Shops close up; dentists urge clients to return; police presence is
boosted
By Gabriela Rico and Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.09.2008
advertisement
NOGALES, Sonora — What she earns during the day from selling
handmade jewelry determines what her children will eat for dinner.
But like dozens of merchants in this border town who depend on U.S.
tourists for their livelihood, Juanita Lopez hasn't made a sale in days.
Already stinging from a downturn in the U.S. economy, those who
peddle everything from curios to leather goods and even those who
provide professional dental services say the unprecedented surge in
drug violence is keeping visitors away and could lead to the demise
of this microeconomy.
"I haven't even made enough to buy corn for making tortillas," said
Lopez, who moved to Nogales from Oaxaca two years ago in search of
work. "I know they are fearful, but I pray to God the tourists will
return."
An ongoing battle between drug cartels and Mexican law enforcement
this year has landed Nogales on the U.S. State Department's travel
alert due to horrific killings, many occurring in public places
during daylight hours. The body count has reached 100, more than
double the 2007 total and triple the 2006 total.
More than 20 border shops have closed since May, and the streets of a
once-bustling scene of tourists and hawkers haggling a deal are barren.
This past week, Enrique Suarez finished packing his inventory of
blown-glass votives and glasses, ceramic and metal figurines and set
out to find other work.
After 15 years of operating Guadalajara Curios on Avenida Obregón,
the father of five said he could no longer pay the building's rent.
"Because of the killings, people don't come because they are afraid,"
Suarez said in Spanish. "If it doesn't get better, there will come a
day where there is nothing here."
Many believe the upcoming holiday shopping season will determine
whether the entrepreneurial industry will cease to exist.
Worse than ever
The long-faced merchants perk up when they hear footsteps approaching.
They deliver their best sales pitch. "Come on in, it doesn't cost
anything to look," one says in hopes of making his first sale in days.
Most agree that business is worse than ever.
"There are no good days anymore," said Federico Ahuactzin, who has
sold metal figurines and ceramics for 30 years.
They offer assurances — and seemingly comfort themselves — by
pointing out that the most spectacular gunbattles have not played out
on downtown streets, but south of the shopping district.
"The war is not here," said Adan Montante Valenzuela, who sells
jewelry and sunglasses. "There are no problems downtown."
It's true the downtown area has not been the main stage in the
gunbattles. Recent shootouts have occurred a few miles south in
central Nogales.
On Oct. 23, state police killed 10 organized-crime gunmen during a
rolling shootout that went past supermarkets and malls and down side
streets before ending in an industrial park. On Nov. 2, gunmen
ambushed the director of Sonora's state police, killing him with a
barrage of gunfire as well as grenades as he entered his hotel in
central Nogales.
While residents view the two miles as a comfortable buffer, for some
visitors from Green Valley and Tucson the brutal killings are too
close for comfort.
Tucsonans David and Elvira Burnes, who were in Nogales last week for
a checkup on David's dental implants, made the trip this time but
don't plan to come again.
"I'd rather pay that extra few dollars and stay in Tucson," said
Elvira Burnes, who fears getting caught in the crossfire. "As soon as
we are done, we are out of here."
That mindset is what merchants fear.
Accustomed to earning $200 to $300 a day, Montante said he makes
about $30 a day now. He hasn't reached the $100 mark in three months.
"You can count the Americans on one hand," he said, shaking his head.
Sales at Simon Iriarte's El Burro Loco curio store have plummeted
nearly 100 percent this year. He goes days without making a sale.
He used to make $600 on a good day and now doesn't even bring in $100
over a weekend, he said.
"People get scared and think there is going to be a war and go home,"
Iriarte said in Spanish. "I am going to have to leave because I can't
pay the rent."
The father of four said he'll wait for the normally lucrative
Thanksgiving holiday weekend to see if there is a surge before he
decides to close.
The next two months could make or break businesses.
"If it goes through December, it's going to kill us, everybody," said
Geovanna Suarez, owner of Leo's Cafe, her family's restaurant, which
has been open for 40 years.
She says fear is a stronger deterrent than an empty wallet.
"Even though people don't have money, they come and buy something,
like an ice cream cone," Suarez said. "But right now, they don't
leave their house. They stay there because they are afraid."
Patients vanished
The day after the State Department's travel alert hit the news, 15
dentists who share an office building were all without patients.
Taken aback by the issuance of the official bulletin, every patient
canceled, said Mario Ibarra, one of 200 dentists in Nogales.
Dentists have since recovered their patients to varying degrees.
Dentist Francisco Tapia has called his patients to reassure them that
the violence won't likely come to downtown because there would be
nowhere for gunmen to escape with the U.S.-Mexico border being so close.
That's been enough to lure some back, but not all. Since the alert
was issued, his business has dropped 20 percent.
"I'm worried because a lot of people still say 'I am not coming back
anymore' because there are extreme dangers," Tapia said.
Ibarra offers to have his patients escorted to and from the downtown
Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry, about three blocks away.
"We can't say nothing is happening; that would be a lie," Ibarra
said. "But I tell them, 'If it was so insecure, we wouldn't come here
ourselves.' "
About half the appointments he had on his calendar have been canceled
since the alert was issued Oct. 14, he said.
"We are worried because we live off of this," Ibarra said. "If this
continues, what do we say to the people of the United States?"
At least one dentist office, though, said the violence and alert
haven't affected it. Brothers Pedro and Francisco Vazquez, dentists
who run Laser Tech clinic, were expecting cancellations, but they
never materialized. Their business remains strong, and they'll move
into a new building later this year, they said.
The sagging U.S. economy might keep the floor under the dental
industry in Sonora because the cost of procedures is about half of
what it is in the United States, said Gary Logan, who coordinates
dental appointments.
Increased patrols
Hoping to reassure tourists, the city has stepped up its patrol by
tourism police in the downtown area.
State police are manning a checkpoint on the main drag, Avenida
Obregón, that leads from the south into the downtown area.
All vehicles are stopped, and police won't allow passengers to enter
downtown if they act suspicious or consist of a large group of males,
said Jorge Nava Gonzalez, commander of the tourist police.
Ten police officers, in pairs, patrol each block of the downtown
district, stopping to chat with the otherwise-bored merchants. They
have rid the area of panhandlers and cordoned off the area to illegal
immigrants returned to Mexico by the U.S. Border Patrol, Nava said.
"It's not our battle," he said of the drug violence. "The fight is
between them, but people are scared and we're trying to keep them safe."
In response to the assassination of the state police chief, the
Mexican government sent 100 additional federal agents to Nogales last
week. They join 200 state officers and 300 municipal officers already
in town fighting the cartels.
It hasn't stopped the killings, though. On Thursday, a man was shot
and killed by gunmen in Colonia Nuevo Nogales, in the southwest of
the city.
Alejandro Castro Sandoval, head of the downtown merchants
association, is among those who believe the increased law enforcement
presence will be able to rein in the violence.
"We're not in denial, and that's why we have so much security," he
said, as he issued a plea to tourists: "Please come back. We promise
no one will bother you."
On StarNet: For a look at more stories about the border area,
including a database of border deaths and special reports about
immigration, visit azstarnet.com/border
● To contact reporters: Gabriela Rico, 573-4232 or
grico@azstarnet.com; Brady McCombs, 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment