MEXICALI, Mexico – About 50 demonstrators arrived in this border city Sunday after walking 295 miles across the northern Mexican state of Baja California state to demand that police do more to fight crime.
Greeted with applause from about 2,000 supporters, the group spent two weeks walking from San Quintin to Mexicali, across the U.S. border from Calexico, California.
"We want to make it clear that our moral and spiritual solidarity is with those families who have been victims of crime in Baja California," said organizer Jesus Alberto Capella, president of the Baja California Citizens Council for Public Security.
Business leaders, teachers, politicians, taxi drivers and migrant groups turned out to welcome the demonstrators and support their fight for more security.
There have been 29 kidnappings reported in Baja California so far this year, most in the border city of Tijuana.
Mexico Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said in September that uncontrollable violence persists in the city across from San Diego, because corrupt police officers take bribes to protect drug smugglers and others with links to organized crime.
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