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Articles

American Veterans Coalition (AVCO) Expands its Services

Many Beneficial Veterans Services Soon to be Offered to Civilians

 

The American Veterans Coalition (AVCO) was started in 2014 by a US Navy veteran who struggled for 27 years with the VA to ascertain and secure maximum benefits available to service members suffering from PTSD. That ordeal paid off well for him, and inspired him to share the knowledge he attained with other service members.

Since its humble beginnings, AVCO has secured many successes for its members. One member, who for decades had been receiving only 50% of the maximum benefits allowed, is now receiving full benefits (100%). This member also received “back pay” for the many years since the time of his original application, a value in the hundreds of thousands of dollars!

Other members have received a variety of benefits, most of which they did not even realize were available, or did not know that they were eligible for. One of these included funeral benefits (including transportation to military burial sites in the US). Others included a variety of spousal and child benefits.

One major positive development in the long history of the founder’s struggle with the VA came from the VA itself: When former Senator Chuck Hagel became Secretary of Defense  under President Obama in 2013, he declared that veterans no longer had to provide service documents verifying their claims. This came about as a result of many complaints from veterans. They claimed that once they realized they had a valid claim to receive benefits, so much time had elapsed between the traumatic event itself and the time of their filing a claim, records were difficult if not impossible to obtain from the military. In other words, Hagel required the VA  to accept “self reports” from veterans regarding the events resulting in their trauma.

Prior to that time, the VA required that layers of documentation be submitted with a plethora of forms to verify their claims. Many veterans went through months, sometimes years, contacting military sources in an attempt to secure the necessary documentation.

One person attending the September 9th PTSD meeting at AVCO headquarters in Ensenada pointed out that the VA’s official refusal to process this veteran’s claims was due to lack of information available from military sources. Yet a lawyer working on the veteran’s behalf was able to verify the veteran’s claims from reputable sources by performing a simple Google search.

In any event, AVCO’s record of successes in helping veterans on many levels speaks for itself The next step is to offer those services to civilian expats living in Mexico.

The first step in that direction will be the outcome of AVCO’s application for the Mexican equivalent of the US 501(c)3 tax-exempt status for a non-profit organization (it is already a tax-exempt US entity). Once that status is secured, American civilians living here may also benefit from the services offered by AVCO,

Those services include evaluations for PTSD and other psychological conditions, IQ assessments, depression and addiction, and directions to a variety of other services available to treat those issues.

Job training services are also available.

Since local treatment is available for physical and mental conditions, the long journey to the US, which for some can be an arduous and costly experience, becomes unnecessary.

Bi-monthly PTSD-members only meetings are held at AVCO headquarters in Ensenada, during which members exchange experiences and solutions.

Contact AVCO @ 52.646.244.8431 or www.avcosd.org.

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Fish Report

Tijuana Bull Ring

There’s nothing too exciting to the south — the Point Loma kelp beds are kicking out a few bass, a few mixed-grade bonito and some small rockfish.

Coronado Islands

The poor water conditions continues to put the skids on the yellowtail and bluefin bite!  The best bet right now is the area from the Ribbon Kelp to SKR.

There are also some signs of yellows at the north end of North Island.

The fish are still around and when the water clears up, the bite will likely turn back on. Right now, however, scoring one per rod is doing good. Most years scoring an average of one per rod is outstanding.

This year it just gets a yawn!

Terry Byrns from Bajamar, shows us his yellow tail and bonito catch

Offshore

Coronado Canyon / 226-302 / 425

A few kelps in this area are holding dorado, and we hear that there is one or two near the 425. The area is loaded with skipjack and some skipjack schools also have some small 5- to 20-pound yellowfin mixed in.

371 / 390

There is a clean/dirty water’s edge that runs near the 371. Boats are reporting a lot of skipjack in that area.

Some have a few yellowfin with them and some schools are just straight skipjack. There are some kelps in the general area, too, that are holding dorado. Not all, but enough you need to check each one out when you find it.

The skipjack in this area are very eager to jump on the troll jigs.

Bright colored small jet heads are ideal. The yellowfin are more into the cedar plugs and the Halcos. The dorado don’t care what it is you are trolling; they just want it!

Upper Hidden Bank / Hidden Bank / Upper 500

This zone slowed down overall, but some boats still made big scores.

There are still lots of skipjack, yellowfin and dorado around.

Much of the better action is now coming off kelps. Most jig stops are coming from skipjack and there are fewer numbers of yellowfin mixed in.

There are a few kelps however, that are working well. These have yellowfin and dorado along with a few yellowtail. They often turn into skipjack though after a few minutes.

There is a ton of skipjack in it with some yellowfin mixed in, but the water is green, and the better concentration of fish is in the clean water below the 31.50 line.

Updated general info:

Skipjack are jumping all over trolled jigs. Cedar plugs, pink/white feathers, daisy chains, and Rapalas/Halcos are all getting bit just fine. Occasionally you might luck into a yellowfin jig stop, but most of the good yellowfin scores have come on bait either after a skipjack stop or on sonar schools or kelp paddies. Focus your efforts on general areas with good bird life. You may not see a ton of terns or bird piles, but if there are gulls and shearwaters flying around it’s a good zone to slow down and drop the jigs in for a while.

Fly-lined sardines are working great for all three species. Skipjack will key in on the hot bait, but you might be able to weed through them with a chunk or dead sardine. You’ll get fewer bites but a higher percentage of yellowfin this way. Using 20- to 25-pound test works just fine, with #2 to 1/0 hooks. You can also throw Colt Snipers, Flat Falls, surface iron, poppers, and skip jigs for the yellowfin.

Skipjack have also been eating these surprisingly often at times but in general this has also been a good way to get a higher percentage of yellowfin bites.

Ensenada

Late summer action continues to provide limits of yellowtail and calico bass. A welcome addition to the fish counts this week was not only the yellowfin tuna and dorado under kelp paddies offshore just outside the islands, but the big news was that a few 20-pound white sea bass were caught.

 San Quintin

Great fishing for home-guard yellowtail and calico bass along with yellowfin and dorado a bit farther offshore produced easy limits for locals and visitors either sportfishing or diving. Why, even the surfers are smiling these days.

Cedros Island

Most anglers were looking for yellowtail, which are very abundant, allowing easy limits for some boats. Although not as big (averaging 15- to 20-pounds), they are still lots of fun. For some, afternoons were relaxing targeting calicos, or searching for other species. Some dorado were caught when the school went by the boat, but they are still scarce, and anglers are hoping they will arrive in good numbers soon.  Best results for the yellowtail bite have varied from live bait to Rapalas and jigs. We can only recommend that you try anything in your arsenal. Make sure your lines are fresh and knots are tight.

Weather has been fantastic, breezy around the corner on the fishing grounds (in the 70s).

Bahia de Los Angeles

Hot and humid seems to lead off every fishing report recently.

However, the dorado,
yellowtail and bottom fish aren’t complaining — just biting.

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What’s Going On In This Country?

BY SANTIAGO VERDUGO

You can’t make this stuff up. Three people were struck and killed by a runaway truck whose brakes failed while they were helping themselves to the cargo aboard another truck, whose brakes had also failed. This all went down on a big highway on the mainland.

Passersby saw an opportunity after the first truck was stuck on a runaway truck ramp on a section of the highway in Veracruz. They broke into the trailer and began stealing its cargo of cleaning supplies. But minutes later a second truck barreled down the ramp, (Doesn’t anyone in Mexico maintain their brakes? Has anyone even seen a runaway truck using those sand pits?) The second runaway truck knocked over three of the looters like they were bowling pins.

But that didn’t stop fellow looters, who kept right on snatching these coveted cleaning supplies. (Maybe there are some good deals on cleaning supplies on Craig’s List in Veracruz?)

Meanwhile, others started whumping on the driver of the second truck, presumably in retaliation for hitting their fellow looters. The driver of that truck was hospitalized but is expected to recover.

Fake News. Four people were killed in a fake hysteria whipped up on social media. A fake message circulating on Facebook and Twitter and the messaging service WhatsApp, alerted people in several states that a wave of kidnappings was taking place. The gist of many messages was “don’t leave your kids alone, there’s a band of child snatchers within our midst.”

Some messages claimed that children are being abducted by organ-trafficking rings while others called for vigilante justice for anyone believed guilty of the crime. And that’s exactly what happened in two towns on consecutive days last week.

First, an uncle and his nephew were killed by an angry mob, then a man and a woman were killed in the same way the next day. Both were burned alive. In both cases, the prosecutor’s offices said there was no evidence that the victims had committed any crime. Authorities also issued statements declaring that child abduction rings were operating in each state are false and urged citizens not to spread such information.

Authorities in other states where the same fake news has flourished — Yucatán, Durango, Jalisco and Sinaloa — have issued similar statements of their own.

The mother of 21-year-old Ricardo Flores Rodríguez, who was a farmworker and a law student at a university in Veracruz, blamed the mayor of Acatlán de Osorio, because the two men were taken by force from municipal police before they were tied up, doused with gasoline and set on fire.

“I want the head of the mayor because he is responsible for the death of my son and my brother-in-law,” Rosario Rodríguez said. “Why did they kill them? Why did they [local authorities] let them?”

The mother condemned the acts of mob justice, but also recognized shortcomings in Mexico’s justice and legal systems that result in high levels of impunity. “We reproach and condemn [the serving of] justice by one’s own hands, [but we cannot] prosecute presumably illegal behavior by seeking to serve justice with our own hands. We have to recognize that there is an institutional weakness in the procurement of justice, but that must not be substituted by [serving]  justice by one’s own hands,” she said.

Commission chief Pérez warned that as long as the state does not provide  minimal security there will be distrust of institutions and desperation among citizens to see justice served. The commission said there have been 25 deaths like this so far this year.

Dark Times. These are dark times for the town of Motul, on the Yucatán, particularly at city hall. The new mayor was sworn in Saturday, but the ceremony would have been conducted in the dark were it not for rented portable generators: the electricity was cut off due to an overdue account. Incoming mayor Roger Aguilar Arroyo claimed during the swearing-in ceremony that his predecessor had left the municipality in arrears with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).

The PRI mayor said the PAN  party’s mayor left an outstanding debt of US $156,000, most of which is owed to  CFE. The new mayor pledged to negotiate a payment plan with the federal utility to have the administration’s power reconnected.

The electricity was cut off four times during the previous mayor’s three-year term. He has blamed his own predecessor for the unpaid debt. This is pretty standard in an administration change.

Same shit, different government. The fine imposed on the incoming Morena party has been rescinded. The fine was for money going missing from an earthquake relief fund on its watch.

The 10.3 million dollar fine was reversed because there was not enough evidence that it was Morena’s hands in the cookie jar. The cookie jar, which was filled with about $4.1 million through donations, was for the September 17th earthquake last year. 3.37 million dollars in cash was taken out of the trust and allocated to members of the party, according to the initial charge.

When the fine was announced in mid-July, President-Elect López Obrador, assured that this was “a vile revenge,” presumedly for winning the election.

We’re going to stop now, because we’re pretty much finished with dispensing bad news.

Wait. Here’s some semi good news. We’ll call it less bad news, as nobody is dead. Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) doesn’t take office until December, but he’s already got a multi-billion dollar dilemma on his hands: what to do with the country’s largest infrastructure project, already in a morass of scandals and corruption, which, if completed, will become one of the world’s most corrupt and most costly airports? Last month AMLO announced that his government would either finish it or expand a military base north of the Mexico City, depending on the results of a a review by engineering experts and a public referendum due in October.

An engineering association threw their support behind the completion of the $13 billion airport, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also on the take. The already white elephant is in its fourth year of construction, only 30% completed, and $4 billion USD over budget.

Three big contracts, worth $5 billion, are in the hands of a consortia led by Grupo Carso, or other firms owned by Carlos Slim and his family. Slim is one of the richest men in the world, (Warren Buffet and Bill Gates keep trading places with him). Forbes says he’s worth $75 billion. Just how much money does one man need? What is he going to do with more billions? Maybe stealing is just habit with him. An addiction that could be helped with rehab. Slim is the owner of América Movil, formerly Teléfonos de Mexico, or Telmex. Telmex was the old telephone monopoly in the country, akin to America’s AT&T Inc. He was there to catch it when it was privatized.

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Thinking Of Buying Property In Mexico?

BY MARIANA LOPEZ-BUSTAMENTE

Baja California is certainly enjoying a major historical real estate boom. Nonetheless, the real estate industry has also been one of the sectors with the most complaints before the Federal Bureau of Consumer Protection (“PROFECO”).

For this reason, if you are considering buying a property for residential purposes, it is very important that you take into consideration several caveats before putting your signature on the final contract.

Generally, real estate developers have standardized purchase contracts, meaning that these contracts have been prepared by them and are normally not negotiable, except sometimes as to price and form of payment. These contracts are called Adhesion Contracts by the Federal Consumer Protection Law (the “Law”).

Protect your investments.

According to the Law, developers, brokers and any other person intervening in the marketing and sale of real estate is obligated to record their adhesion contracts before PROFECO, to prevent them from containing abusive or unfair clauses that put consumers in a disadvantageous situation.

To that end, it is important for you to know the following 10 points that you should take into consideration before signing a purchase contract.

Before signing the contract…

  1. Contract registration. Find out whether the contract model you are asked to sign has been previously authorized by PROFECO. If the contract has been authorized, it should have a registry number and authorization date. You can research Adhesion Contracts at the website: https://burocomercial.profeco.gob. mx/ by entering the contract’s registry number or the seller’s name.
  2. Seller Investigation. It is also highly recommended to investigate whether there are prior complaints lodged before PROFECO against your potential Seller.
  3. Liens. The Seller must provide all appropriate documentation showing clean title to the property, and disclose any liens affecting the same, as well as a full and precise description of the property’s characteristics, area, structure type, facilities, amenities, accessories, parking spots, additional services, among others.
  4. Delivery date. Make sure that the contract specifies the property’s delivery date.
  5. Conventional Penalties. Verify that any established penalties are fair and reciprocal for both parties. There are often cases where conventional penalties apply only to the buyer.
  6. Warranty period. According to the Law, the Seller must provide a warranty for a period of not less than 5 years regarding structural parts, 3 years for waterproofing and 1 year for all the other items of the property. All terms start running upon delivery of the property.
  7. Jurisdiction. The “jurisdiction” clause is the “forum and choice of law” stipulation. It is crucial because it indicates the place where any eventual complaints should be filed and the law that will apply to their resolution. Naturally, the forum and the applicable law should preferably be that of the place where the property is located and not of the place of the Seller’s location, because this would put you in a very disadvantageous position.
  8. Lopsided provisions. Given that these contracts are prepared by the sellers, it is strongly advised that you pay close attention to all clauses imposing obligations and duties to the buyer. We have seen contracts where the buyer is obligated to purchase blinds and other items such as finishing decorations unilaterally selected by the seller and from suppliers that are also unilaterally selected by the seller.
  9. Termination of the Contract. The contract must indicate the termination procedure and the corresponding implications to each party, and given the cause, you must review the terms and conditions regarding refunds.
  10. Down payment. The seller has no right to request any payment until the agreement has been formalized by a written contract, except for any investigation expenses. Taking the previous recommendations into consideration will  diminish the risks of exposure in your real estate investment; however, we highly recommend that you always seek professional legal advice to review and determine the contract’s full terms and conditions and duties to the buyer. We have seen contracts where the buyer is obligated to purchase blinds and other items such as finishing decorations unilaterally selected by the seller and from suppliers that are also unilaterally selected by the seller.

Mariana Lopez-Bustamante is part of the legal team at SANCHEZ Y ASOCIADOS, a Tijuana based law firm that specializes in real estate transactions for foreigners. You can reach them at their office in Blvd. Agua Caliente 10611-507 in Tijuana, call them at +52 (646) 686-4137 or email at mlopezb@scaabogados.com.

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All Aboard the Rosarito Restaurant Tour

You keep telling yourself, “I just have to try out (enter Restaurant Name here),” and you never quite get around to it. Well, no more excuses. Welcome to the Baja Tourism Promotional Restaurant Tour, organized by Scot Richardson of Once Upon a Time in Rosarito and Angie Gomez. The photo team also included Linda C Daly, Chris Gallo, Chris Lord.

Recently 50 Rosaritenses boarded a tour bus for eleven restaurants in eleven hours, visiting eateries from Magana’s in the south, the Charly’s Taqueria at k37.

Read more

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Que Pasa In Baja?

Goodbye tax breaks. Ensenada can say goodbye to the proposed border tax-break that Mexico’s new president-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has proposed. In a meeting with Kiko Vega, our state governor, AMLO has already confirmed that cities in the border zone that will receive these benefits will only be the ones located up to 19 miles from the US border.

There is still some confusion regarding what will happen to cities that are stuck in half, like Rosarito, that has a piece of its land out of the so-called “border zone”. If the measure is strict, everything south of K 34 would not be included; that would be El Descanso, Calafia, Las Gaviotas, El Pescador, Puerto Nuevo, Cantamar and Primo Tapia.

Our Wine Valley is getting water. An agreement has been formalized between our state government and an Israeli company in order to build a water treatment plant in Tijuana and a water line to deliver the treated water all the way to the wine valley.

The $72 million USD project will bring up to 290 gallons of water per second to the valley when the project is completed in June 2020, although it would be able to start delivering about a fourth of that amount in a little less than a year.

The Israeli company, Odis Adversa, has stated that the quality of water will be superior to the one being extracted from natural sources present in the valley.

This new endeavor will allow the valley to grow sustainably while reducing the amount of contaminated water going to the ocean in Tijuana.

More corruption, really? An elaborate network of corrupt officials and import/export companies focused on car imports has been “officially” discovered by federal authorities.

For a $300 USD “fee” per car, authorities allowed the legal importation of cars into Mexico with false documentation that stated that the cars were valued at about 10% of their real cost, thus lowering the taxes imposed on these imports by thousands of dollars per vehicle.

It is said that that up to 80,000 vehicles were imported this way, and the chiefs of the Mexican customs offices in Mexicali and Juarez were involved in the scheme.

It was a productive racket for those involved, who pocketed more than $24 million USD while it lasted.

No jail time has been announced for the corrupt officials yet, and incarceration will probably not happen.

Toll road fee increase, again. For a second time this year, there was an increase on the toll road fees, 1 more peso on the Playas and Rosarito toll booths ($36 pesos), and 3 pesos more for Ensenada ($40 pesos).

This is the second increase this year, bringing the price of traveling on the road up 14% since the start of this year.

The increase was national, with most of the toll roads in the country being subject to surges of varying percentages.

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Ensenada Stepping Up Its Game

Now She’s More Popular Than Ever Before!

Long known for her potential, Ensenada was nicknamed “Cinderella of the Pacific,” and that moniker was appropo for decades; recently, however, the City has begun a metamorphosis from a diamond in the rough to a highly polished gem.

The progress began with almost no fanfare back in February, when Mayor Novelo’s massive street repair program began to dramatically change the complexion of Zona Centro and other key regions of the City. Once pothole-infested roadways became smooth, safe and well-marked, making it easier and more pleasant for residents and visitors alike to travel to their destinations of choice.

Since that time, investors both foreign and domestic have been pouring resources into the City in the form of new condos, hotels, residential renovations and retail establishments. Back in february we brought an article to you that heralded one of the first of such major investments with the announcement of the Viento complex, which combined 167 condos and guest accommodations (in a City Express Hotel) with on-site recreational facilities, as well as retail support markets and a food court, that essentially made the triple towers a totally self-contained living environment.

That opened the floodgates, and as of this writing, it is difficult to keep up with the almost frenetic pace of new construction, expansion of existing structures, renovations, upgrades and the opening of a myriad of enthusiastic and optimistic businesses, large and small.  The construction of a Holiday Inn in Zona Centro is nearing the completion of its external shell; a new Kia dealership is rising up near CEARTE and a City Express Hotel is being built next to the Dodge dealershp, across from the Marine base on Blvd Costero..

One of the most explosive growth areas currently is the Playa Hermosa sector. Many new restaurants and cafes have popped up along Blvd Costero (aka Blvd Lazaro Cardenas), the beautiful coast highway that brings motorists from up north into the City, and carries them alongside the beach and the malecon, Ensenada’s most popular recreational area.

The Playa itself has been given a makeover by the federal government, with the installation of palapas, observation posts, winding boardwalks from the wide sidewalk that’s skateboard, roller skate and bicycle-friendly, down to the broad, sandy beach, and, recently, an “Ensenada” banner, which tourists and locals alike are proudly using as a backdrop for postcard-worthy photos.

The hottest story on the Playa right now is the ongoing construction of a shopping plaza, which is being built entirely from modified cargo containers! Yes, those unsightly metal boxes that have been piling up at the ports of Ensenada and El Sauzal are being finally being put to constructive use, customized and arranged into what is going to be a modern, open, unique shopping plaza that will feature eateries and various retail outlets, with an incomparable view of the bay, from the port of Ensenada to the towering hills of La Bufadora!

The beachfront property was leased from API (the revenue service of the waterways) by a conglomerate of private investors That group enlisted the services of Maganas (“herreria y estructuras”) as lead contractor on the project.

Maganas has already begun arranging the containers on the property, and is cutting openings in strategic parts of the boxes to allow for windows, doors and canopies; they’re also pouring slabs to create patios outside the units. Cranes are lifting boxes up to create 2-story units, with stairways leading up to observation areas and additional retail spaces.

Jorge Hernandez, on-site manager for Maganas’ construction project, said that the project is in its infancy; more containers are scheduled to be brought to the site, and that the area allotted for the plaza has room for a potential plethora of outlets.

That area of Playa Hermosa is adjacent to the spacious paved enclosure which has been the site for car shows and numerous other recreational events.

It’s a frequent host to tourists, bused in from the cruise ships to enjoy the view from an on-site observation deck, where they are served Puerto Vallarta-style by the nearby restaurants and coffee shops; waiters from those establishments can be seen running from their cafes and cocinas, across the Boulevard to the waiting tourists, bringing them everything from fresh coffee to hot tamales.

It won’t be long before those same tourists will be able to walk from their observation post to a unique new shopping plaza, where they can wine, dine and go shopping at a myriad of creative new outlets.

Cinderella has kicked off her glass slippers, and is dancing to the tune of a long-awaited renaissance.

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Need To Phone The Cops?

Hopefully you haven’t been there yet. And hopefully you never will be.  But if you need to call the police and can’t speak Spanish, this is the app for you. Or, if you’re feeling a little bit apprehensive about living here, this is the app for you. Or if you think your concrete house is going to burn down this is the app for you. Read more

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