A Cronkite News Service Weekend Special

Along Pasaje Morelos, business owners say economy, fear hurting tourism

NOTE: SUBS grafs 8 and 15-16 to CORRECT that Miranda is male, an editing error. This story moved Wednesday, Feb. 4. We recommend it for weekend use.

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By CAROLINA MADRID
Cronkite News Service

NOGALES, Sonora _ It takes about two minutes for tourists to stroll from the border to this shopping alley where Rafael Martinez has sold hand-painted pottery, colorful masks, leather sandals and other intricate crafts for more than a decade.

But Martinez and business owners along Pasaje Morelos say fewer people are making that walk to shop at the Stained Glass Factory, to eat and drink and Hotel Pasaje or to buy T-shirts and rugs at a store called Art and Color.

He estimated that traffic is down by more than half in recent months.

“I’ve never seen it this slow,” Martinez said in Spanish.

The main reasons, people along Pasaje Morelos said, make headlines on both sides of the border: fear created by Mexico’s drug wars and the troubled U.S. economy.

The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory in mid-October warning Americans about increased violence, including battles among drug cartels, in areas of Mexico near the border. The advisory listed Nogales as one of the cities seeing shootouts in shopping areas and other public venues.

“It’s easy for U.S. authorities to say, ‘Don’t cross into Mexico,’ but they don’t realize the harm they’re causing for our businesses,” said Guadalupe Miranda, another Pasaje Morelos shop owner selling handmade crafts, or curios.

Miranda said the decline began around the time of the advisory and publicity about violence in Mexico’s border cities. It’s a special hardship to shops such as his, which depend entirely on tourism, he said.

“Nogales (Sonora) residents don’t shop at the curios,” Miranda said in Spanish. “Their money goes to food in order to support the family, not to overpriced crafts.”

Jose Mendez, an economist focusing on international trade at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, said border communities are suffering from factors including the U.S. economy, a collapse in construction and stricter immigration enforcement. That combination means fewer jobs for those wishing to work in the U.S.

Fears of violence also hurt, especially for businesses that rely on tourism, Mendez said in a telephone interview.

“Americans aren’t traveling as much in general, though _ and that’s not just to Mexico,” he said.

Winter, when snowbirds travel to the border, is high season along Pasaje Morelos.

Martinez said his curio shop usually sells about $150 worth of merchandise on an average winter day _ perhaps two or three large pots or crafts and dozens of smaller items such as sombreros, masks, paintings and decorative items. Lately he’s averaged about $10 a day.

It’s the same story in Miranda’s curio shop. He’d taken in $5 so far on this day and $30 the day before. The day before that: no sales.

“If by March, April this doesn’t have some kind of recovery, we’re going to have to close,” he said.

On a recent weekday, Wilma Mayfield, a Nebraska resident who winters in Tucson, shopped across the border as she has for the 20 years.   She had her shoes shined, brought some prescription drugs and browsed for silver jewelry for her grandchildren. Pasaje Morelos wasn’t empty by any means, but Mayfield said she is used to seeing a much larger crowd.

“Where are they?” Mayfield said. “I think the economy has something to do with it, but I think most of it is fear.”

And that fear has been blown out of proportion by pronouncements from U.S. officials, she said.

“They tell you in the States, ‘Don’t go down to Nogales; don’t go down to Juarez,’” she said. “But we decided today that these people are our friends and we’re coming down, and that’s why we’re here.”

Danny Willaby, a winter visitor from Minnesota, said he had no qualms about making an annual shopping trip here.

“You hear those things in Minneapolis all the time, and it doesn’t affect us,” Willaby said. “And we haven’t seen anything bad going on here.”

Jorge Lopez, who was minding the store at Art and Color, said he wants other potential visitors to get that message.

“There is not much violence now,” Lopez said. “It’s more and more secure.”

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PHOTOS: Click thumbnails to see full-resolution images and download; caption information is in the file under File>File Info.

CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-PASAJE MORELOS: Rafael Martinez says business has been down at his curio shop just across the border in Nogales, Sonora, with tourists fearing violence and the U.S. economy suffering. It’s the same story elsewhere along Pasaje Morelos, one of the city’s busiest shopping alleys. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Carolina Madrid)

CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-PASAJE MORELOS: Pasaje Morelos is one of the most popular shopping alleys in Nogales, Sonora, catering to U.S. tourists. Shop owners say business has been down significantly in recent months due to fears about violence and the slow U.S. economy. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Carolina Madrid)

CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-PASAJE MORELOS: Curio shops in Nogales, Sonora, cater to U.S. tourists looking for all manner of hand-crafted items. Along Pasaje Morelos, one of the city’s busiest shopping alleys, business owners say tourist traffic is down due to fears about violence and the poor U.S. economy. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Carolina Madrid)

CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-PASAJE MORELOS: Danny Willaby, a winter visitor from Faribault, Minn., said concerns about recent violence didn’t keep him from visiting Nogales, Sonora. Business owners in one of the city’s most popular shopping alleys say traffic has been down significantly in recent months due to publicity about border violence and the slow U.S. economy. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Ryan Calhoun)