Crime-wary AmericaCrime-wary Americans shun popular strip of Mexican beachesns shun popular strip of Mexican beaches

By Elliot Spagat

ASSOCIATED PRESS

11:18 a.m. January 5, 2008

PLAYAS DE ROSARITO, Mexico – Assaults on American tourists have brought hard times to hotels and restaurants that dot Mexican beaches just south of the border from San Diego.

Surfers and kayakers are frightened to hit the waters of the northern stretch of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, long popular as a weekend destination for U.S. tourists. Weddings have been canceled. Lobster joints a few steps from the Pacific were almost empty on the usually busy New Year's weekend.

Americans have long tolerated shakedowns by police who boost salaries by pulling over motorists for alleged traffic violations, and tourists know parts of Baja are a hotbed of drug-related violence. But a handful of attacks since summer by masked, armed bandits – some of whom used flashing lights to appear like police – marks a new extreme that has spooked even longtime visitors.