Rosarito Beach moves forward after postponement of surf contest amid growing drug war hype

Not long ago, Rosarito Beach proudly announced it was hosting a pro surfing contest in early April to coincide with spring break and divert attention from a highly publicized drug war that has tarnished the northern Baja California city's image and devastated its economy.

More recently, the city reluctantly announced the contest has been postponed until Aug. 7-9. The marketing firm helping to stage the Assn. of Surfing Professionals' qualifying series contest cited a need for more time to secure adequate sponsorship and said the new dates would be more attractive to prospective competitors.

Translation: It's not easy to land sponsors or lure a large field when the negative media spotlight shines so glaringly on a coastal party town in which -- and this needs stressing -- not a single tourist has been killed since Mexico's drug cartels and factions within those cartels ramped up their bloody turf war two years ago.

The postponement is a shame because Rosarito Beach, which during the past year has taken many admirable steps to make tourists feel safe, could use the kind of boost a surf contest might provide sooner rather than later.

Mayor Hugo Torres and Convention and Visitors Bureau President Laura Wong expressed disappointment with the postponement. Unfortunately, the city and its large ex-pat community have grown accustomed to these kinds of setbacks.

They've also developed a bitterness toward the U.S. media outlets, which have been quick to jump on a gruesome discovery of headless bodies somewhere inside or outside of city limits, but not so quick to mention that the bodies are almost always those of people involved in the illicit drug trade.

Mexican print media outlets are even worse. Enrique Krauze, in a recent editorial for the New York Times, wrote from Mexico City that "our print media has gone beyond the necessary and legitimate communication of information by continuously publishing photographs of the most atrocious aspects of the drug war, a practice that some feel verges on a pornography of violence."

Krauze correctly observed that "press photos of horrors like decapitated heads provide free publicity for drug cartels," whose brutal methods against each other are purely for intimidation but have placed worldwide attention on the issue.

The U.S., finally acknowledging this as a two-nation problem, has pledged more money and personnel and has vowed to stem the flow of guns and money into Mexico and the hands of criminals. CNN will be reporting on "The War Next Door" from the border tonight and Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Rosarito Beach will proceed as best it can. Upcoming events include the long-popular Rosarito-to-Ensenada Bike Ride, the Cinco de Mayo Festival, an International Volleyball Festival and a seafood fair.

Eventually, the surf contest will lure competitors from both sides of the border. Perhaps a crowd of tourists will even gather to watch.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo (top): A longboarder rides a wave. Credit: Rosarito Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Photo (bottom): The resort town features rides on the sand. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[chris]

I moved just south of Rosarito January1st, 2009. I went to surf, and decided to stay when I found a CHEAP place on the beach. Since I've been here, I havn't had any problems...the people are nice and seem to go out of their way to prove it's a safe place for tourists. I've driven up and down the toll road with a surfboard in the back of my truck and have never been stopped by the federales, although you see them all over the place. In fact, there are a lot of cops down here, and I havn't had any problems with them either. Keep your head about you as you would any unfamiliar place, and you should be just fine.

[Ted]

one more point, as the cartels get cornered , they will strike back where it hurts the most, the Mexican tourist undustry and expats. The final end game will be the Mexican tourist industry held hostage, and that will involve attacks on tourists and foreigners, I mean serious attacks.

There is a war going on in Mexico, 8000 bodies say so, to ignore it as what it is for what it is , is stupid and ignorant, Mexico is a failed state, it has been a failed state for the last 200 years. This war is the cumilation of failure.

[BeSafe]

No where in Mexico is a safe vacation choice. Inside or outside of resorts tourists are dieing tragically. 32% of all non natural deaths of U.S. citizens outside this country happen in Mexico. To learn more
Go to: WWW.MEXICOVACATIONAWARNESS.COM

[dick bohanon]

ask the americans who have been kidnapped whether is is safe.
a friend wanted to marry in cabo(owns a condo there)
wedding planner in cabo asked how guests would be traveling.
told they would be driving down from california,the planner said
to expect more than a few robberies and stolen cars.
the wedding was in marina del rey.
not safe is not safe!

[David]

Pete,

You're missing the point in that it's not just the media reports and an over sensationalized drug war that has kept surfers away from Baja but the series of robberies by criminals masquerading as federal agents and/or possibly corrupt police officers who have car-jacked and even in some cases shot at surfers, innocent familes while traveling the cuota pass. This part is real and not reported enough by our local U.S. media. And it has been going on for the last nine years. Talk to some local dudes who are on the ASP tour and you'll find out more. Rito to Scorpion Bay just isn't worth the stretch, risks. And frankly, Rosarito just isn't what it used to be. Nobody wants to pay Laguna Niguel prices for rundown shotty rooms and $7 Dos Equis in novelty clubs playing last year's hits or worse, Guns n' Roses' Appetite for Destruction when we can chill here in relative peace of mind free of Montezuma's Revenge, you dig?