The Mexican Federal Government on Friday sent 90 National Guard troops to Tijuana where more than 200 people have been killed in homicides already this year.
"Coordination is being sought for municipal and state police to participate, because what matters to us is public safety," President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. “The citizens of Tijuana may be thinking that nothing is being done about the situation of violence that has been occurring in recent times."
Violence in the streets has taken a toll on tourism, and merchants in the city are worried that this type of violence will further damage the city’s image. A man who lives in the United States told Telemundo 20 he suffered injuries in a random attack in Tijuana.
"They started to follow us and then one hit me in the face," Cesar Salgado said. Salgado said he was in Tijuana just looking for a good time.
Juan Zendejas has worked on Avenida Revolución, a street lined with restaurants and bars that attracts many tourists, since he was 13 years old. He said that amid the recent stretch of violence in the city, even the busiest seasons saw a decrease in sales.
"Last year at Spring Break was nothing, before they came. Now they tell the spring breakers not to come to Mexico because it is dangerous,” he said.
Federal agents are expected to settle in the La Morita, El Mariano Matamoros, Natura and El Refugio neighborhoods of Tijuana, as well as Playas de Rosarito, a beach community south of Tijuana popular with Spring Break tourists.
