By Manuel Ayala |
Tijuana (Mexico) (EFE) in one of the most successful among tourists.
There are 12 members of the family, made up of a mother, children, nephews and grandchildren, who a little over a year ago started a food business on Sixth Street, in the first square of the city, where the attraction is the sale of Quesadillas with seasoning and the style of the town that they are from.
They said “no” to the US.
The family, whose name was omitted for security reasons, is one of the 379,000 people internally displaced by violence in Mexico, as revealed last year in the “Manual on internal displacement” of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ( SCJN).
María told EFE that when they lived in their town in Guerrero, her mother had a grocery store, but it was too complicated due to the constant quotas that organized crime asked her for and the threats that came if they refused to comply.
“We came because of the situation that is being experienced there, there is too much violence, a lot of extortion and really people cannot get ahead if you are not paying a place (crime fee), because they threaten the family and we all come to look for a better place. future for our children and stability,” he said.
María stressed that the idea of her mother, head of the entire family, when she arrived in Tijuana, was to cross into the United States and seek asylum or a way out of Mexico, as thousands of Mexicans who are also fleeing violence choose.
Mexicans represented almost 30% of the record number of 2.76 million undocumented immigrants detained at the southern border of the United States in fiscal year 2022, according to its Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP).
But María was convinced that in Tijuana there were also options to progress and she stayed.
“We decided better to stay because of the opportunities,” Maria said.
The seasoning of the town, key to success
One year after establishing this business, today the family enjoys success among visitors.
María proudly argues that the key to her success has been the seasoning that they bring embedded from her town and the fact that everything is prepared instantly.
“At first we didn’t think the business would be as successful as we imagine it to be today, but the flavor of the town that we bring is what people liked, because a lot of people really come here from many places, So they try the food, they like it, they come back and they also recommend us”, he highlighted.
To all this, María added that, as a family, they have always been very close and all the members work as a team.
“My mother is the one who has sacrificed herself working, but we have worked with her since we were children and that’s how we all grew up in the environment working and in the same way our children are also with us, always studying and working,” he commented.
Tijuana, Mexican city of opportunities
María and her entire family also said they felt grateful to Tijuana, which is on the border with San Diego, California, because it was the city that finally welcomed them all and thanks to this today they enjoy a certain stability.
“In Tijuana we have found that opportunity that we had not had,” he asserted.
She added that for this reason, today she tells her countrymen who want to come to work that “Tijuana is a very productive city and there is work for everyone, it is only a matter of looking for it and working honestly.”
Finally, María said that the idea of going to the United States “is already in the past.”
“We have definitely already made our lives here and our children and family are here, so I don’t even think about returning to our town, Tijuana is already ours,” he concluded.
