Tijuana, Mexico is one of the most fascinating yet dangerous places in the world. It is found near the southern portion of the California because it is considered a border city. Aside from being a bustling industrial and economic zone for Mexico, Tijuana also has its own dark characteristics. The city is infamous for illegal drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, and prostitution. So, amidst the nightlife, some people visit Tijuana to have not only some good times dancing and drinking around, but also drugs that might not be available in their own countries. In the story below, you will see how various people are affected by the social ills of Tijuana City.
Reyna Ortiz holds a syringe in her mouth before injecting heroin on the border between the US and Mexico. She is one of the highest risk groups for HIV: a female who injected drugs and had regular unprotected sex with a male addict who was also injecting
Transgender sex worker Fernanda Sanchez waits for clients at night on a street in Tijuana’s red light district. Transgender women and gay men have the highest HIV infection rates of any group in Tijuana. Fernanda knows how to protect herself from the AIDS virus but said that ‘sometimes the customers are very bad and make you do it without condoms’
Sergio Borrego, who helps run Tijuana AIDS hospice, puts a net over the face of Pedro Robles, 51, to prevent flies bothering him as he dies of AIDS. Pedro arrived at Las Memorias with full-blown AIDS six days earlier but because of bureaucratic delays in the medical system he received no medification
The epidemic is concentrated in groups like men who have sex with men, transgenders, and people who inject drugs or sell sex.
According to a 2006 study as many as one in every 125 men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 may be infected with HIV.
And this doesn’t include the children who are diagnosed with the virus because of their parents.
The problem has transformed some parts of the city and has sparked a rise in facilities being opened to treat the patients.
Oscar Villareal, 28, makes himself up as a women in a hotel room in downtown Tijuana before going out to look for clients. Oscar called himself Beto by day and would cruise a local park as a gay man, but at night he became Alessandra, Alé for short, who worked the clubs and the streets of the red light district
He is seen smoking crystal meth one evening in his room at a boardinghouse in downtown Tijuana. Crystal meth is a powerful aphrodisiac used by many of the city’s sex workers but also the problem has transformed some parts of the city and has sparked a rise in facilities being opened to treat the patients.
Sergio Gonzalez (left) lies on his bunk in Tijuan’s La Mesa prison. He was arrested while out with friends in Tijuana on a weekend pass from Albergue, Las Memorias, an HIV/AIDS hospice where he was living with his wife Araceli and son Eduardo. Araceli died that August and Eduardo became a ward of state and was taken to live in a local orphanage.
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