Last week, photos of the new Amazon warehouse built in Tijuana reached national news. The controversy of Amazon’s new facility in the city came from its location in one of the poorest neighborhoods in town, …
September 21, 2021
Mexico
All is not wonderful where Amazon set up in Tijuana
Dead bodies pile up at Tijuana's Semefo
Once again the Forensic Medical Service of Baja California, known locally by the acronym Semefo, has been flooded with dead bodies. According to its director in Tijuana, Cesar Gonzalez, this situation has repeated since 2017 …
September 13, 2021
Playas de Tijuana – one of Mexico's five worst beaches
Playas de Tijuana still in the top five of the most contaminated beaches in Mexico According to the Federal Commission of Sanitation Risks, Playas de Tijuana is still one of the five most contaminated beaches …
September 6, 2021
The unintended Baja Med escapade
I met “Border Chef” Andrea Aguari — the title is her own — a decade ago when she was cooking for the short-lived Taberna Etxeverri on Calle Sexta. We hadn’t spoken in years when I …
August 25, 2021
MS-13 gang rules Tijuana migrant camp
What started as a refugee camp close to El Chaparral Port of Entry in Tijuana has ended up as a sort of shelter for criminals and gang members from Central America. According to Paty (not …
August 20, 2021
Deported nine times, Esther Morales takes things into her own hands
“On this side, there are also dreams,” she says constantly to the people she helps out – migrants and deported persons. She was more than once in the same situation, but now she owns a …
August 10, 2021
San Diego tacos – from the beginning to now
It’s just after noon on a Thursday at Escondido’s TJ Tacos. The place is surprisingly uncrowded, with only about six people in line for the taco stand’s signature adobada tacos, a spicy blend of marinated …
August 4, 2021
“The poorest neighborhood in Tijuana"
At least 277 families have settled in and started a new neighborhood near the east edge of the city. The media calls El Cerro de las Abejas, 22 miles from the border, “the poorest neighborhood …
July 30, 2021
Film Studies Club rises from ashes of Cine Bujazan
On July 7 the Bujazan Cinema, one of the most important cinema tethers throughout Mexico, had its 70th anniversary. At the celebration, local filmmakers announced the opening of a Film Studies Hub in the theater. …
July 20, 2021
Will TJ migrants move to La Mesa before tourists come?
Racial brawls, high insecurity, chickenpox outbreak, and even child sexual abuse are piling up within the migrant camp at El Chaparral-San Ysidro port of entry. On June 29 the security and civil protection secretary of …
July 5, 2021
And you thought your traffic in San Diego was bad
The area known as the Santa Fe neighborhood and its surrounding areas was one of the most promising housing developments in Tijuana three decades ago. But now an estimated 85,000 people live in an eight-square-mile …
June 29, 2021
Mexican-Americans urge boycott of border vendors
As a result of an attack on a U.S. citizen by street vendors in the waiting lane to San Ysidro, daily users of the Port of Entry started a boycott against sellers. Through social media …
June 21, 2021
What does Tijuana’s DFMK stand for?
The men of Tijuana’s punk quartet DFMK — the letters stand for “doing fucking meth kills” on days when they don’t stand for “don’t fuck my kids” — allow that their hometown can get a …
June 17, 2021
Tijuana elections: severed heads in a box and foam cooler, chopped torso in a bag
Last Sunday, Baja California held one of the biggest elections in its history. Mayors' positions for Tijuana, Tecate, Mexicali, Rosarito, and Ensenada were in dispute, plus state governor and deputies. More than 4,800 polling places …
June 14, 2021
Swiss dogs win in Zona Rio
Eduardo Gonzalez guards the door to the dungeon, as he has been doing for decades. Nobody gets past without his say-so. The neon sign shines red. Sótano Suizo. “Swiss Cellar.” Swiss in TJ? Well yes. …