr., Burger King,
Dominos Pizza) and hotels (e. g. Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton) arrived and USA-style shopping

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centres were established and Mexicans introduced to American lifestyle and consumption
patterns through American TV-programmes received by satellite (Herzog 2003: 125-126).

Another striking feature of patterns of consumption in Tijuana is the centrality of its illicit industry
of drugs: indeed it is estimated that there are 120, 000 drug addicts in the region . Consumed
drugs vary, but synthetic drugs or methamphetamine derivates are those who are most in
demand. These are sold in approximately 20,000 secret selling points (tienditas) spread out
over the citys 1300 colonias (Gil Olmos 2008: 10). Medicines that would elsewhere only be
available with a formal prescription can be bought over the counter (Flix Berumen 2003: 101)
in the numerous pharmacies which practically start at the border line.

Several economic crises in Mexico, political conflicts within Mexico itself and Mexican workers
returning from the U.S. brought further waves of Mexicans to the border towns and the
population of Tijuana not only grew steadily, but also at least doubled within one decade (Ruz
Vargas 2008: 122; Piera Ramirez 1985: 170) xi . The uncontrollable population growth started
triggering urban problems in the 1950s xii (Piera Ramirez 1985: 185) particularly because the
growth in population created a greater demand for employment, public services and housing
(Contreras Delgado et al. 2004: 3-32). Problematically, the production of affordable housing
with basic services was never able to catch up with the demand (Ruz Vargas/ Aceves Caldern
1998: 52). These problems were not resolved until recently and led to the formation of several
cities within the city that all nourish themselves from the same womb (Ruz Vargas/ Aceves
Caldern 1998: 12). A migration background and 'foreingness' are social references that cut
across class, ethnic self-understanding, age, gender, political visions and educational
background (Ruz Vargas 2008: 136). Being from Tijuana means being from everywhere and
nowhere, in between two countries and two languages but in the same time being culturally
autonomous (Campbell 2005: 18).

What makes this space a dangerous one xiii

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What in positive terms is called culturally autonomous might in a less optimistic expression be
captured in the notion of uprooting: a feeling that both feeds into and becomes reinforced
through the perception of constant being threatened.
In conversations overheard in public transport and through active discussion with Tijuana locals,
it was obvious that many very ordinary people who are not even remotely involved in illicit
activities fear to leave their houses. Survival strategies include distrust towards policemen and
representatives of the law, marking ones territory, limiting the circle of friends, restricting social
networks, constructing ones own map of the city and ignoring all the rest (Ruz Vargas 2008:
155). Individuals cut back their liberties and withdraw into the core family. Fear of others,
violence, strangers and those who are different is dominant in the local psyche (Ruz Vargas
2008: 155). How did this outlook originate?

Mxico in general (and particularly the border towns) is caught up in a militarised conflict
between the Mexican government, represented by units specialized in the combat of organized
crime as well as local and federal police forces, and the rivalling Mexican drug cartels. President
Felipe Caldern declared the war to the drug trafficking cartels and asked civil society to
support him with commitment. Political analyst Jorge Chabat from the Center for Research and
Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City explains in Tijuanas local newspaper Frontera
that violence is to a certain degree inherent to the drug trafficking business because it is an illicit
activity so that any problems or frictions can not be resolved by taking them to court (functional
violence). Consequently, whoever fails to pay in time for a received commodity is killed and so
is any policeman who accepted bribing but did not accomplish his part of the contract. From
2005 onwards, a war between the operating cartels broke loose that had been fuelled by the
detention of important figures within the cartels as death and detention of a cartels key figures
always triggers internal disputes about whose turn it is to now assume the respective position
(Carrasco Araizaga 2008: 9).

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Through governmental initiatives aiming on the elimination of drug trafficking companies
through the destruction of their operating structures a new dynamic sat off and what had before
been a fight between drug cartels became an intense fight between drug traffickers and the
Mexican government that reached a degree where national security must be considered as
threatened xiv .

The number of violent deaths skyrocketed after President Caldern assumed office due to the
pressure exerted on the cartels (Flores Prez 2008: 4) and so did the number of kidnappings
both of which can be expected to impact negatively on foreign investment.

Any violent action realized by drug trafficking cartels is supposed to take place with tolerance if
not support from police officials at different hierarchy levels and from different divisions (Davis
2000: 37; Heras 2008: 34) obtained through bribes or threats (Astorga 2008: 7; Carrasco
Araizaga 2008: 7). To stop this, the army had been charged with the combat against drug
related crime. xv In the Tijuana area, this becomes traduced in a strong military presence in daily
life. xvi A 62-year old American woman volunteering in Tijuana describes the situation as follows
(e-mail communication 22/ 04/ 09):
An every day occurrence in the US is seeing a police car go by... in TJ we
see a truck loaded with military in full dress including a black stocking cap
face mask and rifle with a machine gun on top of the truck. () We are so
blessed in the US... you have no idea the difference between Tijuana,
Mexico and just stepping across the border into San Ysidro, California. This
city is probably 95% native Mexican but it is still the USA... unbelievably
different.

Whilst investments into the combat of crime and violence take place, some very basic features
remain ignored. Tijuanas local police forces, for example, do not have enough cars at their
disposal that would function properly. xvii This means that many neighbourhoods can not be
patrolled as they should be and that emergency calls can not be responded to properly
(Nafarrate Fausto/ Tamayo 2008: 36-A, 37-A). Drug trafficking companies employ arms that are
usually reserved for military use (Astorga 2008: 7) and brought to Mexico from the U.S. (Zeta

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2008: 32-A; Oxfam 2007). To make the best use of them, men deserted from the Mexican army
who are well trained in the handling of those weapons are hired xviii (Flores Prez 2008: 3).

Violence related to drug trafficking is closely linked with violence which is a result of the
trafficking of arms and humans. Each of these is acute in Tijuana, favoured by criminals for its
geographic location, thus contributing to make Baja California the Mexican state where crime
rates are highest (Carrasco Araizaga 2008: 8). Conflicting groups share the power in Tijuana
according to geographic features and small scale drug commerce is closely observed by the
cartels gunmen whilst occasional agreements between drug trafficking cartels and state
authorities make coexistence possible (Carrasco Araizaga 2008: 11; Economist Intelligence
Unit 2008: 27). Kidnappings as a means to generate capital quickly xix , are so common in
Tijuana that media created the dictum of the kidnapping industry (Gil Olmos 2008: 6). Those
targeted are usually members of the financial elite and with increasing frequency also those
from the middle-class who have some savings, but do not have sufficient funds to surround
them with a sophisticated security system thus making them an easy target xx . Children are a
preferred target as their parents are expected to obtain the ransom quickly in order to diminish
the emotional impact of the crime to their offspring. (Diariomonitor 08/ 07/ 08: 7A). Indeed,
'express kidnappings' have been observed that force the kidnapped person to withdraw as
much as possible from its bank account before it is set free again. The most frequent type of
kidnapping occurs as a punishment, e. g. for breaking an agreement with a drug trafficking
company or non-accomplishment of a given task. This often (but not always) leads to severe
physical mistreatment and the assassination of the victim (Mosso Castro 2008: 26-A; Gil Olmos
2008: 8). In these cases rescue payments are not demanded, people just disappear.
Sometimes their corpses are found afterwards xxi , sometimes they disappear without leaving the
least trace.
A lack of adequate structures to pursue cases of disappeared individuals and continued threats
to those family members who decide to investigate the case of their loved one, contributes to a
climate of impunity (Habana/ Heras 2008: 37; Heras 2008: 34; Haro Cordero 2008: 39-A).

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Senator Rosario Ibarra insinuates, however, that the tacit disappearing of many individuals aims
more on calming unwanted political voices than on the demand of rescue payments (Becerril
2008: 17). Despite this, conflicts about territories and trade routes can involve social groups that
are not genuinely related with the drug trafficking business. In September 1998, for example, a
handful of gunmen working for a subgroup of the cartel predominant in Tijuana pulled about 20
individuals belonging to the indigenous group of the Pai-Pai (including children and a pregnant
woman) out of bed, brought them together in a backyard and opened fire with automatic
weapons. The reason was a long-term quarrel about the cartels use of communal lands of the
indigenous population for marijuana cultivation and clandestine airstrips (Davis 2000: 38).

However, what makes Tijuana a dangerous space is not always directly linked with drug
trafficking. The region of Tijuana showed the highest rate of mortal violence against women
during the period between 2000-2004 (Fuentes Romero/ Barajas Tinoco/ Figueroa Ramrez
2007: 210) the motives mainly being family conflict, jealousy, armed robbery, violation, revenge
and punishment (Fuentes Romero/ Barajas Tinoco/ Figueroa Ramrez 2007: 216). Most of
these victims lived in marginalized areas (Fuentes Romero/ Barajas Tinoco/ Figueroa Ramrez
2007: 213-214) and had been of childbearing age which meant that small children were left
orphaned (Fuentes Romero/ Barajas Tinoco/ Figueroa Ramrez 2007: 211).

According to government officials of Baja California had Tijuanas city centre (Zona Norte and
Zona Ro) the highest number of violent deaths per 100,000 in habitants all over Mexico in
2005, the victims in most cases were male and between 19 and 43 years old, and the incidents
frequently occurring on Sunday mornings between 1am and 6am. xxii What is striking about this
is that this area shows an extremely high density of observation cameras so that the crimes
should not easily be committed unobserved.

The Manchester-based anthropologist, Susanne Hofmann, who currently carries out research
on Tijuanas sex workers has observed that there are many formerly undocumented migrants in

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the Tijuana area, especially in the red light district, who have been expelled from the U.S. These
migrants mainly work in the area in jobs related to the sex industry, e. g. as hawkers, bouncers,
barkers or waiters. Many of this group have lived quite some time at the other side of the border
and may thus experience a sense of alienation from their home country. Poorly equipped in
terms of financial resources and useful contacts, this group tends to generate its income by
using rather opportunistic methods. According to her, it can be assumed that these men are
accustomed to a youth gang culture in the U.S.A. which led them to identify strongly with their
local territory thus developing strategies of appropriating space. This becomes traduced in an
imminent danger to the sex workers in the area regardless of their income level as these
women become a financial resource to those who surround them, constantly being in risk of
assault personal (communication, 08/ 06/ 09). A similar risk of assault applies to everybody who
is vulnerable through being unfamiliar with the area like tourists and prospective migrants on
their way to the U.S.

Concluding remark

Due to the manifold expressions of violence that contribute to make Tijuana a dangerous
space, Ruz Vargas (2008: 155) perceives the loss of control of the multiple, contradictory
social processes in which the city is immersed as the most intense sensation that a city like
Tijuana now produces. Every day it seems as though it has reached its limits, cut through by
violence increasing in so many ways, that it is difficult to distinguish between myth and reality.
However, following the logic expressed by Knowles (2000: 137) that city landscapes
particularly are prone to the imagining of danger. Its maps of danger and safety are real enough
in shaping its use a proper distinction between myth and reality is not what matters most, but
rather how the inhabitants perception of danger becomes traduced in actions and interactions
composing social life on a daily basis.

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English translation: Welcome to Tijuana, Tequila, sex and marihuana. Welcome to Tijuana, you dont have to pay custom
duties with the human smuggler.
ii
Media include newspapers, journals, magazines and TV-series whilst arts include novels, poems, songs and cinema.
Relevant songs draw on newspaper articles as source of information with an emphasis on drug trafficking crime. They aim on
retelling and picturing the story. Novels and movies on Tijuana mostly use the city as a background setting appropriate to make a
brave man prove his qualities in spite of all temptations (Flix Berumen 2003: 294, 296-297).
iii
The activities of the Tijuana cartel, an internationally operating drug trafficking network built up by the Tijuana-stemming
Arellano Flix family, is one of the main sources of Tijuanas specific reputation (Flix Berumen 2003: 291).
iv
The three most common, but also debated myths about Tijuana are that it would be a city of vice, a city of transit and a
laboratory of postmodernity (Palaversich 2003: 97).
v
That the notion of Tijuana signifies more than just the name of a Mexican town might be proved by the fact that the red
light district of the Mexican town Hermosillo is called Tijuanita (Flix Berumen 2003: 348) and that a Los Angeles borough
considered as dangerous is called Little Tijuanita (Flix Berumen 2003: 349), that some citizens who had been living in Tijuana for
a certain time consider themselves as tjuaneados for expressing the outwearing effect it had on them (observation protocol 19/ 08/
08) and that writer Federico Campbell (1996) even talks about the tijuanization of Mexico in order to describe Mexicos economic
dependence from the U.S.A. as well as the influence American films and English language have on Mexican cultural production,
suggesting that all Mexico is becoming kind of one large Tijuana through the influence of transnational companies, Hollywood
movies and the dollar as overall accepted and in important transactions predominantly used currency.
vi
The influence of U.S.-American citizens and companies capital played also a major role in other cities in the border area
like Ensenada and Mexicali and is by no means limited to leisure activities (Piera Ramirez 1985: 169). The attractiveness of the
Tijuana area for foreign investors remained due to its geographic isolation even in times of political upheaval in Central Mexico
(Piera Ramirez 1985: 97).
vii
Some street names reflect still nowadays the then booming tourism industry, e. g. Boulevard Agua Caliente had been
named after an important casino (Flix Berumen 2003: 336).

Mapping Dangerous Spaces: Working Paper

viii

Inequity in benefits from foreign investment can still nowadays be observed in the area: huge areas of the Baja
Californian sea side had cheaply been bought by mainly American real estate developers for then being expensively resold in
smaller fragments to both private investors and hotel chains. This way, locals lost their fishing grounds and internal migrants from
the poorer Southern Mexican states come to work as servants, cleaners and construction workers for low wages. The abundant use
of fertilizers and pesticides for the establishment of vast green spaces like golf courses in this originally desert area as well as the
predictable lack of freshwater are expected to cause severe ecological problems (Vera 2008: 7-12).
On a more general level can be observed that Baja California has an extremely large enclave of expatriate American
homeowners (Herzog 2004: 130) and that the social ecology of the coastal strip is global () dominated by foreign residents
because global real estate projects are aiming to create golf resorts, beachfront condo complexes, and luxury marina housing
enclaves for foreign residents. These high paying land users often outbid Mexicans for coastal properties () (Herzog 2004: 130).
ix
Direct bus connections shuttle between Tijuana and Los Angeles within four hours time whilst a bus ride to Mexico City
takes app. 40 hours.
x
Revolution Avenue is a striking example of a manipulated, commodified space () is to Tijuana what Main Street, U.S.A.
is to Disneyland an artificial promenade that sets the mood for a carefully choreographed experience. () is a mini-theme park a
clever stage set of outrageous colour and grotesque facades. Buildings resemble zebras or Moorish castles. Flags and colourful
blimps fly overhead. Music blares, whistles blow, barkers shout along its nearly one mile length (Herzog 2004: 127).
xi
In 1950, Tijuana had four times as much population than in 1940 which equalled more than a quarter of the entire
population of the federal state of Baja California (Piera Ramirez 1985: 185).
xii
Tijuanas population tripled between 1960 and 1980 which corresponds to an increase of 7672.45 hectare of its territory
(Instituto Municipal de Planeacin 2003: 38).
xiii
This section can only be true for the time the data collection took place as the phenomenon is subject of constant change
due to the vital need of drug trafficking cartels to adjust both activities and strategies to the activities and strategies realized to
combat them (Islas 2008: A6).
xiv
The mayor of Tijuana, Jorge Ramos Hernndez, asked for treating the violence in Tijuana as an issue of national
security (Gil Olmos 2008: 6).
xv
The demonstrative militarization of Mexico does not bear the desired fruits, though, one likely reason being the close
collaboration between drug traffickers and politicians (Flores Prez 2008: 5-6; Alemn 2008: A6). Another obstacle to the
elimination of drug trafficking is the absence of a juridical framework that would effectively hinder money laundering. Branches
where it is successfully practiced and who partly receive financial support from the Mexican government for the workplaces they
generate include import and export, consultancy services, buying and selling of foreign currency, services, transport, mines, charity
activities, the pharmaceutical industry, real estates and alimentation industries (Martnez Elorriaga 2008: 18; Cervantes 2008: 33).
xvi
The streets of the city of Tijuana are observed by 3250 soldiers, marines and members of special forces (Gil Olmos 2008:
8).
xvii
The bad estate of the streets and many unpaved roads affect the vehicles strongly so that they need to be taken care of
very well (Nafarrate Fausto/ Tamayo 2008: 36-A, 37-A).
xviii
The paramilitary group Los Zetas which belongs to the Gulf cartel is composed by former members of an elite troop of the
Mexican army (Flores Prez 2008: 6). After Los Zetas emerged other cartels felt need to establish similar groups for their protection.
Los Zetas detached at a given moment from the Gulf cartel and started operating on its own by applying guerrilla principles, just
without ideological background but rather in defence of their business activities which consists mainly in kidnappings and the control
of the huge market of pirate CDs and DVDs (Ravelo 2008: 28-29).
xix
The money is needed by drug addicts for paying their consumption and maintenance as well as by small cells of drug
trafficking companies having difficulties to pay the people who work for them. For the same reason are assaults to 24h-shops and
ATMs carried out (Mosso Castro 2008: 24-A).
xx
People are kidnapped preferably in the early morning hours immediately after leaving the house for work or taken away
from their homes by threatening to kill present family members if the person in question is not willing to demonstrate compliance
(Mosso Castro 2008: 24-A). Rescue payments usually paid vary between 10 000 and 50 000 USD, but do not always lead to the
deliberation of the hostage (Mosso Castro 2008: 26-A).
xxi
Those corpses are often but not always mutilated (e. g. tongue, hand or fingers cut off) or decapitated and usually shot
with hands and feet tied, sometimes showing signs of torture. They are left behind somewhere (e. g. waste land, side-strip of
highway, canyon, bridge) and are usually wrapped into a cheap wollen blanket - which is why they are nicknamed encobijados
meaning packed into a blanket. Many corpses carry coded messages (narcomensage) about the reason of the killing (e. g.
betrayal).
xxii
The informant, a representative of Baja Californias Forensic Medical Service, explained that the state of Baja California
and the state of Chihuahua alternately hold the peak position over the years.