‘Where the American Dream Ends’ : Squatters: The cold has recently claimed up to 23 lives, mostly children, in Tijuana camps where thousands live in squalor. Many hope to go to the United States, but this is the last stop for most.

The American dream that Gabriela Estrada cherished most of her young life ended earlier this month in a gloomy squatters’ camp not far from a hilltop where you can view the United States.

As did many of the approximately 5,000 people living in colonia 10 de Mayo, Estrada, 20, planned to go to the United States, perhaps Los Angeles, to find a job and a better life for herself and her baby boy.

The squatters’ camp, populated mostly by people who trekked here from Mexico’s interior, is as far as Estrada got with her 3-month-old son, Jonathan Gabriel. There, they settled in one of the hundreds of leaky tar-paper-and-cardboard shacks on the bottom and north slope of a verdant valley about five miles east of the Otay port-of-entry.

During winter, the valley is shrouded in nighttime fog; a chilly wind cuts through in the afternoons and evenings. The wind knifes through the cracks of the ramshackle dwellings with a monotonous howling, and lifts the flapping blue plastic covers that serve as roofs on many shanties.

Estrada and Jonathan lived in this unforgiving environment in a hovel that lacked all of the basic necessities of life that U.S. residents take for granted. At night, mother and child slept on the floor under a pile of blankets.

On the night of Dec. 4 or in the early morning of Dec. 5, Jonathan somehow slipped out from under the covers. Amado Gallardo, administrator for the Tijuana coroner’s office, said the infant died from exposure.

National Weather Service officials in San Diego said the temperatures dipped to the low 30s in the colonia on the night that Estrada’s baby died.

“When I awakened at dawn, my baby was dead. He was lying next to me. His little body was cold. It was very cold and foggy that night, with a little bit of rain. The wind was also blowing very hard,” Estrada said, fighting back tears during a recent interview. “The authorities said my son died from the cold.

“Life is so hopeless now. My son and my desire to live in the United States are gone,” the young mother said.

Estrada’s baby was among the first victims of grim statistics compiled in December, officials said. According to the Tijuana coroner’s office, 17 people--14 of them infants between 1 week and 14 months old--have died from exposure to the cold weather.

Tijuana health department and police officials put the number of deaths from the cold even higher--at 23, 20 of them children. Most of the dead infants lived in the numerous colonias of squatters, or invasores , that have sprouted in Tijuana’s outlying hillsides, mesas and valleys over the last decade.

Las invasiones, as the squatter migrations are called, are justified by Mexican constitutional provisions that guarantee every Mexican family a right to “dignified and decent” dwelling, migrant activists say. Those provisions are all that is needed for a group of people to stake out lots on vacant land, even if it is private property, said Jorge Uraga, a community leader at 10 de Mayo.

But many of these communities, including 10 de Mayo, do not have running water, electricity, sewers and paved streets. Some of the makeshift homes are flimsy enough to be blown down or washed away by winter storms each year.

For thousands of squatters, the primitive dwellings symbolize the fulfillment of a dream. They finally occupy their own plot of land in one of Mexico’s largest metropolises, and live with the expectation of reaching the nearby promised land--the United States--one day.

But for the majority, the colonias also symbolize a dead end.

“They come from the interior full of the American dream. Life in Tijuana is better because at least there are jobs here. But for most of them, this is their last stop. This is where the American dream ends, just within sight of America,” said Roberto Cedillo Flores.

Cedillo, 46, is the principal of an elementary school at El Pipila, one of the poorest squatters’ camps in Tijuana. The “school” has 500 children who attend classes in a building without windows. There is no heat, and the children sit on concrete blocks for lack of desks or benches.

The conditions at the Tijuana colonias spawn tragedy every winter, usually in December and January. In 1991, 17 people, including 14 infants, died during a cold wave.

Gallardo, of the Tijuana coroner’s office, said bronchitis and pneumonia are rampant in the camps. Colds and coughs are commonplace among children.

Sometimes a parent’s desperate attempt to keep a child warm during the night can turn deadly. On Dec. 20, 7-month-old Maria Isabel Izquierdo suffocated under a pile of blankets that her father had placed over her to keep her warm, said Gallardo.

However, the suffering is not limited to the impoverished colonias. Hundreds of Tijuana’s street urchins are also endangered by the cold weather. The city’s municipal police officers have been rounding up homeless and orphaned children each night and transporting them to the city’s four children’s shelters.

Beleaguered Tijuana officials have asked community and church groups and relief agencies in San Diego for assistance. Several groups have responded by seeking donations and transporting tons of blankets, warm clothing and food to the camps in the last three weeks.

Celia Diaz, director of the Chula Vista-based Binational Medical Emergency Committee, said colonia residents are also in desperate need of medicine to help them fight off illness.

“Medication is just as important as blankets and warm clothing. We will accept whatever we get. But another big need is for volunteers. We need people who can help sort out clothes, answer the phone and take these things to the camps. Money is also appreciated,” said Diaz.

Poway resident Paula Claussen is asking for wood and used doors and windows that can be used to build and fortify homes in the colonias.

“People there need blankets and warm clothing because they’re freezing. But if the blankets and clothing are going to get wet because the roof leaks, all the warm clothing in the world won’t help them,” said Claussen.

Some families live in truly shocking conditions. At colonia Matamoros, a family of five was living in a dwelling made from wood pallets nailed to a flimsy frame that measured about 7 feet by 7 feet.

The walls were surrounded by black plastic sheeting covered by cardboard on the outside. There was not enough sheeting available to cover the entire dwelling. The roof consisted of a blue plastic sheet draped over the pallets.

The family slept on pieces of cardboard strewn on the ground, around a wood-burning metal drum that served as a heater.

“We arrived about two weeks ago from Michoacan, and I haven’t been able to work enough days to afford to buy the materials I need to finish our house. Life is very difficult here,” said the man.

How to Help

The following groups are accepting donations of blankets, warm clothing, medicine, food or building materials to help residents of Tijuana’s impoverished colonias.

Binational Emergency Medical Care Committee, 335 H Street, Suite 203, Chula Vista, Calif. 91910; (619) 425-5080.

Project Mercy, c/o Paula Claussen, (619) 487-6854.

Presidential Limousines, 2085 Hotel Circle South, San Diego, Calif. 92108.

El Sol newspaper, 2629 National Ave., San Diego, Calif. 92113.