http://www.ocregister.com/news/police-attack-rosarito-1947503-city-chief
Vacationers are concerned about terrorism in the Baja, Mexico, region.
The mayor of Rosarito Beach has asked for additional state and federal troops to deal with escalating violence there that culminated most recently in a paramilitary attack Tuesday on the town's police station, apparently an attempt to assassinate the police chief, a spokesman said today.
Tuesday’s commando-style attack killed one of the police chief’s bodyguards and injured four other people. It was only the latest in a string of violent commando assaults on police in Baja California, apparently by drug cartels.
“I definitely have concerns about going down there” said P.J. Schramel, who lives in San Juan Capistrano and has been vacationing on the scenic peninsula since 1969. “I have instituted my own personal boycott of Baja while all this is going down.”
Rosarito Beach, about 20 miles from the U.S. border, and the surrounding areas have been vacation and retirement destinations for Southern Californians for many years. The escalating violence has left some officials concerned, though tourism officials said people should not be unduly alarmed.
“We believe the police chief was the main target of the attack,” said Ron Raposa, city spokesman.
“Basically, we would say this attack is targeted to law enforcement because of increasing enforcement on organized crime. It is not going to have an effect on the average person; for the most part they will not even be aware of the situation.”
According to published reports in Mexican newspapers and the San Diego Union-Tribune, military police surrounded the police station Thursday while repairs were under way on the exterior damaged in the attack.
A funeral was being planned for the slain bodyguard; another is recovering from his injuries.
The city’s police chief, Public Security Director Jorge Eduardo Montero Alvarez, took office on Dec. 1 as part of a new city administration. He intends to continue to vigorously pursue “cracking down on the problems,” Raposa said.
During the attack, the mayor of Rosarito Beach was attending a meeting in Mexico City about security problems on the peninsula.
After the attack, the City Council issued a press release blaming the attacks on forces opposed to a crime cleanup launched by the new city administration.
“To the people of Rosarito, we want to express that these violent acts are the result of the job that is being done in Public Security areas, in coordination with the State and Federal Government, and which will not stop until we all live in a secure city,” the release states. “These actions will not stop measures undertaken by the government in Playas de Rosarito.”
The owner of Baja Safari, a tour and travel agency based in San Diego, said he canceled several tours this week in the wake of the attack, only one in a series he said was under way by drug cartels trying to “tell the government who’s in charge.”
“Their way of doing this is to go into public buildings in the middle of the day, break out their large-caliber weapons and shoot them up,” owner Mike Overcast said.
“We are recommending to the general public and our membership to avoid all travel to the Tijuana and Ensenada region for the next 30 days,” Overcast said.
George Perez, who works for the Irvine-based Corazon de Vida charity that provides food and shelter for 700 children in 14 orphanages in Baja, said he hopes the violence won’t discourage Americans from visiting the children’s homes they support and helping the youngsters, who receive no government funding and would otherwise be homeless.
“We’re just concerned about the children,” Perez said.
The U.S. Department of State has a travel advisory for Mexico that includes border towns and warns about increasing violence including daytime shootouts related to drug trafficking in cities such as Tijuana.
“Criminals, armed with an impressive array of weapons, know there is little chance they will be caught and punished,” according to the advisory.
“In some cases, assailants have been wearing full or partial police uniforms and have used vehicles that resemble police vehicles, indicating some elements of the police might be involved.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-7994 or mfisher@ocregister.com
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