Officials Stress Sobriety : Tijuana Gets Ready for Holiday Influx

With the Fourth of July weekend coming up, many Americans are already climbing into their cars and pointing them south. As the hordes prepare to depart America’s Finest City for the country next door, the city of San Diego would like to impart a word of advice: “Please, please behave yourselves!”

City Councilman Ed Struiksma, acting mayor in the absence of Maureen O’Connor, called a press conference Wednesday with Tijuana officials to stress the importance of having a harmonious holiday. “Just as there are laws on this side of the border, there are also laws in Mexico,” Struiksma said, indirectly reminding the herds of hard-partying Americans whose booze-blurred memories sometimes turn hazy on that score.

“So we want to ask people as they go into Mexico that they exercise caution and that they be good ambassadors of America.”

‘Have a Good Time, Don’t Be Afraid’

The Mexican officials at the conference also had a message to convey: “Come on down, have a good time and don’t be afraid. Everything’s under control.” But they also wished to point out that the Tijuana police will be out in force--600 strong--enforcing their own version of “zero tolerance.”

For those Americans who perceive Mexico as one big vat of margaritas, Tijuana Police Chief Eduardo Bravo Quintero has a reminder: There are also laws in Mexico prohibiting drinking in public, drinking in cars and drunken driving. For Americans arrested on alcohol charges over the holiday weekend, chances of being released from jail the same day are “slim,” he said through an interpreter.

Quintero stressed that, contrary to popular belief, it is not a good idea for American motorists to try to buy their way out of misunderstandings with the local police. Under no circumstances should any U.S. citizen offer money to a police officer, Quintero said. And if any police officer asks an American tourist for money, for any reason, the tourist should insist on being taken to the police station, he added.

“There are no cashiers on the streets,” Quintero said.

The chief and several of his fellow police officials outlined an extensive and complicated plan that will be in effect from Friday through Monday, when an estimated 800,000 tourists are expected to pour into town.

The plans include hundreds of officers on foot patrol, in police cars and on motorcycles, and many more rescue units and ambulances at the ready. The chief will maintain a 24-hour command post all weekend at police headquarters at 8th and Constitucion in downtown Tijuana. Two phone numbers have been established for the use of tourists in case of any emergency: 88-05-15, extension 134, and 88-21-66.

Officers will be posted at the San Ysidro border crossing so tourists may obtain easy directions on the way to Mexico, and so they may register complaints, if any, on the way back.

Ramon Castorena, a spokesman for Tijuana Mayor Federico Valdez, relayed a message from the mayor’s office that many agencies will be working very closely together to try to make the holiday weekend a pleasant one for all concerned.

“The city of Tijuana is known for its friendship, its hospitality,” Castorena said. “Our sole intent is to make everyone feel safe, and to show hospitality.”

Parental Restraint Urged

Struiksma added that Baja California should not be considered a playground for drunken American teen-agers, and he called upon parents to restrain their children. “A number of teens, often unescorted, go into Mexico,” he said, “and we are asking that parents closely supervise their children.”

Citing statistics gathered by the American Consulate in Tijuana, Struiksma said more than 300 Americans were arrested over Memorial Day weekend in Tijuana, most of them for alcohol-related infractions. In addition, 147 Americans were killed in auto accidents in Baja California in 1987, with most of those accidents involving victims under 21.

“If we as tourists behave in Mexico the same as we would in our own neighborhoods, I think we will all enjoy ourselves,” Struiksma said.