I Want To Be In Baja

I was listening to some of the chat on the El Dorado Ranch Yahoo Group this week and one of the subjects that came up was the rules governing what you could or could not bring into Mexico with you. There seemed to be some confusion over the Mexican customs rules and a couple of people had their goods confiscated at the border because they weren’t aware of the regulations. One thing that came out of the conversation, though, was a very useful website resource that will answer all of your questions, which I thought I would share with you so you don’t have the same problems. So if you want to know what you have to do when crossing the border, what you can bring in duty free, what items you need to declare, what goods are prohibited, the rules on temporary vehicle importation, and so on this will be a valuable resource for you - knowledge is power, as they say!

Click Here - Mexican Border Crossings - Passengers Arriving By Land

And, happy traveling!

Does this look dangerous???
For those of us who travel to Mexico on a regular basis, the overdone coverage of the drug wars and swine flu serves no purpose other than to sell newspapers and keep people glued to TV’s.  Although these stories are not fabricated, the message conveyed is that it is dangerous to be in Mexico.  There are virtually thousands of people who cross the border on a daily basis, without incident.  Who’s reporting this?  Although there are hundreds of cases (with very few deaths) of swine flu in Mexico City, it’s also true that this is the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere with over 22 million living in the area.  It would seem that containing a flu that well should be given a commodation!!
I travel to El Dorado Ranch about twice a month.  I have yet to hear a gun shot, or even a hacking cough.
Two weeks ago, one of the agents in our office was shot to death.   His name is Doug Georgianni and he died, not in Mexico, but in Cave Creek Arizona.  While working in a photo-enforcement van, some guy drove up to the van, fired 5 bullets into the van, killing Doug immediately.  Doug never even saw the guy, the murder was completely unprovoked.  Does anyone have a story like this happening in Mexico?

After all the nonsense that has been written lately about the dangers of visiting Mexico - “a potentially failed state”, and all the other nonsense that has appeared in the mainstream press lately, it is nice to see a more measured story for a change!  Thank you ABC News’ Maria Finn for her story entitled  Safe Travels in Sensational Mexico - Remember: ‘It’s Not a Theme Park, It’s a Sovereign Country With Laws.’  And thank you to the El Dorado Ranch Yahoo Group member who bought this story to my attention.

No-one can help but be aware of the recent news over the escalating violence between the powerful Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican government - violence that is now spilling over into various towns in the United States.  However, I couldn’t believe my ears the other day when the TV news reported that the Pentagon feared that Mexico could quickly become a “failed state”.  What a load of absolute rubbish! Calderon’s reaction was rightly indignant when it appeared in a story in theweek.com - 

“Look who’s talking, said Mexico City’s Excelsior in an editorial. It takes two to make a cross-border crisis. Almost all of the drug gang violence is concentrated in cities along the U.S. border. In the words of President Felipe Calderón: “A good housecleaning is also needed on the other side of the border. To bring in the drugs, the cartels require corrupt U.S., not Mexican, authorities.” Plus, let’s not forget that the weapons the cartels use to kill Mexicans are smuggled in from America — even U.S. officials admit that”.

No-one is arguing that that the problem is not a bad one, but I see it as a strong Mexican government tackling a situation that badly needs tackling.  It will inevitably lead to more violence in the short term, but if the power of the drug cartels is not curtailed then no-one will be safe, which ever side of the border you live on.

It is certainly true that this year’s Spring Breakers are being steared away from their usual Mexican haunts because of the drug violence, but it is mainly a border problem, not one that is affecting all of Mexico. In a story in the Los Angeles Times it reported that “Summer Winter Action Tours (SWAT) has been sending students to Mexico for the last 12 years and, in a website post, insists that “San Felipe is one of the safest destinations in all of Baja California and Mexico.”

The Pentagon and the press would serve the situation better with a bit of perspective and a call to action from the US side of the border to help Calderon, instead of this irresponsible and groundless fear-mongering.

Tiki Bar Seed

Excitement is a-building for the Blues Festival in San Felipe, Baja Ca, Mexico, around the 28th of March!
Just mentioning it to friends up here in AZ has generated some major hype!
Unfortunately we’d love to get the seed for the Flip Flops Tiki Bar to sprout a little so we can provide some refreshments to Blues fanciers over that weekend, but we’re afraid there just isn’t time for all the pieces to be put in place.  Even a temp set-up on the Beach at El Dorado Ranch using two 10ft barrels bracketing a 5 X 5 “hut” would be a good start, if we could get them brought together, (along with required paper-work), in time!

Regardless, the Blues Festival is gonna happen on the 28th and for now there are some quality venues of refreshment available in town, like the V-Lounge.  Meanwhile the “Flip Flops spirits” and we “Tiki pushers” are gonna be trying our best to become the prime fun-venue on the beach, as soon as we can make it happen!

Meanwhile, whoever can make it, look around for Flip Flops on the beach and the Tiki Seed.  They’ll be sprouting soon!!  When they show up, everyone will be told!

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon Getting it Right.

It is nice to see that the doom and gloom of the U.S. economy does not seem to be transferring to our southern neighbours in Mexico. The old saying that goes “when the U.S. economy sneezes, Mexico catches a cold” (the saying is equally applied to Britain as well), does not seem to be working out in the same way, at least not according to Mike Lane in his recent article “Mexico Set To Become Major Player” (although it certainly has in Britain!).  Mexico’s resilience is certainly encouraging for those of us who have a vested interest in El Dorado Ranch, near San Felipe in Baja!

Mr. Lane attributes Mexico’s resilience to both its latest President, Felipe Calderon and to its huge program of public works.  ”Ongoing investment in basic infrastructure far exceeds that of the U.S.”, he says, bringing the “employment opportunities and infrastructure required for a developing nation”. Calderon has also implemented much needed modernization within the government run national oil and gas company, Pemex. Although low prices and demand have hurt Mexico’s income in the short run, the changes have put Pemex on a good footing for the inevitable upswing in the global economy.

As economic opportunities increase within Mexico, Mr. Lane forsees a decline in the need for its citizens to migrate north in search of employment. Also, the drug trafficking problem the U.S. press are always so keen to talk about is resolutely being tackled by Calderon’s government and affects only a very small proportion of the Mexican population overall. There may not be many good news stories here in the U.S. but it is nice to hear that Mexico is doing well despite us. I know where I’d rather be at the moment!

If you are interested in moving permanently to Mexico, whether to retire there or just relocate, whether that be to El Dorado Ranch in Baja or to any other part of Mexico, you may want to find out whether or not is worth actually becoming a Mexican citizen. Is it a good idea? What are the differences in living in Mexico as citizen of the country or on an immigrant visa? For those that would like to find an answer to these questions you can do no better than to download the latest newsletter from buildinginbaja.com - http://www.buildinginbaja.com/BuildingInBaja-Issue03.pdf

On page 18 you will find an article called “Is that legal? - Mexican Naturalization” by Lic. Jaques-Edouard Beaulne, attorney at Law, which will give you all the ‘ins and outs’ of becoming a Mexican citizen and what the requirements are. The two main criteria you will need to meet are, firstly, you must have accumulated a minimum of 5 years legal residence there and, secondly, you need to be able to speak enough Spanish to hold a conversation and to have learned the basic history of the country to a grade 4 or 5 level.

There are many reasons why one would want to become a naturalized citizen of the country, especially if you plan to conduct business there or want to ensure real property ownership rights in areas not covered by a Fideicomiso (as El Dorado Ranch is). Anyway, if you ever wanted to find out whether to become a full citizen when you move to Mexico, this article is a great place to start.

It will be interesting to see what effect the new Obama presidency will have on its neighbour, Mexico. Mexicans, like much of the rest of the world, were watching the elections on Tuesday to see what would happen, and the announcement of Obama’s victory was greeted with loud cheers in bars all across Mexico. Mexico’s former foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda, was quoted in Mexico’s Reforma newspaper as saying that “Obama’s win opens to Mexico an extraordinary opportunity to re-position itself in the world because it will be infinitely easier to be a neighbor, ally and friend of the United States with Obama.”  I can imagine that many countries leaders are thinking the same thing!

In terms of detail as to the effect of a new approach in the Whitehouse on Mexico it is probably too early to say, although in Canada they are more divided as to the benefits or otherwise of an Obama presidency. Some of the worry stems from the protectionist rhetoric put out by Obama during his campaign whereby American industries, ravaged by a global economic downturn, might receive protection from outside competition, through a renegotiation of the NAFTA agreements, for example, something that may affect Canadian exports to the U.S. which they heavily rely on. Some experts think this unlikely. If it does happen then that is something that is more likely to have an impact on Mexico rather than Canada as the changes are likely to involve assurances with regard to labour and environmental practices which Canada already subscribes to.

Whatever the follow-through in regard to protectionist policies of an Obama first term, one thing that both American neighbours agree on is that the renewed hope and optimism that Obama will bring to the U.S. economy and foreign relations can only be of benefit to both countries. Because of the importance of the U.S. economy to the rest of the world, any boost in the confidence of American consumers after such an all time low can only benefit the economies of its neighbours - Canada and Mexico - not to mention the world economy in general. But we must never forget that it is what WE do that will bring about that renewed confidence and recovery - President Obama can but show us the way.