Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is in Tijuana, Mexico, this week as part of his border tour.
The president, referred to as AMLO by many Mexicans, detailed his activities on this tour where he will carry out supervision in the progress of projects including a 6.2-mile second floor of elevated track that will run along the borderline and the Port of Entry being built in Otay Mesa.
His border tour will include visits to Ciudad Juarez, Nogales, Coahuila, and Nuevo Laredo, the president said.
The president mentioned that both the customs project and the new Otay Port of Entry will receive financial support from the trust of the General Administration of Customs, which he said upon his sworn in as president had $55,000 million pesos ($2,706,759 in dollars), and in 2022, that amount added up to $90,000 million pesos ($4,429,242 in dollars), so they will use a significant amount of that fund for the projects.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
The president said part of the additional budget was destined to this border of Baja California that due to its geographical location and the needs of the border he pointed out require special attention.
Outside the tour of the Tijuana customs area, the president assured that customs will also be handled by the army and reinforce all surveillance mechanisms in customs with camera systems and advanced technology.
Local
On the other hand, Telemundo 20 asked the president if he will talk to the United States government to also open the Pedwest pedestrian checkpoint in San Ysidro, which has been closed to the public since April 2020 and gave access to more than 20,000 people at the Tijuana-San Diego crossing.
"Well, what a good thing you tell us because today the U.S. ambassador is going to accompany us and we are going to raise the concerns that you are making known," the president of Mexico responded to Telemundo 20.
The president was accompanied by the governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar, during the Thursday morning conference as well as during the tour of the border wall.
During the president's tour of the federal works of the city, small demonstrations and multiple requests for help arrived.
At their stop at the Port of Entry in Otay, neighbors of Ex Ejido Tampico in Tijuana, very close to the airport area, requested with banners and shouts to the president, his help to recover properties that had been expropriated since the 70s.
"He told us that he is going to attend to the matter. We gave him a folder with our data, with the latest files in which they are giving us unfairly and knocking down our trials and he said that he is going to attend to it, we hope he will do so," said Julieta Pérez, who asked the president of Mexico for help.
Part of the 15 rightsholders of communal lands in Tijuana who came to surround the president of Mexico, with different demands and needs, said they exchanged phone numbers with AMLO's staff, as well as relatives of older adults in the city who requested the president's support to avoid losing their properties. The president channeled part of those affected with the governor of Baja California, and the rest assured that they will be reviewed in detail.
