TIJUANA.- Tijuana's mayor, Jorge Astiazarán, has stated that his administration will never or has never supported the controversial "Tijuana Coqueta's" (Flirty Tijuana) campaign or any plan being developed by Tijuana's tourism committee, COTUCO, in coordination with Zona Norte (or Red-Light district) business owners.

The entire controversy started on Friday when a local news report about the proposed media campaign to promote "sex tourism" ignited furor on social media, taking the Mayor and the city tourism authority with it.

In light of this, Astiazarán has asked the head of the COTUCO, Miguel Ángel Badiola Montaño, to resign due to their disagreements on the subject.

PSN was the first to report yesterday that the mayor was planning on asking for Badiola's resignation. At the same time, a COTUCO press conference scheduled for today about the campaign was cancelled, due to allegedly not being authorized by the local administration, although the tourism authority is independent of the city government. It was only moments after the mayor asked for Badiola's resignation, the committee sent out a statement announcing the press conference cancellation.

"I'm sorry to inform that due to reasons beyond the Committee's control, the press conference that was set for Tuesday, October 27 at 9 am has been cancelled" read the statement.

With additional information from AFN

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ariday.ortega@sandiegored.com

Translated by: edgar.martinez@sandiegored.com