Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, Baja Californian Governor, held a meeting with state and municipal officials, as well as professional sports team representatives in order to promote safety and healthy coexistence in sports events.

The meeting took place in “El Nido de los Águilas”, Mexicali’s professional baseball team’s ("Los Águilas”) venue. Here a recreation of what happened in Queretaro last March 5th took place, where an altercation among a group of fans left a number of casualties and required a strong mobilization of the Queretaro authorities.

Due to this, and as part of a series of meetings led by Secretary of Citizen Security of Baja California, General Gilberto Landeroes Briseño, an agreement was made in order to establish a preventive protocol that prevents a similar situation from occuring at any event or show in Baja California. The objective is for this protocol to recommend specific actions depending on the event’s characteristics such as sport discipline, the city where the event takes place, and rivalry backgrounds that may exist between fans of opposing teams to prevent any negative outcome from occurring.

Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda highlighted the importance of having teams submit the most amount of information to authorities, so that they can be best prepared and work in cooperation to comply with the protocol that will help all parties involved. The most important thing, however, is to help the families that attend these events.

In her message, the Governor celebrated that the meeting is meant to prevent, rather than mourn, and underscored that teams’ owners, the state government, and the Baja Californian municipalities all agree that the most important thing is safety so that families can attend sporting events.

“We have to be preventive and not reactive. I recognize Baja Californians’ passion and I recognize the example that we give when fans meet, even those who are here as visitors,” the Governor stated. She added that coming to these events as a family can be great inspiration for Baja Californian girls, boys, and teens, since sports’ stories of overcoming can be a great learning experience for those who will determine the future of our state.

“Sports teach us that one can win and one can lose, both in a field and in real life, but we should never lose the respect or tolerance of those who are like us, and least of all, in a sports event,” she said.

Subsequently, she stated that Baja California hasn’t had a crisis like the one that took place on March 5th in Queretaro which is why she is convinced that the state can continue in this path. This is why the establishing of a protocol is essential so that concrete actions can be taken before anything happens.

At this event the following people were present: Director of the Sport and Physical Culture Institute, Lourdes Cañez Martínez; Alberto Murillo, President of Mexicali’s Águilas; José Carlos Cota Arce, from Club Soles of Mexicali; Antonio Cano Jiménez, Director of Tijuana’s Toros; Gerónimo Vera Ayala, head of Tijuana’s Xolos Planning; Omar Núñez, administrator of Plaza de Playas de Tijuana; Miguel Ángel Torres Ley of Tijuana’s Galgos; Rafael Carrillo of Club Zonkeys. Likewise, Gloria Ceseña, Subsecretary of Intelligence; Pedro Mendívil, Director of Public Security of the Tijuana’s XXIV Municipal Hall; René Rosado, head of Civil Protection of Mexicali; José Salvador Cervantes Hernández, Civil Protection of Baja California Coordinator; Bernardo Villegas, Director of Civil Protection of Tijuana; Rafael Vázquez, Director of Transit of Tijuana; David Sánchez, head of Security of Ensenada, and Jorge Gutiérrez Topete, head of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Institute were also present.

RELATED VIDEO: Governor Marina del Pilar presents fundamental projects for Baja California’s development