♪♪♪ male announcer: Major funding for this program has been provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[police sirens wailing] ♪♪♪ announcer: Tijuana has always held a special place in the American imagination: A sleazy border town where generations of Americans could play out their forbidden fantasies.

♪♪♪ announcer: But now this Mexican city has put on a different face and is calling out to the world to come look at the new Tijuana.

♪♪♪ Today, visitors from north of the border and throughout the Pacific Rim are answering Tijuana's seductive call and transforming the city into the new Hong Kong.

International companies are relocating here, attracted by a cheap labor force and easy access to the rich US market.

Many Americans see Tijuana as the gateway through which third world immigrants flood into the first world.

But Tijuana's booming economy is now the envy of Mexico.

The city acts like a magnet, drawing migrants from throughout the republic.

Thousands arrive every month enticed by the promise of jobs and a better life.

The city's population has climbed to nearly 2 million, making Tijuana the second largest city on the West Coast after Los Angeles.

Tijuana's economic transformation is creating new political challenges.

The city has been caught up in the dramatic struggle for democracy that is sweeping the globe.

A fiercely independent press has emerged, providing a voice for popular discontent with corruption and abuse of power, but independence has come at a high price.

In a bitterly contested election, Tijuana has become a battleground, where the ruling party is losing control after a 60-year monopoly of political power.

As Tijuana celebrates its 100th anniversary, the city is in the midst of dramatic changes shaped by competing forces struggling to control the destiny of the new Tijuana.

♪♪♪ male: Okay, no move for five seconds.

Hold it.

announcer: Every year, 35 million tourists cross the border at San Diego to come to Tijuana, making it the world's most visited city.

Most of them come here to Avenida Revolución in the heart of downtown Tijuana.

Many of these tourists will spend only a few hours here, but the sights and sounds from this frenzied avenue will shape what they remember of their brief visit to a third world country.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male: Mexican souvenir, sterling silver, two -- male: Mexican food, no cover.

You gonna be nice.

The best party in TJ.

Come on, check it out.

Let's do it together, whoo!

♪♪♪ announcer: Young Americans come to Tijuana seeking all-night entertainment and the lower drinking age of 18.

♪♪♪ announcer: While teenage Americans dominate the nightlife, during the day, tourism along Avenida Revolución is a family affair.

male: No move for five seconds, hold it.

male: Okay.

female: That's cute.

Look at how cute that is.

male: That's good souvenirs, even the jackets, even the-- even the donkey.

announcer: Every year, tourism contributes over $1 billion dollars to the local economy.

The major portion of tourist dollars is from family tourists who come looking for bargains.

female: Thank you.

female: Gracias.

male: Bye-bye.

female: Bye.

male: I feel very comfortable with them coming here with their friends and spending the night or walking around town 12 o'clock at night, where in LA I wouldn't do that.

I'd be afraid.

female: Buy a lot of these little wristbands, clothes.

female: Leather goods.

He does the bargaining.

announcer: Throughout most of this century, the image that Americans have had of Tijuana has been created for them here on Avenida Revolución.

♪♪♪ Over the years, Avenida Revolución has had different names, but it has always been the heart of Tijuana.

At the turn of the century, Tijuana looked like a town out of the old American West with wooden hotels, restaurants, and bars.

It wasn't long before Tijuana was serving the needs of its northern neighbor.

The Roaring Twenties ushered in a boom era.

The passage of Prohibition in the United States in 1920 transformed Tijuana as beer gardens, liquor stores, and houses of prostitution filled up the main street.

As the '20s came to an end, a group of California businessmen created new excitement for visiting Americans with the opening of the Agua Caliente Casino.

The lure of gambling tables banned in the US and the casino's luxurious splendor brought thousands of Americans south of the border to enjoy the music and merriment of this Mexican hideaway.

On the dance floor of the casino, a young Rita Hayworth entertained the patrons of Agua Caliente, who knew her as Margarita Cansino.

[people cheering] announcer: The adjoining Agua Caliente Racetrack drew the best horses of the day, including the legendary Seabiscuit.

Hollywood movie stars like William Powell and Carole Lombard frequented the track.

While on the nearby golf course, Jean Harlow could be spotted playing a round of golf.

The 1930s brought an end to the steady flow of Americans crossing the border.

Prohibition was repealed in 1933, and two years later, Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas banned gambling, bringing to an end the cavalcade of Hollywood stars at Agua Caliente.

♪ That evening sun go down.

♪ announcer: After the outbreak of World War II, US military personnel stationed in nearby Southern California came to Tijuana, seeking a temporary diversion from the rigors of military service.

Once again, the city would be transformed while serving American needs.

Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Avenida Revolución was teeming with gaudy nightclubs, live sex shows, drug dealers, and prostitution, giving birth to the city's black legend.

In the 1960s, city authorities resolved to change the image of the city.

To attract a new type of tourist, they closed down many of the garish nightclubs, bars, and city hotels on Avenida Revolución.

They remodeled downtown and began a transformation of the city, which continues today.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Construction never stops in Tijuana, especially not in this part of the city.

This is the heart of the new Tijuana known as the Zona del Río for its location alongside the Tijuana River.

A new center of the city is being constructed here, attracting the patronage of Americans and Mexicans alike.

New American-style shopping centers are challenging Avenida Revolución's monopoly of the tourist dollar.

♪♪♪ announcer: Financial institutions have become one of the city's fastest growing industries thanks to Tijuana's emergence as Mexico's leading earner of dollars.

♪♪♪ The new high-tech discos in the River Zone have become a major part of the music scene for both sides of the border.

Almost within earshot, the Cultural Center offers a spectacular range of performances and exhibitions from around the world and throughout Latin America.

[singing in Spanish] announcer: But the River Zone wasn't always like this.

The story of its development is the story of the conflicting forces at work in the creation of the new Tijuana.

Throughout the city's history, the Tijuana River would periodically overflow its banks, causing death and destruction.

Because of the annual threat of flooding, the River Zone had little commercial value except to the poor, who found the wide floodplain an easy place to build their makeshift shelters.

In the early 1970s, the Mexican government decided to develop the River Zone by first controlling the Tijuana River.

The centerpiece of that project was the construction of a 10-mile flood channel, which would carry the river water safely into the Pacific Ocean.

Once the flood channel was completed, the land adjacent to the river could be reclaimed and commercially exploited.

However, one thing stood in the way of the development: the presence of poor squatter settlements alongside the river.

announcer: Catalino Zavala grew up in one of the impoverished communities in the floodplain.

When the government began to evict squatters from the River Zone, they encountered strong opposition.

announcer: In the midst of the battle between the government and the squatters, winter rains would play a decisive role in the conflict.

On January 29, 1980, heavy rains drenched the city and brought the Rodríguez Dam above Tijuana perilously close to overflowing.

announcer: Over the next few days, bodies were discovered washed up on beaches as far away as San Diego.

The official death count reached 20, but the bodies of 70 people were never found.

announcer: What the government was unable to do with the help of the army, the flooding was able to achieve in one deadly night.

The squatters were relocated to areas far from the river.

Now, plans for development of the river zone could proceed.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Officially, Tijuana has no unemployment.

Many factories never shut down, operating three shifts 24 hours a day.

As the cost of labor has risen in developed countries, international companies have been drawn to areas with inexpensive labor costs.

Tijuana is experiencing an invasion of foreign companies due to its strategic location along the Pacific rim.

These companies have come to set up shop in what are called "maquiladoras," or assembly plants.

The maquiladora program was created by the Mexican government to attract foreign investment, especially in the border region.

Under the program, raw materials are imported into Mexico duty-free.

After being assembled, the finished products are exported to the US where they pay minimal custom duties.

Maquiladoras produce everything from electric fans to medical equipment.

Here in Tijuana, more television sets are assembled than anywhere else in the world.

♪♪♪ announcer: Alejandro Bustamante, a native Tijuanan, is the president of the national council of the maquiladora industry.

He has come to San Diego on a selling trip to meet with a group of businessmen who want to invest in maquiladoras.

Alejandro Bustamante: The biggest participation in the maquiladora industry comes from the United States.

About 92% of all the operations here in Mexico are from US origin.

We still have about 5% who come from Japan, basically in the electronics industry.

[speaking in Japanese] announcer: Although the Japanese are still a small presence in Tijuana's maquiladora industry, their operations have expanded faster than those of any other country in recent years.

Alejandro: Just to give you an idea, the biggest concentration of, in this case, Japanese companies, what you're asking, is in the city of Tijuana.

But we have a very interesting phenomenon.

The people, the managers, the technicians who go there to train the people don't live in Tijuana.

They live in San Diego.

And San Diego has one of the most well-recognized schools for Japanese.

So all the persons who come with their kids, they have a place where they can go and study.

So that has been one of the most important-- Alejandro: Mexico is getting a great deal out of the maquiladoras.

When it comes to employment, we have over 430,000 people working in the industry, so we're solving problems to 430,000 families in Mexico.

Also, we're creating a lot of jobs that don't depend directly on the maquiladoras.

They are indirect.

Like, for example, the law firms, the account--the accounting firms, everybody who sells services to the maquiladora industry.

Monique Estudillo: Okay, thank you very much.

Hello?

Mr. Hashi, I'm sorry.

Yes.

announcer: Monique Estudillo is an attorney with the Tijuana office of Baker and McKenzie, the world's largest law firm.

She specializes in the maquiladora industry.

Monique: The American company is going to grant to the Mexican company the use of the machinery, okay?

And--yes, the title and ownership of the machinery should at all times remain vested in the American company.

Monique: Whatever you wanna put here in Mexico right now, the market is opened, and that's what we do.

That's what we help all the foreign and Japanese, especially, and Americans to establish a business here, and they are very pleased with everything because they can compete with the market.

announcer: Monique's work brings her into contact with many of the large maquiladora companies in Tijuana.

Monique: The Japanese companies come the same as the American companies because labor work is cheaper here, of course.

Always they want something new and sometimes they don't know--they don't wanna assemble this type of thing now they wanna assemble something more, so you have to do all the paperwork and all the legal aspects to expand their maquila program.

male: Discussing our accounting people.

I think in the future we'll have to hold the meeting with you.

Monique: Okay, then we're gonna present it maybe to in the commerce ministry for your benefit and for the company's benefit and everything.

male: Oh, that's fine.

Monique: Okay.

male: -- Agreed.

Monique: I feel when foreign investment comes here and puts their business here, I can feel bad because they--they're using us or whatever.

No, no, they're not using us.

We're all establishing a relationship.

It's beneficial for them, beneficial for us.

That's why we're here and I think it's perfect.

♪♪♪ announcer: Like many of Tijuana's young professionals, Monique enjoys the cosmopolitan ambience found in the River Zone's many plazas.

♪♪♪ announcer: Most of the city's emerging middle class are recent arrivals.

But Monique is different.

She comes from the old money of Tijuana.

♪♪♪ announcer: Since the turn of the century, the Estudillo family has been a central part of the social elite of the city.

Many of the state's political and business leaders have been connected by blood or marriage to this prominent family.

Today, Monique lives with her family in colonia Chapultepec, the wealthiest neighborhood in Tijuana.

Monique: Growing up in Tijuana, I always knew that it--that we were in a privileged site.

We're in Mexico we have the privileges of Mexico, our people, our customs, our way of thinking.

Plus, we have the border.

We have the United States where we can cross, go to the movies, whatever we want.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jose Cintron: Tijuana has an excellent atmosphere for establishing and running a maquiladora.

Levimex was established because Tijuana is fastest-growing city in Mexico.

Therefore, there is an abundant source of labor, which is coming in from other parts of the Mexican Republic.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [machine whirring] [machine whirring] Jose: We have about 80% of the workforce, which is female, primarily due to the fact that they're more agile.

And they have more manual dexterity than men do to put parts together.

announcer: Another attraction that women hold for the maquiladora industry is that historically they have been less likely to join unions than men.

This is especially true in Tijuana, where labor unions have failed to make much progress in organizing maquiladora workers.

Alejandro: If labor becomes expensive, then a lot of companies will really think about moving to other places.

That has happened to us in the past.

Jose: I don't fear the union movement as much as I fear the ugly American that--a maquiladora manager that is sent down by a parent organization to start up or run a maquiladora.

I fear him more because he will give us all a bad image not only by his actions by words but what he does or doesn't do.

The Mexican worker is an excellent worker, but he must be treated with respect and kindness.

announcer: For most of these workers, the journey home will be a short one.

This is no accident.

Many of the city's newer maquiladoras have been strategically located in areas with an abundant source of labor living nearby.

This part of Tijuana is called El Florido, which means the flowering place.

Just a few years ago, there was nothing here except barren desert land, but because of the rapid growth of the maquiladora industry, El Florido has blossomed into a city within a city almost overnight.

[hammer thudding] Reyes Díaz was one of the first to bring his family to El Florido.

announcer: Reyes worked for only a short time in the maquiladoras before quitting to start a business of his own.

announcer: With the help of his family, Reyes set up a small stand, which has become the neighborhood market for this area of El Florido.

♪♪♪ announcer: Reyes's daughter Rosillo has turned 15.

In traditional Mexican fashion, she will have a party called a quinceañera to celebrate her coming of age.

♪♪♪ One of the neighbors, Cristina, has volunteered to teach the neighborhood children the traditional waltzes that are part of the quinceañera celebration.

♪♪♪ [speaking in Spanish] [speaking in Spanish] [speaking in Spanish] [speaking in Spanish] [speaking in Spanish] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Since his struggle against the evictions in the River Zone, Catalino Zavala has become the leader of a grassroots organization called CUCUTAC.

In the last ten years, Zavala's organization has developed into a political force demanding land and services throughout Tijuana.

[speaking in Spanish] announcer: Representing poor residents with little resources, CUCUTAC has found its greatest political strength in new neighborhoods like El Florido, which are springing to life on the edges of the city.

announcer: To underscore the importance which the Mexican government sees in developing areas like El Florido, President Carlos Salinas has come here to dedicate a new school in the midst of a whirlwind visit to Tijuana.

[speaking in Spanish] announcer: Every Friday morning, this Tijuana newspaper comes off the presses ready for its weekly distribution.

"Zeta" is the most widely read and influential newspaper in Tijuana, with a circulation many times that of its nearest competitor.

But in order to ensure that the newspaper is sold at all, it is being printed in the United States.

announcer: Jesús Blancornelas is the editor and publisher of "Zeta."

For more than 30 years, he has struggled to survive as an independent journalist in Tijuana.

His first newspaper, "ABC," was closed down by the state government in 1979. announcer: In 1980, Blancornelas founded, "Zeta," with his friend and colleague Héctor Félix, a popular columnist known as El Gato.

From its inception, "Zeta," was designed to be an independent voice.

announcer: "Zeta's," editorial offices are in Tijuana.

Being located on the border gives, "Zeta," an edge enjoyed by few Mexican newspapers.

announcer: "Zeta's," independence has attracted many young reporters anxious to be part of the new journalism of Tijuana.

In its short history, "Zeta," has produced a steady stream of exposés of government corruption.

But in Mexico, investigative journalism can be dangerous.

In the last ten years, more than three dozen Mexican journalists have been murdered.

announcer: On the morning of April 20th, 1988, Héctor Félix was gunned down in his car while on his way to work.

According to witnesses, the driver of one vehicle blocked Félix's car while a gunman shot Félix at point blank range with a 12 gauge shotgun.

The murder was a shock to the journalistic community in Tijuana.

announcer: Five days after the murder, police arrested Victoriano Medina, a security guard at the Agua Caliente Racetrack.

Medina initially confessed to the murder, but later said he had been tortured by the police and repudiated his confession.

The police also announced they were seeking another suspect, Antonio Vera Palestina, who was the head of security at the track.

The racetrack's owner is Jorge Hank Rhon, who was a frequent target of Héctor Félix in his column.

Jorge Hank Rhon: I'm really anxious for this to get clarified.

I mean, get the guys that you want to get and search for everybody that you want to.

And any help I can give you.

I can give the police, I can give anyone.

I'm here.

announcer: On the day of the funeral for El Gato, thousands gathered to express their anger and sorrow for the death of the popular journalist.

announcer: The mayor of nearby Ensenada Ernesto Ruffo warned the government that its inability to arrest those responsible for the murder would affect the upcoming elections.

announcer: Questions surrounding the assassination of Héctor Félix have not yet been put to rest.

His death is a reminder of the difficulties Tijuana faces in creating a free and open society.

[crowd cheering] announcer: You could sense immediately that the 1989 elections in Baja California would not be business as usual.

You could see it in the faces of the people here in the streets of Tijuana.

It was called Ruffomania.

Ernesto Ruffo, the popular mayor of Ensenada, was a gubernatorial candidate for the National Action Party known as the PAN.

In Tijuana, Ruffo had ignited the imagination of people hungry for democracy.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: In the final rally of the campaign, Ruffo's followers believed that he was on the verge of becoming the first opposition governor to be elected in Mexican history.

For the past 60 years, since the end of the Mexican Revolution, all elected officials from the president of the country to the mayors of the smallest towns have been handpicked by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI.

[crowd chanting] But in rally after rally, Ruffo tapped into rampant dissatisfaction with a government widely perceived as corrupt and undemocratic.

He hammered home the need for change, the need for an honest government responsive to the people who elected it.

announcer: Despite the tremendous enthusiasm of his supporters, Ruffo's victory was far from assured.

The PRI still had vast financial resources and a bag of tricks from which to draw.

♪♪♪ announcer: Their final rally in Tijuana was a typical PRI extravaganza, a mixture of free food and spectacle.

announcer: In a dramatic break with the past, the PRI chose a woman, Margarita Ortega, as their candidate for governor, hoping to generate a new and exciting image for the party.

[woman speaking in Spanish] announcer: The PRI mobilized 25,000 people to attend the final rally, many of whom were bussed into Tijuana from throughout the state.

But not everyone was here by choice.

announcer: On July 2, 1989, Tijuana voters went to the polls to elect a governor, a mayor, and six members of the state assembly, but it was the excitement generated by the governor's race that caused voters to turn out in record numbers and to endure long lines to cast their ballots.

Sensing an historic event in the making, members of the international media scrutinized the electoral process as voters put to the test the promise of President Carlos Salinas to respect the will of the people regardless of the outcome.

[speaking in Spanish] [speaking in Spanish] Because of the heavy turnout in many precincts, counting the votes was delayed until nearly midnight.

While some representatives from each party tallied the ballots by hand, others kept watch to make sure that the long history of electoral fraud on the part of the PRI would not be repeated.

[speaking in Spanish] [speaking in Spanish] [speaking in Spanish] [crowd chanting "Ruffo"] announcer: Late into the night, an exuberant crowd gathered at a school in downtown Tijuana to cheer the arrival of each ballot box, confident of victory.

announcer: Tijuana represented more than a third of the state's votes and would be critical in deciding the outcome.

In the days following the election, PAN supporters maintained a constant vigil in front of the school to ensure there was no tampering with the ballot boxes.

Speculation was rampant.

First came rumors that the PRI had stolen the election.

Later, there were rumors that the PRI was paralyzed by a major power struggle between leaders in Mexico City and Baja California.

Ernesto Ruffo Appel: The signs from Mexico City were, "Win the election if you can, but we won't help you on anything against the law."

It seems that that was a message from Mexico City, and they tried to steal the election over here, but they did not get the big support.

So, that made it easier for us.

[crowd chanting] announcer: More than a week after the voting, it was announced that Ernesto Ruffo had won the governorship of Baja California.

Tijuana had provided the margin of victory.

[crowd cheering] The PAN victory had been decisive.

Ruffo's coattails were long enough for the PAN to win most of the mayoral campaigns in the state and a majority of the seats in the state assembly.

In Tijuana, for the first time in its history, a PAN candidate, Carlos Montejo, was elected mayor.

[crowd applauding] announcer: It was an extraordinary time for Tijuana.

The will of the people had been respected and Tijuanans had plenty to celebrate.

It seemed fitting that the historic election results would occur at the very time that the city was celebrating its 100th anniversary.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Friends of the new mayor congratulated him on a victory that no one had believed possible.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Members of the PAN were not the only victors in the election.

In El Florido, supporters of Catalino Zavala celebrated the election of one of their own to the state assembly.

[crowd chanting] announcer: On November 1, 1989, Ernesto Ruffo was inaugurated as the first opposition governor in Mexican history.

To confirm his pledge to accept the will of the voters, President Carlos Salinas attended the ceremony.

announcer: The election of Ernesto Ruffo and Catalino Zavala reflects the beginning of a political transformation in Mexico, a change from a society dominated by one political voice to a pluralistic society open to many voices.

Monique: There's some problems, of course, in the structure of the city because it wasn't made for this amount of people, but we're going to--we're--right now, they're trying to fix everything, water--everything, so it will be for everybody.

There will be for everybody, for all the corporations and everything.

Alejandro: Tijuana has changed a lot in in the recent years.

It's a totally new Tijuana, different facilities, different environment, different people with a new mentality.

And I think that's going to help a lot the new Tijuana.

♪ Yo soy norteño, bajacaliforniano, ♪ ♪ nací en la bella frontera de Tijuana, ♪ ♪ donde comienza la patria mexicana, ♪ ♪ donde se arrullan las nubes del cielo, ♪ ♪ y las olas del mar.

♪ ♪ He recorrido la línea divisoria, ♪ ♪ he conocido toditas las fronteras, ♪ ♪ pero de todas Tijuana es la primera, ♪ ♪ porqué Tijuana es la tierra bonita, ♪ ♪ bendita, de Dios.

♪ ♪ ¡Qué bonita es la frontera de Tijuana!, ♪ ♪ al decirlo se me ensancha el corazón, ♪ ♪ que bonita es mi Baja Californía, ♪ ♪ es orgullo de toda la nación.

♪♪ ♪ ¡Qué bonita es la frontera de Tijuana!, ♪ ♪ al decirlo se me ensancha el corazón, ♪ ♪ que bonita es mi Baja Californía, ♪ ♪ es orgullo de toda la nación.

♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Major funding for "The New Tijuana" has been provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

announcer: This program is a production of KPBS-TV which is solely responsible for its content.

announcer: This is PBS.