Checkpoints now routine for residents of Tijuana

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Photo by JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune

January 17, 2007

TIJUANA – Heavily armed agents at an impromptu checkpoint near the city's oldest cemetery waved on families, businessmen and commuters. But a man whose grease-stained hands gripped the steering wheel of a 1988 Mercury Cougar was quickly pulled aside.

Jorge Luis González took it in stride. “It's annoying, but necessary,” said the 42-year-old mechanic, as officers searched the trunk and then let him go.

Checkpoints have become part of the routine for residents across the city since Operation Tijuana was launched Jan. 2. The massive anti-crime effort by President Felipe Calderón's administration has deployed about 3,300 soldiers, sailors and federal agents to a region plagued by drug-related violence.