Workers within the maquildara industry in Baja California are experiencing a time of growing organization. The economic slowdown in the United States and the entry of China into the World Trade Organization has provoked layoffs and the closing of maquiladoras in the border region. Previously, Tijuana functionaries bragged of the city's unemployment rate as the lowest anywhere in Mexico. Today, laid off workers must spend weeks or even months searching to find a new job. The number of people hawking their wares at the San Ysidro and Otay border crossings has increased, as has the number of beggars and informal salespeople in the streets of Tijuana. In several companies, the management has sited the events of September 11th as a pretext for firing workers without paying them what the law requires. "We' re at war," they have said. Within this context, groups of workers from several maquiladora companies are beginning to organize. In Sanyo, at least two groups of workers have sued the company for having changed work conditions and location without following local labor laws. These women have been fired but they continue to demand the payment due to them according to the law. The company, however, cites economic hardship as it steals their money. Sanyo, the world giant of television manufacturers, argues that it doesn't have the money to provide severance pay to dozens of workers in Tijuana. In another company, Esambles de Precision (Precision Assembly), workers have sued the company for, among other violations, sexual harassment. These examples illustrate a rise in labor conflicts in Baja California. The Globaliphobic Network asks that you stay alert for future actions in support of these workers.

Days after the assassination on October 20 of Digna Ochoa, the internationally prominent Mexican human rights lawyer, the Human Rights Commission for Baja California received a public threat of repression. Evidently, the climate of intimidation against human rights groups in Mexico under the government of Vicente Fox has now arrived to our border region

A number of observers worry that the timing of these attacks could signify a new escalation of repression, occurring as they do while much of world public attention is focused on the US military actions in Afghanistan. Here is an update on the situation by Enrique Davalos of the Globalphobics Network.

On November 5, the daily Los Volcanes in San Quintin, Baja California, accused Mr. Oscar Montaqo of being an "active guerrilla," member of the Zapatista Army (EZLN), and of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). Mr. Montaqo works for the Human Rights Commission in San Quintin and his work is public, well known, and recognized officially by the Baja California state government. No matter: Mr. Montaqo is portrayed in the newspaper as a guerrilla and the message is clear: either tone down his attacks on human rights violations or face arrest on charges of subversion & terrorism.

Mr. Montago works in the San Quintin valley, an agricultural region located 200 miles south of Tijuana, where human rights are often a fiction. In San Quintmn, 40,000 farmwork