Establishing it's own currency, political division, changes to the states hymn, which would then become the national anthem, as well as showing off a few examples of a possible flag and relocating the cities capital to Ojos Negros, Real del Castillo, according to the sites administrators, as a strategy in the event of war according to it's geographical location, "as far away from coasts and borders".

The newspaper El Universal reported today that the region of Cataluña in Spain was looking to declare it's independence, and regions like Scotland from the United Kingdom, Flandes of Belgica and Quebec of Canada, are all pursuing the same dream as Baja California in Mexico.

What do we need? Is it possible?

Victor Ramon Soto del Toro wrote in one of the Facebook comments that "Declaring one's currency and defending it as valid is an act of legitimate democracy", he is proposing that we accept an exclusive exchange rate for Baja California as the first step, what others are questioning is what would be the economic support for this currency.

According to a chart published by the blog DatosyNumeritos (Data and numbers) based on information from INEGI, Baja California does not figure among the states with the best economy in the country, however, Baja California is among the states with the best quality of life at the border, according to The State of the Border Report, a book published this year by Wilson Center in collaboration with the North Border Collegiate, which can be interpreted that it may not obtain the largest amount of income, but it does count with the advantage of greater access to cheaper products in comparison to the rest of the country which cannot cross over to the United States to purchase electronics or clothes at better prices, on the other hand we also find that Baja California has less poverty than the average in the rest of the Republic.

Baja California, both Northern and Southern, figure in the 3rd and 4th place in the states of Mexico with the highest rate for human development in 2010.

Is Baja California's Independence viable? Is it a mere joke or a movement seeking to get organized? Only time will tell. Some consider it foolishness, simple pipe dreams. For the moment it's possible to imagine that it's a movement which is organized under the impulse of the peoples rage and will not transcend to anything more. There is a lot of interest in the country's politics, however, it tends to fade away fast, without letting anything truly be established.

It happened when Enrique Peña Nieto took his position as President, and the same thing with Felipe Calderon. All it takes is a while for us to passively accept the governments impositions, be it because of rationalization, thinking that uprising would be madness, or because of laziness to act.

Elizabeth.Rosales@sandiegored.com

Daniel.Aguilar@sandiegored.com