Mexico fails to deliver Rio Grande water

According to a recent article from Milenio, Mexico is over three and a half years behind in delivering water to the United States as mandated by the 1944 Water Treaty. This treaty requires Mexico to deliver 2,158 million cubic meters of water to the U.S. every five years, averaging 431.7 million cubic meters annually. As of March 15, 2025, with seven months remaining in the current cycle, Mexico has delivered only 602.7 million cubic meters - fulfilling just 28% of its obligation. Persistent extreme drought conditions have significantly impacted Mexico's ability to meet these commitments.

Mexican Ranch DIscovery

 In the heart of Jalisco's sugarcane fields lies the Izaguirre ranch, now infamous as a site of terror and tragedy. Recently uncovered, this compound has been linked to the forced recruitment and brutal training practices of organized crime syndicates, notably the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

In March, search groups seeking missing loved ones made a grim discovery at the ranch: human skeletal remains, evidence of cremations, and personal belongings including clothing, toiletries, and toys. A particularly haunting image was the pile of abandoned shoes, drawing parallels to historical atrocities.

The ranch is believed to have functioned as a training camp where forcibly recruited youths underwent severe indoctrination. Reports suggest these recruits were subjected to harsh practices designed to desensitize them to violence, including being forced to harm one another. Such methods highlight the extreme measures employed by cartels to maintain control and expand their influence.

The initial response from authorities has been met with criticism. Despite a prior operation in September that led to arrests and the rescue of two individuals, the site was not thoroughly investigated, leaving much evidence undiscovered until the recent intervention by civilian searchers. This oversight has intensified public outrage and underscored concerns about potential negligence or collusion within law enforcement agencies.

Gringo Gazette Baja Online

How it started: Registered On: 2010-07-09 Gringos Gazette yesteryear, we are the only Baja Gringos Gazette Online eZine. By definition a "gazette" is information published in form of journal. In our case this is a online eZine. Also by definition princeton.edu is gringo a Latin American term for foreigners especially Americans and Englishmen The Gringo Gazette Baja Online eZine serves the American and english speaking community living part- or full-time in Baja California, featuring news, articles, updates, fishing, real estate, community events, and tourist activities. 

The Gringo Gazette Baja Online eZine is your best source of insider information about living, working, visiting or retiring in Mexico. We keep up to date on all of the latest news and information, we are not just a tourist guide. The Gringo Gazette Baja Online eZine is by far your best choice for current Baja information in English. Its content is 100% of interest to both, tourists and residents, focusing on Baja natural beauties, products and services that tourists can find when arriving in the region, local news, border issues, business opportunities, real estate, culture, customs, legal status of aliens, rules and regulations of Mexico, political issues and more. 

The editorial staff includes a fair number of Baja resident contributors and writers. We have loose connections to several other Baja oriented ePublishers and exchange content or even collaborate if topics of interest occur. Some content may by syndicated, you will always find the credits for such content and/or a link to the original source at the end of a post. 

What will you NOT find at the Baja gringo's gazette Online eZine?? Countless announcements and adverts from strip-joints and massage palaces, contemplating and biased info are a no-no here! Good enough?? We hope so. We are in no way related or affiliated with the similar named pamphlet you find throughout Baja Sur. We are an independent online eZine. Read the footer of the pages that clearly states who we are and who we are NOT!!
We keep up to date on all of the latest news... Read more here

El Grito heard round the World

Mexico Honors "The Father of the Nation" during bicentennial celebrations. Every year during Mexico`s famous Independence Day celebrations on Sept. 15 and 16, the country honors the memory of  "the father of the nation," Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, by recreating his famous "Grito de Dolores." On Sept. 15, Hidalgo`s famous call for independence reverberates throughout the country as millions of Mexicans remember the man behind the Mexican War of Independence. From a priest in Dolores, to a revolutionary hero known throughout all of Mexico, Hidalgo`s contribution to Mexico`s independence is a remarkable point in the country`s fascinating history.
Today, Hidalgo is affectionately known as the "father of the nation" for spearheading the Mexican War of Independence.

The Pearls of La Paz

La Paz was once rich in pearls. Expeditions financed by Hernán Cortés in the 1530s came back with tales of pearls worn by indigenous tribes, who also had an unfortunate tendency of attacking the intruders. Only 60 years later during a voyage by Sebastián Vizcaíno was he able to make peace with the locals, naming the area as the “Bay of Peace” or Bahia de La Paz. Although pearl-diving was restricted during the Jesuit mission period, the 19th century saw a rush to cultivate pearls, so the abundant oyster beds became heavily depleted. A disease attacked the few remaining oyster beds in the 1930s, and by the time John Steinbeck arrived in 1940 in La Paz (recorded in his book The Log of the Sea of Cortéz) pearls were a thing of the past. It also inspired Steinbeck to write The Pearl, a story of human greed based on a Mexican folk tale.
The only pearls left are those of wisdom, if you are lucky enough to find them. My arrival in La Paz coincided with the annual Waterkeeper Conference, an event that brings together groups protecting watersheds from around the world. This was the first year the event was hosted in Latin America.

1,000 Miles to Cabo

San Diego Bay is home to the world’s largest long-range sportfishing fleet, with boats up to 120 feet routinely cruising to fishing grounds hundreds of miles away. But the fleet is about to be trumped by a man in a kayak.
David Kalwick, a 48-year-old San Diego-based 3-D animator, plans to embark on a 1,000-mile solo fishing trip that will take him all the way to Mexico’s Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of Baja California. Kalwick plans to leave later this month from San Diego Harbor. He’ll stay within a few miles of land along a narrow ribbon of inshore waters where crashing surf meets rugged desert, where safe harbors are few and where civilization is often marked by primitive fish camps.
“I’ve fished and surfed many beaches in Baja,” Kalwick said. “But this is Pacific Ocean survival. Aside from a few protein bars, I’ll be living off what the ocean provides.”

Kalwick has talked with sailors who have made the same ocean journey and has decided not to venture too far offshore, except to visit islands along the way. In case a storm comes up, being near land will allow him to quickly paddle out of harm’s way.

Could Border Smugglers Turn to Piracy?

On any given day, a game of cat and mouse is being played out along “Smuggler’s Corridor,” the nearshore waters off Southern California and Northern Baja California. United States federal agents play cat. Their role is to nab smugglers as they ferry illicit human and narcotic cargo across the border.
The role of mouse is typically played aboard a small boat, usually an open skiff called a panga. Smugglers avoid detection by motoring across the border at night.
If lucky, they drop their cargoes on beaches and in bays and coves, and then return from whence they came. If unlucky, they may be captured by U.S. federal agents or fall victim to rough seas. Last year, two illegal immigrants died.
It’s a high-risk game, but rewards are high, too. A single smuggling skiff may carry nearly a ton of marijuana with a street value of $100,000 or more.
Pangas carry expensive human cargo, too. They’re often overloaded with two dozen or more illegal immigrants, who pay between $2,500 and $4,000 each to be brought to the U.S.
The human and drug smuggling trade is so lucrative that it is almost completely controlled by Mexican drug cartels, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.
Decades ago, most contraband was smuggled over land at various weak points along a very porous U.S./Mexico border. But years of strengthening the fence and instituting other measures have pushed smugglers out to sea in increasing numbers.

Quake triggered by Baja California temblor

Experts say April's 7.2 quake put more pressure on the San Jacinto fault, triggering the 5.4-magnitude temblor that shook much of Southern California on Wednesday. It rattled nerves but caused no major damage.
The moderate 5.4 magnitude earthquake that rolled through Southern California on Wednesday was probably triggered by the Mexicali temblor that hit Easter Sunday, seismologists said.
Earthquake scientists' preliminary analysis had already shown that the 7.2 magnitude Baja California quake placed more pressure on at least two fault zones in Southern California — the Elsinore and the San Jacinto.
Wednesday's earthquake, which caused no major damage, appeared to confirm that analysis. It struck on the San Jacinto fault zone, which runs roughly from the Salton Sea area northwest through the San Jacinto Mountains toward San Bernardino.
"We've been calling those 'triggered earthquakes' " Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton said, referring to temblors north of the aftershock zone that runs from the Gulf of California to Ocotillo, Calif., near the Mexican border.

Baja's LA Cetto Winery, worth a visit and good wines too!

Most Southern Californians have never heard of LA Cetto. Nor Baja's Guadalupe Valley. Nor any of the more than 30 wineries located just an hour outside of Ensenada, Mexico. But you should know Cetto and the Valley. Good wines, great views, good food, and it's in Mexico, a world to itself!

LA Cetto (pronounced Chet-toe) is one of Mexico's largest wine producers. Located at the top of the Guadalupe Valley, Cetto has been producing wines (and good ones at that) for almost a century. Wines that are easy to drink, relatively inexpensive to purchase, and have garnered many Gold Medals over the years.