Tijuana

Tijuana
Country	Mexico
State	Baja California
Region	North Mexico
Settled	1889
Population	1,300,000 (2020)
Area (sq mi)	2025.5 km2
Current mayor	Karla Patricia Ruiz MacFarland or Arturo Gonzalez Cruz
Demonym	Tijuanan

Tijuana is the largest city of both Baja California State and the Baja California Peninsula. It is part of the San Diego–Tijuana transborder urban agglomeration and the larger Southern California megalopolis. As the 6th-largest city in Mexico and center of the 6th-largest metro area in Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence in education and politics – across Mexico, in transportation, culture and art – across all three Californias (the U.S. state of California, Baja California and Baja California Sur), and in manufacturing and as a migration hub – across the North American continent. Currently one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in Mexico, Tijuana is rated as a "High Sufficiency" global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. As of September 2019, the city of Tijuana had a population of 1,300,983, with its metropolitan area containing a population of 2,140,398 as of 2020, an estimated 2,002,000 within the urban area.

Tijuana is the 45th largest city in the Americas and is the westernmost city in Mexico. According to the 2015 census, the Tijuana metropolitan area was the fifth-largest in Mexico, with a population of 1,840,710, but rankings vary, the city (locality) itself was 6th largest and the municipality (administrative) 3rd largest nationally. The international metropolitan region was estimated at about 5,158,459 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in the former Californias region, 19th largest metropolitan area in the Americas, and the largest bi-national conurbation that is shared between US and Mexico. Tijuana is becoming more suburbanized like San Diego. Tijuana traces its modern history to the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 16th century who were mapping the coast of the Californias. As the American occupation of the Mexican capital ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Tijuana's new international position on the border gave rise to a new economic and political structure. The city was founded on July 11, 1889 as urban development began. Often known by its supposed initials, T.J., and nicknamed Gateway to Mexico, the city has historically served as a tourist center dating back to the 1880s.

Tijuana is located on the Pacific coast of Baja California, and is the municipal seat and the cultural and commercial center of Tijuana Municipality (Mexican states are divided into municipalities, rather than counties as in the U.S.). Tijuana covers 70% of the territory of the municipality and contains 80% of its population. A dominant manufacturing center of the North American continent, the city maintains facilities of many multinational conglomerate companies. In the early 21st century, Tijuana became the medical-device manufacturing capital of North America. Tijuana is also a growing cultural center and has been recognized as an important new cultural mecca. The city is the most visited border city in the world; sharing a border of about 24 km (15 mi) with its sister city San Diego. More than fifty million people cross the border between these two cities every year. This metropolitan crossing makes the San Ysidro Port of Entry the fourth busiest land-border crossing in the world. It is estimated that the two border crossing stations between the cities proper of San Diego and Tijuana account for 300,000 daily border crossings alone.

Crime[edit]

Tijuana is the birthplace and base of the Tijuana Cartel. From 2007 through 2010, Tijuana experienced an unusually high level of violent crime related to gang violence, in part derived from the Mexican drug war and human trafficking. Homicides peaked in 2010, when 844 people were killed, compared with 355 in 2004 and 349 in the first eight months of 2011. Reportedly, the wave of violence resulted from a turf war as the administration of President Felipe Calderón weakened the local Arellano Félix cartel; violence slowed when the larger Sinaloa cartel took control.

During peak years of violent crime in the city, gun battles between rival cartels, and between cartels and the police, erupted in public. In April 2008, police found 1,500 shell casings on various streets after one battle left 13 suspected drug traffickers dead. In 2009 and depending on the source, Tijuana Municipality experienced either 556 or 1,118 murders, mostly as a result of the drug war.

There were 492 murders in 2013, a 48% increase in the homicide rate between 2012 and 2013. This was the highest number of murders since 2010. By the end of 2017, the number of murders in Tijuana increased to 1,744, which was almost double those in 2016.

As of 2018, Tijuana had the highest per capita rate for homicides in the world at 138 murders per 100,000 people.

Demographics[edit]

Tijuana has a diverse cosmopolitan population which includes migrants from other parts of Mexico and from all over the world. Tijuana has one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, predominantly consisting of Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese immigrants. Tijuana also has a large and rapidly growing population of United States citizens, mostly from Southern California. Many Latin Americans, notably Cubans, and Guatemalans, have made Tijuana their home. The city also has many Lebanese, Italian, French, Spanish citizens. Recently, the city has received a large influx of Haitian immigrants.

The majority of Tijuana's migrant Mexican population hail from Sinaloa, Michoacán, Jalisco, Oaxaca, and the Federal District. Because of the diversity of Mexico and the influx of immigrants from almost every region in the country, there are no accurate estimates on ethnicity or race of the current population. The heavy influx of immigrants to the city and municipality of Tijuana has led to job creation in the form of over 700 twin-plant (maquiladora) factories, which serve as the basis of employment for the majority of the working-class people in northern Mexico. The high poverty level in Tijuana is attributed to the city's "magnet status" for people who have come from the poorer south of the nation and citizens from other nations seeking to escape from extreme poverty. Tijuana holds a status that provides the possibility of employment as well as higher education and the dream of crossing the border. Tijuana and Baja California in general have much stronger economies and higher incomes than other Mexican cities along the United States border, as well as more moderate weather.

Tijuana today is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico with an average of 80,000 people moving to Tijuana yearly. In terms of area, the city grows by approximately three hectares a day, mostly east and south as the city is mostly built out to the beach already with the exception of some canyons. Along with settlements separated from Tijuana proper and other communities unimproved land, big business moves in providing supermarkets and retail to marginal areas, along with paved roads. The city experiences the construction of 26,000 new settlers a year that has led to the unregulated, illegal squatter homes that takes place in the hills and valleys of ever expanding Tijuana, most of these areas are still without city services like sidewalks, paving, streetlights, and public transit. This is an ongoing process: as older and existing squatter areas are brought into the city services, more marginal areas become occupied by squatters.

Squatter areas are home to displaced and uprooted people, among them the indigenous and poverty stricken, as well as migrants deported from the USA, many of whom are also without Mexican citizenship. In recent years, working-class suburban housing estates have sprung up in the fringes to provide a sense of safety and land ownership. These suburbs enable young families to isolate their families from the violence of the drug war and squatter areas. These outlying communities tend to be much better equipped than their squatter counterparts. Nevertheless, some remote areas are drug plantations for narcotics, and delinquency has spread to areas once considered safe havens. These issues occasionally come to light in the newspapers.

While the INEGI Census 2010 placed Tijuana's population at 1.3 million, only two percent more than in 2005 Census, Tijuana City Council estimates from 2010 place the population closer to two million, at 1.6 million. As funding for cities is based on the populace of the city, the Council worries about receiving adequate funds to provide for the needs of the city. The population discrepancies may be explained by a few factors. Shanty towns that have not been rasterized and an undercount, people having left Tijuana for United States, and people leaving Tijuana for the interior of Mexico due to the intensification of the drug war, and suburbanization outside city limits but still inside the municipality. Tijuana, because of the dreams of border crossers, and its relatively higher wages compared to the rest of Mexico, naturally attracts immigrants. Since an improvement in security since 2011, the population of Tijuana as reflected in the 2015 Mexican census is expected to return to its normal growth curve; the great reduction in violence should make the settlement of Tijuana an attractive option again versus fringe valleys, nevertheless exact figures from the census await.

National Population Council (CONAPO) data has estimated that by 2030, growth rates maintaining, the city will become the second largest in Mexico and anchor to the fourth largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The suburban sprawl observed in Tijuana leaves the downtown and beach areas relatively affluent.

Roads[edit]

Two important Mexican federal highway corridors start in Tijuana, one of them is Fed 1, which runs south through the Baja California Peninsula through Rosarito Beach, Baja Mar, and Ensenada before ending in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Fed 1D (scenic road), a four-lane, limited access toll road that runs by the coast starting at Playas de Tijuana. Fed 2 runs east for 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) near the international border, as far as Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Within the metropolitan area the Corredor Tijuana-Rosarito 2000 freeway connecte Mesa de Otay in the northeast of the city with Rosarito Beach in the southwest. Just north of the San Ysidro border crossing, Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 head northbound to San Diego and beyond. From the Otay Mesa border crossing, California State Route 905 takes drivers west to connect with California State Route 125 toll road, as well as both I-805 and I-5 .

Geography[edit]

Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, and consequently in Latin America, and the second largest city of northern Mexico. Located about 210 kilometers (130 mi) west of the state capital, Mexicali, the city is bordered to the north by the cities of Imperial Beach, and the San Diego neighborhoods of San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, California. To the southwest of the city is Rosarito Beach, while to the south is unincorporated territory of Tijuana Municipality. The city is nestled among hills, canyons, and gullies. The central part of the city lies in a valley through which flows the channeled Tijuana River. Housing development in the Tijuana Hills has led to eradication of many seasonal mountain streams. This lack of natural drainage makes places within the city vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. The varied terrain of Tijuana gives the city elevation extremes that range from sea level to 790 meters (2,590 ft). Tijuana is noted for its rough terrain, which includes many canyons, steep hills, and mesas. Among noted canyons in Tijuana are Canyon K and Canyon Johnson. Large Tijuana hills include Red Hill (Cerro Colorado) and Hill of the Bees (Cerro de las Abejas) in the eastern part of the city. The city is located near the terminus of the Tijuana River and within the Tijuana River Basin. The Tijuana River is an intermittent river, 195 km (121 mi) long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and Southern California in the United States. It drains an arid area along the California–Baja California border, flowing through Mexico for most of its course and then crossing the border for the last 8 km (5 mi) of its course where it forms an estuary that empties into the ocean. The river's lower reaches harbor the last undeveloped coastal wetlands in San Diego County, and some of the last in Southern California, amidst a highly urbanized environment at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach. As downtown Tijuana was built at the bottom of the river valley, the district is subject to seasonal flooding created by drain-off from the Tijuana Hills. During this time, east-bound portions of the Via Rapida (east-west highway) may be blocked off by the Tijuana Police due to hazardous conditions.

Water[edit]

The Tijuana State Commission of Public Services (CESPT) supplies the city with its water, while the city receives its electricity from La Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). In 2019, due to extremely low water levels at El Carrizo Reservoir, CESPT began a city-wide water rationing scheme. This rationing scheme would divide Tijuana and nearby Rosarito into 5 zones. Each zone would be cut-off from the water supply on a rotating schedule of 4 days with water and 1 day without water. This scheme was expected to last for at least 2 months until the water levels at El Carrizo Reservoir were improved.

Education[edit]

Tijuana is home to many private Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and High Schools as well as nationally high ranked colleges and universities. Notable primary and secondary schools include Metropolitan, Instituto México, Instituto Cumbres, President Lázaro Cárdenas School, Agua Caliente School Center High, Politécnico de Baja California(CLUB DE QUÍMICA), José Fimbres Moreno School and the State High School, and Ignacio Ramírez School located in Cerro Colorado. These schools maintain recognition for their demands and high standards. Tijuana maintains multiple higher education institutions. These include the Autonomous University of Baja California (Tijuana campus), Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana (ITT), Universidad Iberoamericana (Tijuana campus), CETYS Universidad, Universidad Xochicalco, and University of the Californias. Other colleges include Tijuana University Center, Tijuana University of Technology, Graduate Center of the Northwest, and the University of Professional Development. The city is the seat of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), an institution of scientific research and higher education, specializing in the study of the problems in the border region between Mexico and the United States. In August 2009, Metropolitan UABC opened in Valle de Las Palmas, in the Tijuana metropolitan area.

Local Busses[edit]

In 2006, Tijuana underwent a major overhaul of its existing system of guayines, or shared fixed-route station wagons, forcing the replacement of the guayines with new models of vans, serving as fixed-route taxis. Major transit hubs include Centro (Downtown Tijuana), Otay, Soler, and the Cinco y Diez avenues. Taxi lines operating in the city include Free Taxis, those that do not maintain a specific route; Economic Taxis; Diamond Taxis – black or yellow cabs; and regular taxis maintaining a set route. There are as many bus lines and routes as fixed-route taxi ones or calafias, and new routes for buses, taxis or calafias are frequently created, due to high demand of public transportation. Public transportation service is inexpensive, with bus tickets at maximum, USD $0.75. Fixed-route taxis are somewhat more expensive, depending on the taxi route, reaching USD $2.00. Bus, taxi and calafia lines and routes are distinguished from one another by their vehicles colors.

Economy[edit]

Tijuana is a large manufacturing center, and in addition to tourism, it serves as a cornerstone of the city economy. In the past decade alone, Tijuana became the medical device manufacture capital of the North American continent, surpassing previous leader Minneapolis - Saint Paul.

The city's proximity to Southern California and its large, skilled, diverse, and relatively inexpensive workforce make it an attractive city for foreign companies looking to establish extensive industrial parks composed of assembly plants that are called maquiladoras, even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras'. Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly-related labor. Such jobs are not demanding but typically offer above average salaries for Mexico, with most maqiladoras jobs beginning at Mex$100 per day (about 5 US dollars, as of September 2016), significantly above the Mexican minimum wage of Mex$57.46 (about 3 US dollars, as of September 2016). Companies that have set up maquiladoras in Tijuana include Lanix, Hyundai, Sony, Vortec, BMW, Vizio, Toyota, Dell, Samsung, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic, GE, Nabisco, Ford, Microsoft, Cemex, Zonda, Philips, Pioneer, Airbus, Plantronics, Siemens Mexico, Jaguar, Pall Medical, Tara, Sanyo and Volkswagen. Many of the maquiladoras are located in the Otay Mesa and Florido sections of Tijuana. Economic development has its central business district at Zona Río, which together, with the corridor along Blvd. Agua Caliente (the extension of Avenida Revolución), contains the majority of the higher-end office space in the city.

Culture[edit]

Many foreigners travel to Tijuana to drink and dance, buy prescription drugs, purchase bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and other personal accessories found globally, as well as manufactured and hand-crafted local curiosities. Locals and regular tourists avoid hassles by visiting the clubs at Plaza Fiesta or other areas of the Zona Río without the crowds, heavy marketing, and occasional tourist misbehavior or outright lawbreaking common on the Revolución strip. However, Avenida Revolución has been known for its proliferation of nightclub shows, primarily catering to casual tourists. While still an entertaining town with an enjoyable atmosphere, some locals and tourists feel it has lost an "anything goes" atmosphere, that was dangerous to locals, tourists, and the tourism industry.

Entertainment[edit]

As Tijuana matured from a tourist-oriented border town into one of Mexico's largest cities, the 1982 opening of the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) marked a milestone. CECUT's mission was to strengthening Tijuana's image, both to US visitors and to Mexicans, as a destination for culture and not only shopping and vice. The center includes an OMNIMAX cinema showing IMAX films, the Museum of the Californias, contemporary art exhibition halls, a restaurant, café, bookstore, and other cultural facilities.

La Casa de la Cultura cultural center comprises a school, a theater, and a public library, and teaches dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and languages.

Other cultural venues include the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, the Museo El Trompo (Trompo Museum), and El Foro, the former Jai Alai Palace, that is now a concert venue. Concerts are also held at the Estadio Caliente stadium, Hipódromo Agua Caliente Racetrack, and at the "Audiorama" at the Museo El Trompo children's museum of science and technology.

The Tijuana Country Club (Club Campestre de Tijuana) has many affluent members and a famous golf course and also functions as an entertainment and events venue. Tijuana also has a large Rotary Club.

Parks and Recreation[edit]

Parque Morelos has a small zoo and park space; Parque de la Amistad in Otay Centenario has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a downtown park with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns.

Music[edit]

Since the decade of the 1920s, Tijuana has excelled in the musical field, thanks to the first groups of ranchera music that began to set the tourist establishments in the area with the visit of foreigners, including the former Casino Agua Caliente.

Rock music was very popular and popular among young people in the mid-50s, leaving the ranch rhythm aside years ago. Another event that added the arrival of Rock to Tijuana was the visit of the African-American pianist and guitarist, Gene Ross, who came to play at the Convoy Club on Revolution Avenue. The presence of this artist was the beginning of the rock scene in the region that marked a new style in the country.54 Some groupings of the nascent Mexican rock began, an example of which was "The Tijuana Five", who made some covers in Spanish of Anglo-Saxon successes.

Javier Batiz founded in 1957 he founded a group called "Los TJ's" with which he collected musical influences that were received in the Mexican border cities of black music, blues and R&B from people like T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Howlin 'Wolf, James Brown, among others. Later he would start his solo career in the rest of the country and participating in some bands in Mexico City.

During the 60s, the American trumpeter Herb Alpert, in a visit to the bullfights made in the old Bullfight, found musical inspiration so after the recording of his single "The Lonely Bull", which was a radio hit in 1962. With the success, he decided to make a casting and formed "The Tijuana Brass", with whom he toured and had a presentation on television. It was a musical collaboration with artists from Los Angeles, with style called "Tijuana Marimba´s Brass". The band was dissolved in 1969 but they continued with some presentations under the name of T.J.B. 55

At the end of the 60s and during the 70s, rock and roll still had great acceptance in the public. In those years bands such as "The Moonlights" had national and international recognition, who achieved successes such as "Tijuana Funky" or "Are you"; the "Rockin Devils", recognized for their Spanish cover of "Bule Bule", which achieved international success. The Roble Cinema, La Cabaña club and Flamingos club, would be some of the main stages of the decade for musical performances in the city.56

In the 70s, rock groups and musicians experienced government rejection and censorship for the lyrics of the songs. Romantic music took a boom and from there came bands like "The Battle of Tijuana", "Los Solitarios", "Los Terrícolas", "Old Memories", "Tito Pantoja and his friends", "Ritmo 7", "Los Old Friends "," California Brass "and "Los Corazones Solitarios", among others.

In the late 80s, Antonio De Carlo, was recognized as a revelation artist at the OTI Festival, having a successful career during the 90s, with songs such as "In A Thousand Pieces", "A Pecho Discovery", "Revolution" and "Like It Hurts ". Lynda also gained national relevance in pop, achieving hits in songs like "Lost Heart", "Tell", "A Thousand for an Hour", among others.

Despite the downturn in rock artists for some years, in the 90s Tijuana No! emerged, returning a bit of the genre to the city. They also incorporated ska, punk and reggae. "No" would be the first album released, from which successes like "Pobre de ti", which had Julieta Venegas as a vocalist, would emerge. Later the singer began her solo career already in the 00s of the 21st century. Her musical career reached the recording of six studio albums, and she won two Grammys, six Latin Grammys, six MTV Latin America and two Latin Music Billboard.

The city continued to be a hotbed of important rock bands, among them, especially at the international level, Specimen, other bands and prominent artists could be Ohtli, Nona Delichas, Canseco, Sonoro 2 and Headlongs. Electronic music boomed in the 90s, Murcof and the Nortec Collective, entered the scene and began to gain worldwide recognition for merging electronic music with northern and band music. This group was enriched with the visual contribution of designers and videographers who, under the same concept, provided images to this musical proposal.

Regarding Mexican regional music, some groups of the northern genre were emerging, highlighting Los Tucanes de Tijuana, who since the 80s began their musical career until popularizing songs such as "La Chona", "El Tucanazo", "La Chica Sexy", among others. The Agua Caliente Band, Explosión Norteña, among others, would be a new generation of Mexican popular music artists.

Among other things, Tijuana has been the inspiration for the birthplace of Nortec music style and Ruidoson, resulting in a very large and active electronic music scene where groups and artists like Los Macuanos, Maria y Jose, Siberium, Hidhawk and Harpocrates emerged. Tijuana also enjoys a large base of support in many other musical scenes such as mexican hip hop, reggae, hardcore, punk, black metal and house music. Famous musicians are from Tijuana including the pop-rock singer-songwriter Lynda Thomas and Vanessa Zamora and international indie punk bands like Delux and Los Kung-Fu Monkeys.

To promote the cultural development in children and youth of Tijuana, since 1996 the Tijuana Youth Symphony (SJT) has been promoted, which promotes education and musical training through instrument practices, music reading and public concerts. In addition, Tijuana has an opera season. There are also several musical festivals throughout the year, among which the Latin American Guitar Festival, Mainly Mozart Binacional, and the International Exhibition of contemporary dance "Bodies in Transit" stand out.

Tijuana is home to the Baja California Orchestra, one of the most prestigious and solid artistic institutions in northwestern Mexico, which was nominated for the Latin Grammy in the category of best classical album by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Inc ., with the album Tango kills Danzón kills Tango. This phonogram was distinguished as 'Best Classical Album of the year 2001' by the Mexican Union of Theater and Music Chroniclers. Currently, it maintains an annual season, offering symphonic and chamber music concerts in the most important forums of Tijuana and Baja California.

Already in the new century, many local bands have emerged, from all musical genres, some of them staying with local and national recognition. Highlights Nosis, High Slogan, Go Future, Ramona, The Children of the Saint, Among Deserts, Ziruela, Palos Verdes, Edwin, among others. Each of them have contributed and tried to revive the musical talent for which Tijuana has always been characterized.

Musical clubs along the Avenida Revolución area and others often cater to a diverse range of tastes by offering nightly variations on musical fare, such as new wave music one night, and punk rock bands on the next. Some European metal bands whose members cannot perform in the United States due to prior felony convictions in their own countries play music festivals in Tijuana for fans from both Mexico and the United States.

Relations[edit]

Tijuana has multiple sister cities and international relations worldwide. Some of their relations include:

• Busan
• San Diego
• La Paz
• León
• Mazatlán
• Panjin
• Havana
• Cincinnati
• Zaragoza
• Medellín
• Laredo
• Słubice
• Frankfurt
• Wuhan

Sports[edit]

The city is home to the Tijuana Zonkeys professional basketball team of the CIBACOPA basketball league. The team is composed mostly of players from Mexico and plays from February to July in the Municipal Auditorium.

The city has a strong tradition of association football, Club Tijuana began playing in the Liga MX México Primera División on the 2011/12 season, winning the 2012 Apertura title. They play their matches at the Estadio Caliente, a new 33,000 seat stadium. The team's mascot is the Xoloitzcuintle, a famous Mexican hairless dog.

Tijuana also has a long history of producing many world champion professional boxers, such as Antonio Margarito and Erik Morales.

Air[edit]

The Tijuana International Airport (General Abelardo L. Rodríguez IA) is the city's main airport, one of the busiest in Mexico, and serves eleven airlines with destinations across Mexico and Shanghai, China. Tijuana Airport is also a second main airport for the San Diego area for passengers heading south into Mexico and Latin America, who may use the airport's Cross Border Xpress terminal located on the U.S. side of the border in Otay Mesa and connected to the rest of the airport on the Mexican side by a pedestrian toll bridge. U.S., European, Asian and Canadian destinations can be reached via the San Diego International Airport, located about 35 kilometers (22 mi) north of the international border.

Transportation[edit]

Tijuana is a major gateway to the interior of Mexico to which it is connected by air and road directly, and by sea via the ports of Ensenada and San Diego. Within Tijuana there are freeways and other roads, and buses, but no passenger rail.

Local public transportation in Tijuana is run by semiprivate companies, and has one of the most complex, or perhaps unorganized networks.

Tijuana has a diverse cosmopolitan population which includes migrants from other parts of Mexico and from all over the world. Tijuana has one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, predominantly consisting of Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese immigrants. Tijuana also has a large and rapidly growing population of United States citizens, mostly from Southern California. Many Latin Americans, notably Cubans, and Guatemalans, have made Tijuana their home. The city also has many Lebanese, Italian, French, Spanish citizens. Recently, the city has received a large influx of Haitian immigrants.

Government[edit]

At present the parties with greater presence in Tijuana are the National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM). The PAN has been the dominant party in the city for 20 years. Historically the PRI had been the dominant party in regional politics, until 1989 when the PAN began to dominate the city, until yet again, in 2004, PRI began regaining prominence and won the Mayor's Office.

Less prominent parties also maintain relations with the dominant parties. These other parties, with less presence include the New Alliance Party (PANAL), Social Encounter Party (PES), and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Allied with the PAN at the state and local level under the Alliance for Baja California are the Social Encounter Party (PES) and New Alliance Party (PANAL). Allied with the PRI at the state and local level under the "Alliance for Better Living" are the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) and Baja California State Party (PEBC).

Telecommunications[edit]

Tijuana's telephonic system operates under area code 664, but it is not the same area code 664 that is part of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) because Mexico is not one of the countries represented in the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) where the country code is 1. So, to dial a phone number from San Diego to Tijuana requires an international access code and Mexico's Country Code, 52, before dialing the area code and the number. It is similar for anyone calling from Tijuana to the United States.

Telephonic landlines in Tijuana are provided by the company Telnor; other companies include Axtel, Izzi Telecom and Alestra. Popular cell phone carriers in the city-region include Movistar, Telcel, and AT&T Mexico. Many U.S. carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile offer free roaming in Mexico and it is possible to connect to U.S. based cell phone towers in many northern parts of the city. Cell phones also have historic usage in Tijuana as the first cellular call in Mexico was made in Tijuana in 1989.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• https://www.tripsavvy.com/tijuana-mexico-visitor-guide-1478974