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PALOMAS, Mexico - Drug violence in northern Mexico has scared away tourists to the point that some border cities and villages resemble ghost towns. Not Palomas.
Kidnappings and killings are not unusual in this dusty town of 5,700. But an arts and crafts store and restaurant frequented by American visitors helps Palomas buck the trend of many border towns that suffer from bloodshed.
It is called The Pink Store, and on a recent day the place looks as vibrant as the colors of its buildings - striking compared to its pale surroundings.
Visitors from New Mexico, Texas and Arizona sip margaritas. A pianist with a cowboy hat plays "In The Mood" and "New York, New York." Women in their 60s shop around for handmade ceramic tiles, mirrors and dishes. A man talks in English to his shoeshiner right outside the restaurant.
"We are not afraid," said Dawn Herring of Akela, N.M., who visits The Pink Store with her husband Ray Herring once a week.
Herring has been going to the store since 2002, making the 55-mile drive to Columbus, N.M., a town that borders the village of Palomas.
American retirees like the Herrings fuel the economy of depressed Palomas. Bound for cheap eye exams, pharmaceuticals and dental work, visitors have made the visit to The Pink Store a ritual.
"To me, it's a unique place," Herring said. "I guess until you see something, you believe there's no violence."
Arriving in Columbus, many park their vehicles at the port of entry close to where the
Owner Ivonne Romero greets them at the entrance. A U.S. citizen born in Deming, Romero is charismatic with her customers. She shows them around and orders them their margaritas right as they enter the business. Many consider her "a friend."
"I call it my extended family," Romero said. "They come here and then come back and tell more people about the store."
The 22-year-old store is a mine of Mexican craftwork. Romero travels to 14 states to buy ceramic figures, colorful baskets, glass pitchers, clay pottery and rugs. The handicrafts are not as cheap as artisans sell them in Mexico, but they are affordable, U.S. customers said.
Wooden boxes from Guerrero are carved with designs and they let out a citric smell as they open. Clay dishes from the same state are handpainted, telling folk stories.
Despite the quantity of these valuable objects, The Pink Store does not pay the extortion fee many other businesses in border areas like Juárez are forced to pay, Romero said.
"If any time in the future I feel fear, the most practical thing would be to close," she said.
Romero said her grandparents were some of the founders of Palomas.
This border town was the strategic point used by Francisco "Pancho" Villa and his men to raid Columbus on March 19, 1916. His army burned part of the town and killed 14 U.S. soldiers and 10 residents.
The attack triggered a U.S. invasion by President Woodrow Wilson, who sent 10,000 soldiers led by Gen. John Pershing to Mexico through Palomas to capture Villa. They never found him. Wilson withdrew the troops, and Mexico and the United States restored their diplomatic relations.
Romero and her husband Sergio Romero placed a statue of Villa and one of Pershing about to shake hands at the plaza right outside The Pink Store as a symbol of the connection Palomas shares with Columbus. Pershing and Villa shook hands in 1913, Sergio Romero said.
"It is the first statue in Mexico where Villa is wearing his captain uniform," he said with pride.
Almost a century later, a different wave of violence hit Palomas and other border towns that became lucrative corridors for drug cartels in the 1970s.
Recently, police unearthed 20 bodies at a mass grave right outside Palomas. A dead body was dumped in the plaza with a narco message stuck to the chest with a knife.
Palomas Mayor Estanislao "Tani" Garcia was kidnapped and killed in October 2009.
"Travelers are determined to come despite everything they hear," Ivonne Romero said.
Debbie Gwin of Deming hosted a party for her 2-year-old granddaughter at The Pink Store.
Gwin said more than 40 of her neighbors come in a tour bus once a month. They are also part of a group called Friends of Palomas that collects food, clothing and toys for orphanages and senior centers.
Gwin and her two friends are not scared to venture into Palomas. Traveling in groups helps them stay alert, they said.
"We only come in the daytime," Gwin said. "We don't wander into other parts of town."
The picture seems rosy, but Ivonne Romero said the store was not immune to the recession, the new U.S. passport rules and cartel violence.
"It's been a year that we don't generate much profit. We have been breaking even," she said.
When the business in the store slowed down, the entrepreneurial Romeros began offering to take people on tours to a nearby pottery village named Mata Ortiz and to the ruins of Paquimé in northwest Chihuahua. The Romeros will soon start to sell merchandise on their website.
"Life is not always about winning," she said. "We are very thankful that people are still coming."
Adriana G-mez Lic-n writes for the El Paso Times, a member of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership, and may be reached at agomez@elpasotimes.com; (915) 546-6129.
