Tijuana doctors protest kidnappings, extortions

Doctors walk off jobs to protest Tijuana violence

By Sandra Dibble

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

6:27 p.m. April 18, 2008

TIJUANA – Doctors walked off their jobs Friday to protest a rash of kidnappings and extortions that have plagued members of their profession in recent months.

Wearing white coats, more than 200 physicians converged at the state government offices demanding an audience with Gov. Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan.

“We are not living in peace, we are living with fear, and this is not healthy,” said Dr. Eric Rosenberg, an internist at a public hospital and head of Tijuana's Colegio Medico, the city's largest medical group with 800 members.

Staff remained on duty to attend to emergency cases at private and public hospitals across the city, Rosenberg said.

The protest came a day after the release of Dr. Fernando Guzman Cordero, the director of a federal hospital known as Clinica Uno del IMSS. He was kidnapped Tuesday.

“We are scared to wear this,” said Dr. Cesar Perez Acosta, pointing to his white coat. “It turns us into a target, when we go out we have to try to avoid calling attention to ourselves.

Organized crime groups dedicated to kidnapping have targeted different groups, including doctors, merchants and restaurant owners, said Victor Clark, director of the Binational Center for Human Rights.