State and City Officials Call Tijuana Violence Editorial Cartoon ’Offensive’ Luis Gomez - The San Diego Union-Tribune
go to original September 2, 2017

A cartoon by San Diego Union-Tribune editorial cartoonist Steve Breen, published Aug. 30, 2017, drew criticism from Mexican city officials in Tijuana, Baja California, where reports of deadly violence reached a new record in 2017. (Steve Breen/San Diego Union-Tribune)

The editorial cartoon shows a welcome sign to the city of Tijuana riddled with bullet holes under a dark sky.

It is an ominous cartoon, inspired by reporting from The San Diego Union-Tribune on the city’s record number of homicides, which have claimed more than 1,025 lives in Tijuana so far this year. That total is already well above the previous record for this city of some 1.8 million people — last year’s 910 homicides.

The offices of Tijuana’s mayor and Baja California’s state government both sent letters to the Union-Tribune asking Publisher and Editor in Chief Jeff Light to “retract” the cartoon. The city’s mayor, Juan Manuel Gastélum, also published a longer version of his letter in a full page of the local Tijuana newspaper, Frontera.

The cartoon, published online Tuesday and in the paper on Wednesday and shared on social media, generated an emotional response south of the border, particularly among Mexican officials at the city and state level.

The offices of Tijuana’s mayor and Baja California’s state government both sent letters to the Union-Tribune asking Publisher and Editor in Chief Jeff Light to “retract” the cartoon. The city’s mayor, Juan Manuel Gastélum, also published a longer version of his letter in a full page of the local Tijuana newspaper, Frontera.

The letter, provided to the Union-Tribune for publication, reads in part:

The mayor of Tijuana has been surprised by the cartoon in the San Diego Union-Tribune by Steve Breen that was published on August 29 of this year, which is offensive for both the city of Tijuana and all its inhabitants, by projecting a totally wrong, exaggerated and erroneous image of our city to the visitors.

... I reiterate my considerations and ask you to retract.

Raul Reynoso, social communication general director for Baja Calfornia’s state government, called the cartoon’s depiction of the city “offensive”as well in a letter that appeared in the Union-Tribune and in Mexican news outlets.

Read the rest at The San Diego Union-Tribune

Related: Read the Report That Inspired the Cartoon: The Deadliest Year (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!