Both sides of the border see less violence near San Diego

By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 31, 2008

THE BORDER – A charred hole near one man's front door and several lingering coughs are about all that's left to remind residents of Tijuana's Colonia Libertad of a time late last year when las bombas were coming across the border fence.

This is how locals refer to the tear gas canisters and pepper spray launched against smugglers by the Border Patrol, which operates just on the other side of the fence from this working-class neighborhood. For decades, the area has been considered a hub for human and drug smuggling traffic.


NELVIN C. CEPEDA / Union-Tribune
José Arias MartÃ*nez, 75, has lived more than half his life in a small wooden house near the border. During times of greater smuggling activity, he would sell carnitas in the hills.

On the U.S. side, just east of the San Ysidro port of entry, agents had grown weary of attacks by smuggling organizations. In spite of two layers of fence, smugglers and their young foot guides were hurling rocks and gasoline bombs to distract agents, even setting up booby traps.

The agency has since attempted to counter smuggling operations that work out of Colonia Libertad by straightening and raising the height of the secondary border fence, installing spirals of razor-studded concertina wire at the top and dedicating more agents to the area.

It has been relatively quiet for months now, people on both sides of the fence say. Violent attacks against agents have dropped off sharply, while Colonia Libertad residents say the coyotes who regularly ate breakfast at a small restaurant near the fence don't gather there as often.

“I think they have gone somewhere else,â€