Under Violent Seige, Tijuana's Elite Flee

Kidnappings rampant as drug cartel lashes out over crackdown
By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 8, 2008 3:03 PM CDT
Under Violent Seige, Tijuana's Elite Flee
Mexican army soldiers patrol the area near the site of a high level security cabinet news conference to discuss the recent wave of kidnappings that have rocked the city.   (AP Photo/David Maung)

As drug-fueled violence skyrockets in Tijuana, the upper-class is fleeing the city, with more than 1,000 wealthy families migrating to the US, reports the LA Times. The Mexican city is now second to Baghdad in kidnappings and many American real estate agents describe clients who arrive missing fingers or with fresh wounds. A government crackdown on drug cartels may have forced organized crime groups to seek out other means of income.

"I always say that Eastlake is the city with the highest standard of living in all of Mexico,” an immigration lawyer joked of a city just five miles north of the Mexican border. (More drugs stories.)

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