‘The Ditch’ Bogs Down Governor’s Mexico Trip

With much fanfare, Gov. George Deukmejian opened a state trade office here Wednesday in hopes of finding new Mexican markets for California products. But everywhere he went he was hounded by bitter controversy about “the ditch.”

Deukmejian repeatedly pleaded ignorance, insisting that he was not in any way involved in the U.S. government’s plan to dig a ditch 4 miles long, 14 feet wide and 5 feet deep at the border near San Diego.

Nevertheless, the ditch--denounced throughout Mexico as a “subterranean Berlin Wall”--was about all the Mexican news media wanted to ask the governor about. He also was queried about it from the audience after a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce. And, illustrative of the issue’s sensitivity, it was the first thing defensive U.S. Embassy officials had on their agenda to explain to California reporters.

‘El Zanja’

Deukmejian kept saying that he really had no position on the ditch--”El Zanja”--but finally confided to Mexican reporters that, generally, “I think it’s important all countries have the opportunity to control their own borders. . . . Every country does have the right to establish their own immigration laws and then see that those laws are implemented.”

The main idea behind the ditch, according to Bush Administration officials who recently disclosed its plans to The Times, is to stop the hundreds of vehicles that each month carry drugs and other smuggled contraband into California across the flat Otay Mesa area. Countless thousands of immigrants also illegally cross the border there on foot, but the ditch is not aimed at them, the official said.

A U.S. Embassy official, speaking on condition that he not be identified, insisted Wednesday that the ditch originally was suggested by Mexican members of the International Boundary and Water Commission as a way of diverting nuisance runoff water that had been flowing from Otay Mesa into Mexico. But Elsa R. Saxod, director of binational affairs for the city of San Diego, told reporters here that the U.S. government took the Mexican suggestion and distorted it--changing a proposed north-south underground drainage tube into an east-west moat.

Saxod, officially here for the trade office opening, said she had been instructed by Mayor Maureen O’Connor to express concern about the U.S. government’s unilateral planning of the ditch without consulting either San Diego or Mexico. The mayor, among other things, is worried about liability risks from the concrete-lined ditch.

“She (O’Connor) can’t see it becoming the international skate board center,” Saxod said.

Sen. Marion Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), one of seven legislators who traveled here along with 30 state Chamber of Commerce representatives to “show the flag” at the trade office opening, reported that the ditch was the first thing any Mexican wanted to talk about in formal meetings with Californians.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said of the ditch, which has drawn a formal protest from the Mexican government. “It’s not practical. If you go into my district in Imperial County and stand near the border at 2:00 a.m., you can see them coming and going by the thousands.”

Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) said, “Symbolism is extremely important and this trade office couldn’t have come at a better time--when the immigration authority is planning a ditch. What’s a 4-mile ditch going to do on a 2,000-mile border?”

Meanwhile, Deukmejian was carted all over this traffic-clogged metropolis of 18 million-plus people--more populous than all of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties plus the San Francisco Bay Area combined--carrying with him reams of data about trade and investment.

But U.S. Ambassador Charles Pilliod spent most of his time talking to the governor about Mexico’s attempts to control drug traffic. And smog--in a sprawling city with perhaps the worst air pollution in the world--was what Mayor Manuel Camacho Solis wanted to discuss with the California governor.

Before captive audiences at the California office opening--a champagne reception--and the mid-afternoon chamber luncheon, Deukmejian talked trade and investment.

“This office represents a major new commitment to expanding our commercial ties with Mexico,” the governor said. “In our view, there has never been a better time for us to open this office. . . . Mexico is opening up to the outside world.”

Although Mexico’s economy has been stagnant in recent years, Deukmejian said he is confident that it has turned around. He noted that Mexico already is California’s third-largest trading partner, “so somebody must be buying something.”

With the opening of the Mexico City office, California now has three foreign trade headquarters, all started up by Deukmejian. The others are in Tokyo and London. The governor also recently announced plans to open an office in Frankfurt, West Germany.