Blocked Border Irks Citizens of Both Tecates

Residents of the American and Mexican border towns of Tecate never realized how intertwined their lives were until Saturday evening, when U.S. officials barricaded the port of entry and stopped all vehicular and pedestrian traffic to and from Mexico.

Tecate, a dusty rural American town 40 miles east of San Diego, has a population of fewer than 100 residents, mostly merchants who run the 20 or so businesses there. On Monday, most stores were closed and those that remained open were attracting little more than flies, because the 75,000 people who live on the Mexican side were prevented from crossing to the United States to shop.

The Mexican town of Tecate is probably best known to Americans as the place that gave its name to the beer in the familiar red can.

“Practically all my business comes from Mexico. All businesses here depend on our Mexican customers. I’ve got the store doors open, but I’m not selling much. I’m losing between $3,500 and $4,000 a day, and I can’t do that for very long and survive,” said William Lewis, owner of the American Market, one of two grocery stores in town.

Lewis wondered aloud what effect the border closure will have on his nine employees, who live in Mexico and were unable to get to work. “But even if they made the 80-mile trip to cross at Otay Mesa to come to work, I’d have to send them home. I couldn’t afford to pay them,” said Lewis.

Tecate was one of nine small border crossings on the 1,700-mile, U.S.-Mexico border shut down by U.S. Customs officials Saturday at sundown because of alleged threats from Mexican drug smugglers. Customs spokesman Mike Fleming said that U.S. officials were tipped off last week that Mexican drug traffickers planned to kidnap an American border officer within 10 days. The threats followed the Feb. 7 kidnaping of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent Enrique S. Camarena in Guadalajara.

Lewis, who has lived in the area since 1957, said he understood that the border had been closed only twice before--once when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and again when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Fleming said the border crossings will remain barricaded “indefinitely” because U.S. officials feel they cannot be adequately protected in the event of a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, the San Ysidro and newly opened Otay Mesa border crossing are open, and security has been beefed up at both areas.

In the Tecate area, despite the absence of customs checks, some Border Patrol agents are armed with automatic rifles and shotguns, said Border Patrol spokesman Gene Smithburg. However, Smithburg downplayed the significance of the extra firepower and said these weapons are routinely available to Border Patrol agents who request them.

But while U.S. officials said the alleged threats by the drug smugglers were serious enough to warrant the border closure, some Tecate merchants who are beginning to hurt in the pocketbook were openly critical of the decision.

“It’s a needless protest by our government. The United States is doing nothing more than flexing its muscles and saying, ‘This is what we’re capable of doing,’ ” said Lewis. “There’s no guarantee that after we open our gate the Mexicans will open theirs. All we’re doing is spitting in their face, and that’s not good international relations.”

Another merchant, whose business is less than 100 feet from the port of entry, agreed with Lewis. The woman, who did not wish to be identified, called the closure “about the meanest thing you could do to us and the people on the other side.”

“I sense a little animosity brewing on the Mexican side. Until this morning the people were allowed to walk to the fence and pass notes or messages to friends on the American side. But the Mexican customs officers have put a stop to that. They don’t let anybody get close to the fence,” she said.

Mayte Valenzuela, an employee of the Oak Furniture Store, said the store opened in the morning but was shut down after the manager, who lives on the Mexican side, failed to show up for work. Valenzuela said that 10 other employees who live in Mexico were prevented from coming to work by the border closing.

Lilia Mojica, owner of the only auto parts store in town, said her business was down 90% on Monday because the Mexican truckers, who make up a large part of her customers, could not use the border crossing.

“It’s very slow. As a matter of fact, there is no business at all. The (Mexican) truckers have lined up their trucks on both sides of the border, waiting for the gate to open. I hope something happens soon.”