Tepito is a barrio located at Delegación Cuauhtémoc, in Mexico City. It is a popular flea market (tianguis, in Mexican Spanish), infamously known throughout the country. Many prominent Mexican boxers and wrestlers have been born there. However, it is also known for being home to dangerous gangs and criminals. Many consider it a dangerous place to visit. It is often called "el barrio bravo de Tepito", (which can be roughly translated as: "the Tough Neighborhood of Tepito"). It neighbors another popular Mexico City flea market: La Lagunilla.

Merchandise

The market is famous for selling thousands of items at very low prices. Much of the merchandise sold in Tepito is llegal in one way or another. Some of these items include:

• DVD movies and TV series - often sold weeks, even months, before the official cinema release date. Some of them have very poor image quality, incorrect titles or subtitles, and other issues.
• Videogames/Consoles - both original and pirated, also available before the official release dates. Famously, Tepito sellers have been able to buy cracked Chinese microchips Sony PlayStation series to make them able to run pirated games, and also to clone Nintendo GameCube proprietary media. A semi-famous case included a seller getting hold of an Xbox 360 months before the official release. As of January 2007 some Tepito merchants were selling Sony PlayStation 3 consoles (not yet for regular sale in Mexico then) which sold for about $1,300.00 USD.
• Music CDs - mostly pirated, sold in big quantities for very little money. Most recently MP3 CDs have appeared containing hundreds of songs.
• Brand name clothing and accessories - original and pirated clothes by famous designers such as Giorgio Armani, Versace, Hugo Boss, Ermenegildo Zegna, Montblanc, Chanel, Guess, Louis Vuitton,¹ and Burberry. Some pirated clothes in Tepito have parody brands such as Armandi, Versánchez, Guss, Luis Vuitron, and Carolina Barrera. These mock brands are used in Mexican pop culture to denote something which may not be legitimate.
• Electronic devices - such as TVs, stereos, Videocameras, MP3/DVD players, and cell phones. Popular stories tell of people buying these products and being robbed some streets later by the sellers themselves.
• Toys - mostly available around December and January. Year after year hundreds of parents swarm the streets of Tepito in the middle weeks of December to buy last-chance Christmas gifts.
• Software and computers - pirated software can be acquired at very low prices, with pre-installed crackers or stolen serial numbers. Also brand and re-constructed PCs and laptops are to be found, with their respective accessories.
• Jewelry - mostly stolen.
• Tepito is also known for underground weapons and drugs traffic in high numbers.

Consequences

Statistics show that eight out of ten CDs purchased in Mexico come from "pirate" distributors, causing losses to the music industry over seven hundred million dollars. Half the brand and designer clothes sold in the country are either illegally sold or pirated. Analysts estimate this is reflected in the loss of about four hundred thousand jobs and over nine million dollars in the clothing and textiles industry.¹

Authorities' response

For decades, authorities have been unable to control the crime affairs going on in the streets of Tepito. The market is under constant police surveillance, and raids² to confiscate piracy, stolen merchandise, pornography, weapons, and drugs take place often, under heavy TV coverage.³ Campaigns against piracy and buying illegal merchandise, though not directly aimed at Tepito, are made in TV, movie theaters, and the radio to discourage and prevent citizens from buying in street markets - with no considerable results. In Mexico, buying, producing, and selling ilegally copied film and audio materials is a crime, and is sanctioned with high fees and even prison, yet there is no rigorous application of these laws.

In March 2007, Mexico City's government removed all the street merchants (ambulantes, walking or pushcart vendors) from the street of Jesús Carranza in the neighborhood. This was the first time in years such street was free of illegal commerce. The capital's authorities announced further removal of ambulantes .⁴ Weeks earlier, a building important to drug smugglers in Tepito known as 'La Fortaleza' (The Fortress) was expropriated by the government to build a road and a youth center.

Famous ex-residents

• Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Football player
• Cantinflas - actor
• Paquita la del Barrio - singer
• Jaime Bravo - matador
• Místico - Wrestler/ Luchador
• Marco Antonio Barrera - Boxer
• Kid Azteca - Boxer

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2007)

• The Mexican movie Don de Dios, dealing with a Tepito neighbor standing in between a gang war, was shot in location at the barrio itself, with the sellers' support. The film was leaked and pirated by locals while it was still in post-production. It never made it to the big screens. Ironically, both the film's tagline and a character mention: "ser mexicano es un privilegio, pero ser de Tepito es un don de Dios" - which means: "being Mexican is a privilege, but being from Tepito is a gift of God" - a common motto among neighbors.

External links

• (Spanish) Tepito Market
• (Spanish) Vivir en Tepito, Mexico City's Government site
• (Spanish) Tepito at Delegación Cuauhtémoc's site

Notes