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Tijuana, Mexico (AHN) – Tijuana, Mexico, continued Tuesday with a festival to showcase its business and cultural opportunities only a day after eight federal police in nearby Sinaloa were assassinated by drug cartel assassins.

The “Innovative Tijuana” festival is a $5 million effort by the Mexican government to remake the city’s image after being dirtied by Mexico’s three-year drug war.

“Until a short time ago, Tijuana had an image tied primarily, almost exclusively, to criminality,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon said during a speech to about 2,000 guests at the festival’s opening ceremony. “Tired of being stigmatized, Tijuana has decided to show its true side.”

The success of the image makeover remains to be seen as military leaders pledge revenge for the killings of the police at a highway ambush and the illegal drug trade into the United States continues.

Nevertheless, speakers that included former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Nobel prize winners and the founders of Twitter and Wikipedia focused on Tijuana’s economic opportunities.

The city of 1.6 million is a manufacturing center for the medical equipment, television and software industries.

Business leaders are trying to convince more Americans to seek medical and dental care across the border from San Diego.

Tijuana’s unemployment rate among 640,000 workers is running at 7.2 percent, well below the 9.6 percent in the United States.

The two-week economic festival arose from an idea by Jose Galicot, 72, a local businessman and promoter who wants to move his hometown beyond its image derived from downtown shootouts and mutilated bodies hanging from bridges.

The festival ends Oct. 21 with 100,000 residents dancing in a city-wide cultural dance.

After the music and dancing end, Tijuana still must overcome the economic and security burden of the illegal drug trade.

The San Diego Association of Governments estimates the regional economy, which includes Tijuana, loses $4 billion a year from transportation delays at the border. The delays are caused by security checks that were stepped up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and recent drug trade violence.

The city’s business leaders also complain about a new federal law restricting cash deposits of U.S. dollars in Mexican banks.

The law is intended to prevent money laundering by drug cartels but businessmen say it limits cash flow for local businesses. They also say it overlooks border cities’ dependence on cross-border trade.

Meanwhile, Tijuana’s city administrators are trying to figure out how to pay for their increased security bill.

The city employs 2,000 police officers but the head of public safety says 5,000 are needed. More than 600 officers accused of corruption were fired or resigned since December 2007.

South of Tijuana, Army General Noe Sandoval Alcazar and Sinaloa Public Security Secretary Josefina Garcia Ruiz said they would develop new strategies to coordinate their efforts against criminals.

They made the statement Tuesday after gunmen traveling in three or four vehicles ambushed a police convoy with automatic weapons Monday evening. The surprise attack killed eight municipal and state police and injured one.

The site is in a territory claimed by the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico’s most deadly. It is reportedly run by Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman.

A statement from the Sinaloa state government said the ambush was intended to terrorize residents of the area and weaken the police force.

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