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Economist. ♪

0:43

Take me out to the ball

0:45

game ♪ For a lot of

0:47

you, this song is going to conjure up

0:49

a scene with great clarity. ♪ Buy

0:52

me some peanuts and cracker jacks ♪

0:55

♪ I don't care if you're a ♪ For

0:57

those of you who have not had the joy

1:00

of peanuts and cracker jack, let me just tell

1:02

you that baseball is central to the American self-conception.

1:05

Other sports are more popular, like

1:07

American football, but baseball is

1:10

the one called America's pastime, the

1:12

one that feels more elemental somehow.

1:15

Also, cracker jack is caramel-coated popcorn.

1:17

It's nice. Now, lots

1:19

of other countries love baseball, like

1:21

Japan, South Korea, lots of Caribbean

1:24

nations, and, of course, America's

1:26

neighbor to the South, a

1:28

neighbor with whom relations have been strained

1:30

recently, to put it lightly. They're

1:33

sending prisoners, murderers, drug dealers, mental

1:35

patients, and terrorists, the worst they

1:38

have in every country all over the world. This

1:40

isn't just in South America. The

1:42

border will be a deciding factor in the

1:44

American election this year. It's constantly

1:46

in the spotlight, the crack

1:48

through which so many Americans only see

1:51

illegal migrants and drugs and violence spilling

1:53

in. But

1:55

you know what else is coming and going all the time with

1:58

no trouble at all? A Mexican baseball team. I'm

2:04

Jason Palmer and this is the Weekend

2:06

Intelligence. My

2:08

colleagues Erin Braun and Sarah Burke come

2:11

at the border from two perspectives, kind

2:13

of literally. Erin is our

2:15

West Coast correspondent and Sarah is our bureau

2:17

chief from Mexico. They

2:19

report all the time about the tensions

2:21

that come into such sharp focus at

2:23

that imaginary line and the societal

2:25

effects that stretch far from it. To

2:28

consider Laredo in the American state

2:30

of Texas and Nuevo Laredo in

2:33

the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, one

2:35

urban region really split by an

2:37

international border. There, Erin

2:40

and Sarah found a surprising story

2:42

of unity and a nostalgia for

2:44

a time when the border brought people together

2:46

more than it drove them apart. As

3:04

soon as I enter a unitary

3:06

stadium in Laredo, Texas, I feel

3:08

at home. I'm

3:10

pretty happy. This

3:14

is like the ideal night

3:16

for baseball, honestly. It's still early enough

3:18

in the season that like the nights

3:21

are cool, it's a little

3:23

breezy, you've got a hot

3:25

dog. What

3:27

else could you want? A

3:30

victory? Probably. I'm

3:34

a big baseball fan. I

3:37

grew up watching the Chicago Cubs play

3:39

at Wrigley Field, which means

3:41

I'm used to opening days in April

3:43

where it's 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

3:46

Occasionally, it even snows. If

3:49

you've ever been to a minor league baseball

3:51

game in the US, the stadium

3:53

looks a lot like that, and tonight

3:56

it's packed. There are so many

3:58

people here that it took me 40... minutes

4:00

to buy a hot dog. They

4:03

just need a two-run homer, so fans are on

4:05

their feet. They were super loud and the tickles

4:08

are back in the game now. It's

4:10

only three to two, they're down only one. I'm

4:14

pleading in line for a hot dog so I miss the

4:16

home run, which is sad. It's

4:19

embarrassing. This

4:22

crowd is way more rambunctious than

4:24

your standard Cubs game. Because

4:26

the pace of baseball is pretty slow,

4:29

Major League games are perfect for

4:31

catching up with friends and lounging

4:33

around. But in Laredo,

4:35

things are rowdier. Oh, another

4:37

foul ball into the Sam. It's

4:40

right after the seventh inning stretch and

4:43

the tickles are still behind, despite that

4:45

home run. But suddenly, they

4:47

start to turn things around. Oh,

4:49

we hit it! What did you do? We were

4:51

going to score two! Penny,

4:54

score! And they go on to win.

4:57

They win on opening night and it's the

4:59

perfect way to start the season. The

5:06

Teclotes de los Nocerados are a baseball

5:08

team worth following in their own right.

5:11

They think they've got what it takes to

5:13

win the Mexican League Championship this year, which

5:16

they haven't done since 1989. But

5:20

I haven't come to Laredo to talk about

5:22

baseball. Not really. Los

5:25

Teclos are the only pro baseball team

5:27

in the world that plays home games

5:30

in two countries. I feel it's

5:32

a privilege. We're

5:35

the only ones in the world that have something like this,

5:37

that get to play in two countries. And

5:40

it's wonderful because it represents the two

5:42

cities, the two fan bases, the Mexican

5:44

side and the Laredo-Texas side. You

5:46

have to make sure that you're making both of them happy

5:48

when you're playing. It sounds

5:51

nice, right? A vision of

5:53

harmony on the border that Americans in

5:55

particular are not used to hearing. And

5:58

that's a big part of the reason why... Aaron

6:00

and I wanted to come here, to

6:02

Laredo and Nuevo Laredo. We

6:04

all hear so much about the border, especially

6:07

in election year for both the US

6:09

and Mexico. And we

6:11

wanted to find out how people who live

6:13

here experience it every day, and how

6:16

that's changed since we all became so fixated

6:18

on it. And

6:20

it has changed. The connection

6:22

between Los Dos Laredos over the

6:24

last two decades has become strained

6:27

by drug trafficking and gang violence,

6:29

by the migration crisis, and

6:32

by Donald Trump. But Los

6:34

Tecos keep going in spite of all of this.

6:37

So we've come here to tell a story

6:39

of the Fronterisso way of life, of

6:42

what it's like to belong to the lands on the

6:44

border. It's a story

6:46

about unity that's fraying around the edges.

6:48

Are Los Tecos only a gesture to a

6:51

more unified past, or could they

6:53

be a glimpse of a Fronterisso future? So

6:57

my father would pick me up from school after, you know, and

7:04

then we would drive straight here. So I would spend my whole, you know, I

7:08

would come here, go to the locker room, change

7:10

into my uniform, and I would just hang out

7:13

and play with the, you know, play on the

7:15

field or with the players, and, you know, and

7:18

during the game, I would just hang out

7:21

and play with the, you know, play on

7:23

the field or with the players, and, you

7:25

know, and during the game, I would be

7:28

in the dugout with the team, you know,

7:30

and sometimes I would run out here. It's

7:33

a warm evening a couple of weeks after

7:35

opening day when I come to

7:37

Parque La Junta, the Tecos Stadium in

7:40

Nuevo Laredo. Unlike Heron,

7:42

I'm not a baseball fan, or not as

7:44

baseball as a game, but

7:46

I love it as an experience. I've

7:48

been in Mexico City, where I live, and

7:50

also in Japan, where I used to, and

7:53

even in Cuba. Tonight, I've

7:55

come here to meet the team's

7:58

general manager, Cuitlawa Rodriguez. The

8:00

modest stadium is slap bang in the centre

8:03

of Novo Laredo. It's a

8:05

landmark for everyone here, but no more

8:07

than for him. You

8:09

know, right there where we have

8:11

the portable store, that

8:13

used to be a stand of

8:16

popcorn and fruit stand that my grandmother

8:18

used to run. Kuitlauak grew

8:20

up in the stadium, playing

8:22

around and even performing for the crowd,

8:25

a bit like a mascot. The

8:27

first baseman, back then it was

8:30

Andres Mora, he wouldn't just

8:32

toss me the ball up back. He would

8:34

throw it up as high as he could,

8:37

so then I would be trying to catch a

8:39

fly ball, and then the crowd would

8:41

see it and then everybody would start like, whoa!

8:44

And then I would catch it, people would clap. So

8:47

I was a little bit of a show in

8:49

between innings here. How old were you then? I

8:53

was between

8:56

six and nine

8:58

years old, I guess I did that whole show. Kuitlauak's

9:04

father, Chito, is a legend

9:06

in Mexico's baseball world. He

9:09

used to manage the tecos, not

9:11

short for the teco-lotes, which means

9:13

owls, because they were one of

9:16

the first teams to play at night. They

9:18

won the league championship under his leadership.

9:21

The Mexican league used to find and

9:24

defend young Mexican talents and

9:26

connect those players to teams in the

9:29

United States, that big brother

9:31

that looms so large in Mexico's history

9:33

and process. That's

9:35

what Kuitlauak's father was so good at

9:37

doing. That's

9:39

my father, right there. That

9:42

plaque right there, the first one

9:44

in the bottom row, the first one. You

9:47

look alike, you can tell each other.

9:52

I mean, like your younger. I hope

9:54

so. in

10:00

Nuevo Laredo. From 1947 until

10:02

2003 they played in Parque La Junta, but that team was transferred

10:09

to Tijuana. In

10:11

the 2000s the tecos spent a few years

10:14

here and there in the border cities and

10:17

in 2017 they came back for good.

10:19

That's when Chara Mansour, the current owner,

10:22

moved a team he owned in Veracruz

10:24

to Los Dios Laredos. It's

10:27

really unique right to have the

10:29

only team in the world that has two

10:31

hometowns in two different countries and

10:34

then the opportunity to be able to make

10:36

more business. You have two stadiums to run

10:38

out, you have not two

10:40

different fans but two fan bases after

10:42

all, one in Laredo and one in

10:44

Nuevo Laredo. We're

10:46

sitting in Chara's office at Uni Trade

10:49

Stadium in Laredo. Chara is

10:51

energetic, he's smiling the entire time

10:53

we're talking and he's really proud

10:55

of what he's built. When

10:58

he moved the tecos back to Laredo and

11:00

the team had a skeleton staff he

11:02

drove the team bus himself and

11:04

Chara's family is a baseball dynasty.

11:08

So for like probably three or four

11:10

years we were running uh four

11:12

teams out of the 16. My

11:15

dad, my brother, and my twin brother are me

11:18

and then my dad's brother, my uncle, he

11:20

was still running the diablos. Chara

11:23

has the energy of a salesman and

11:25

his product is this bi-national baseball team.

11:28

He makes it all sound so easy but

11:31

I keep thinking about the logistical

11:33

challenges of playing on the border. Do

11:36

you worry at all about increased

11:38

border security and how that might make

11:40

things harder? Not

11:44

at all because as a state we are

11:46

in compliance with all

11:48

the requirements that uh

11:51

that it has been needed and for

11:54

the cities for both cities and for both

11:56

countries our tecos is a good example of

11:59

how things can work if you do it right.

12:02

The team's success, he tells me,

12:04

depends on playing in both cities.

12:07

It is a city that makes a difference for

12:09

people to attend to a stadium. What

12:11

do you mean by that? The city that makes a difference?

12:14

Well, if you have a team in Monterrey, you know,

12:16

Mexico City. Oh, because they're so much bigger, you mean?

12:18

Yeah, Guerminaj has five million people living there. We have

12:20

here about 300,000. Yeah.

12:23

And Monterrey has five million, and you know,

12:26

Mexico City, 20 million. So it helps to have

12:28

the two... It helps a lot.

12:30

It helps a lot, and that's probably one of

12:32

the best things that it helps with the fans.

12:34

But if we were only one of these cities,

12:36

Valerio, Novo Laredo, I didn't think we'd

12:38

be any successful at all. Now

12:50

we're in San Agustin Plaza. This is the

12:52

first place that Laredo was established. So

12:55

if you look around here, this is a pretty

12:57

traditional Mexican plaza. Andrew Lasincharranco tells me

12:59

that Spaniards founded Laredo in 1755 on

13:01

the northern bank of

13:04

the Rio Grande. You have

13:06

the church, you'd have administration, and you'd

13:08

have shops around here. And

13:11

the old days, there would have been a convent right there too. So

13:14

San Agustin Plaza is really the heart and soul of

13:16

what Laredo is. It feels like a little bit like

13:18

Mexico here, and of course, it was a Spanish plaza.

13:21

Andrew's a Laredo native. He's a

13:23

real estate developer and an amateur historian.

13:26

He's also quite the character. Wear

13:29

the same age, 31, but he wears

13:31

a bow tie and a hat every

13:33

day. Today it's pushing

13:35

90 degrees, so he's got on a palm

13:38

straw hat to keep away that South Texas

13:40

sun, and a pocket square is

13:42

tucked neatly in his jacket. Throughout

13:45

its history, Laredo has been

13:48

governed by, seemingly, everyone. About

13:53

60 years after the Spaniards

13:55

established Laredo, Mexico

13:57

won its independence. became

14:01

part of Mexico. At

14:03

the time, Mexico included almost

14:05

all of the southwestern United

14:07

States, including California,

14:10

Nevada, Utah, Arizona,

14:12

New Mexico, and

14:14

Texas. For

14:16

about a decade beginning in 1836, Texas briefly governed

14:21

itself, but its borders

14:23

were different. The Republic of

14:25

Texas ended north of Laredo, the

14:28

southern part of modern-day Texas, where

14:30

Laredo is now, was

14:32

still part of Mexico's Tamaalipas state.

14:36

In the 1830s, a new president

14:38

was elected in Mexico. He

14:41

tried to unify and centralize the

14:43

country. This angered

14:46

Northerners, so they launched their

14:48

own independence movement. And

14:50

in 1840, Tamaalipas,

14:53

along with two other northern states,

14:56

seceded. They called

14:58

their new country the Republic

15:00

of the Rio Grande. Its

15:03

capital was Laredo. No one

15:05

ever really wanted us. The Mexicans don't want us because

15:07

we're Americans. The Americans don't want us because we're Mexican. So

15:10

we're the Republic of the Rio Grande for that

15:12

reason. How long did the Republic last?

15:14

11 months, and then the president defected and became a

15:16

colonel in the Mexican army. And

15:18

the vice president was beheaded and his head

15:20

was showcased around the Rio Grande and the

15:23

states that rebelled, which were Nuevo León,

15:25

Coila, and Tamaalipas. In

15:28

the 1840s, the United States and

15:30

Mexico went to war. The

15:32

fighting ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe de

15:34

Algo. The United States claimed

15:37

the southwest and drew a new

15:39

southern border, the Rio Grande. And

15:42

just like that, Laredoans became

15:44

Americans, and more specifically,

15:46

they became Texans. Understandably,

15:50

not everyone was happy

15:52

about that. Some

15:54

Laredo families decided they'd rather move south

15:57

than live in the United States. So

16:00

they crossed the river and settled on

16:02

what was at that point mostly ranch

16:04

lands. Some families even

16:06

exhumed the bones of their relatives so

16:08

they could rest in Mexico. And

16:12

Nueva Laredo, new Laredo, was

16:15

born. I'm

16:23

feeding a dollar bill into one of the

16:25

change machines that's going to give me my

16:28

one dollar token that I need to

16:30

pay it across to the Mexican side of the border.

16:33

Great. So

16:40

they're working on the border. Maybe

16:43

they're expanding it. Alright, I'm going to wait

16:46

now. I just went through the turnstile. I'm

16:48

right near the entrance to the

16:50

bridge. So

16:52

I might text the

16:55

team and tell them where we're at. Because

16:57

the tacos have two home stadia, one

16:59

on each side of the border, they

17:01

alternate between them. And

17:03

that means that the mourning of every game, a

17:06

handful of players are crossing the bridge, either

17:08

from Mexico to the US or vice versa. Most

17:12

players walk across because the queue for

17:14

cars can take hours. Okay,

17:18

I'll just head across to the bridge or

17:21

to come into other bridges. And

17:23

now I'm looking for Eduardo. Okay,

17:27

I see him. He's approaching.

17:29

Hola, que tao, como esta?

17:31

Muy bien gracias. There

17:35

are three main bridges that connect Laredo

17:37

and Nuevo Laredo. And one more about 40 minutes away.

17:42

One is just for trade that the trucks take,

17:44

one is for cars, and one is for

17:46

both cars and trucks. And then

17:48

there's this one that I'm on for pedestrians. We're

17:53

walking right over the river right now. Are you

17:56

so used to this that you are just

17:58

like, oh, another day, another day? Today

18:07

I'm crossing with Josh Rodriguez from Houston.

18:11

Having the option to play ball in the Mexican

18:13

League but still live in Texas is a huge

18:15

benefit for him. He likes the

18:17

comfort, the security, the familiarity of living

18:20

in the United States. He's

18:22

a veteran on the team and really

18:24

at ease walking across the border. The

18:27

team sends a van to pick up Josh and his

18:29

teammates on the Mexican side of the border. The

18:32

entire process from walking across the river

18:34

to getting into the van only takes

18:36

about 10 minutes. I

19:05

meet one of the team's applications,

19:08

Eduardo Luna on the Nuevo La Redo side

19:11

of the bridge. He's from

19:13

Monterey, Mexico, which is about three

19:15

hours away in a neighboring state.

19:18

Eduardo is really smiley and friendly.

19:20

He's open and very confident for

19:22

someone so young. He's

19:24

just 20 years old and he started playing for

19:26

the tacos when he was just 16 years

19:29

old. The

19:32

team lives in Nuevo La Redo at this point.

19:35

They are mostly Mexicans like him

19:38

or players from other Spanish speaking countries.

19:41

They live there because Mexico is cheaper

19:43

or it feels more like home or

19:46

they do not have visas to live in the United States.

19:50

Security is tighter on the American side.

19:53

There are agents stood halfway across the bridge

19:55

before we'd even reach passport control.

20:00

And they wave you through. And other

20:02

times they stalk you. And

20:05

you're headless. Do

20:12

you have a chance to go? Yes,

20:14

we got through quickly, but there are other days

20:16

where it can take an hour, hour and a

20:19

half to get through. Even

20:22

on a good day, like today, crossing

20:25

is unpredictable and cumbersome.

20:28

You get dropped off or parked on one side

20:30

and then have a car or taxi pick

20:32

you up on the other. Personal

20:34

control may have a line. You

20:37

may get your bag searched by customs. Crossing

20:40

by car one evening, as we did,

20:42

was a whole other ballgame. Many

20:44

more questions. These

20:46

communities never feel more divided than when

20:49

you're in line waiting to cross the

20:51

border. But it

20:53

wasn't always this way. Hi,

20:59

it's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot

21:02

about you. Nice to meet

21:04

you as well. If

21:06

you talk to people who grew up in

21:08

Laredo and Nueva Laredo, even up through maybe

21:11

the early 1990s, they

21:13

describe the border as something that they've always

21:15

crossed and easily, almost as if it weren't

21:17

the border. I remember we used

21:19

to come from school trips and we'd

21:21

just say, you a citizen at the border and that was it.

21:24

And sometimes they would ask you for, we used

21:27

to have like this little birth certificate, a little

21:29

version of our birth certificate, what it would say

21:31

that you were born in the United States. This

21:34

is Andrea Ordonez. She's

21:36

the manager of the Republic of

21:38

the Rio Grande Museum, which is

21:40

in Laredo. She was

21:42

born there, but she grew up in Laredo.

21:45

A lot of times on Sundays we would go to

21:47

the plazas to just walk around. And

21:50

they had little stands where they would tell like newspapers,

21:52

comic books, magazines and all of that. Andrea

21:54

moved back to Laredo in the early 2000s

21:57

when she was a teenager. She

22:00

has the kind of energy you'd

22:03

get from a teacher or a

22:05

librarian. She's warm, friendly, chatty, and

22:07

super passionate about telling other people

22:10

about Loredo's history. Her

22:12

uncle was actually a co-owner of the Tecos

22:14

for a while. I rarely remember

22:16

the games. I'm not big on

22:18

sports. What

22:21

I remember the most is after leaving

22:23

the game, we would, you know, there were

22:25

like the street vendors and we would eat,

22:27

you know, tacos or we would get like

22:29

raspados. When the Tecos first

22:31

started playing in Loredo back in the

22:34

1980s, they crossed the Italy team.

22:37

After the student Queen Laoak, the Tecos

22:39

manager who spent his childhood at matches

22:41

in Pake La Junta, told

22:44

me that the team used to simply bus play

22:46

as a cross. Back then

22:48

for the team to cross, the

22:50

players didn't really need visas. What we

22:53

would do is present a document to

22:55

customs of who

22:57

was on the bus. Customs would get

22:59

on the bus and verify that all

23:01

these people on the bus, nobody extra,

23:03

nobody less, nobody more. All

23:06

these people on the bus, okay, bus crosses. On

23:08

the way back, same thing. They

23:10

would verify everybody was on board and

23:13

boom, that was it. No, not

23:15

like today that you need visas and

23:17

passports and, you know, it was very,

23:20

very different back then. From

23:25

1985 until they left in

23:28

2004, the Tecos played about

23:30

a third of their home games in

23:32

Loredo. It was to make sure

23:34

Tecos fans who lived there could go to

23:36

as many games as possible. And

23:39

for extra publicity, news outlets

23:42

on the American side gave them more

23:44

media coverage. After

23:47

the end of the Mexican-American War with

23:50

the new border at the Rio Grande,

23:53

Nuevo Laredo and Loredo's economies

23:55

grew because of

23:57

their geography. the

24:00

border from Mexico City or

24:02

Monterrey through Nuevo Laredo and

24:04

into Texas, and it's slowed

24:06

the opposite way too. Ah

24:12

yeah, you hear the train going. Yes, I can

24:14

hear it. The

24:17

railroads were crucial to this. They

24:19

were built in the second half of

24:21

the 19th century, and if you visit

24:24

the municipal archives in Nuevo

24:26

Laredo, you'll find they're located in

24:28

the town's former railway station, which

24:30

is over a hundred years old. The

24:39

railway arrived when Nuevo Laredo was a

24:41

small town. Ten

24:43

years later, the government determined that

24:45

Nuevo Laredo at that point had

24:47

grown economically. It

24:49

had much more economic activity, and on top

24:52

of that, more residents. So,

24:55

Nuevo Laredo should have the status of a

24:57

city. Carlos

24:59

Zuniga, head of the municipal archives here,

25:02

is showing me photos of the town

25:04

from almost a century ago, and I

25:07

can still hear the trains going right by the

25:09

building. Ryan

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25:48

the 20th century, there was a dream

25:50

of building one highway through the Americas.

25:53

It was never fully realized, but

25:55

highways were built roughly where it was

25:58

envisioned. Federal

26:00

Highway 85 in Mexico

26:02

runs from Mexico City through

26:04

Monterrey up to Nuevo Laredo.

26:08

On the US side of the border

26:10

it turns into Interstate 35, which

26:12

goes almost all the way up to Canada. In

26:17

the 1990s, NAFTA supercharged the

26:19

existing trade and Laredo

26:22

blossomed. Its population doubled

26:24

in size from 1990 to

26:26

today. The

26:28

economies of the two cities were

26:30

so intertwined that when the Mexican

26:33

peso crashed in 1994, Laredo

26:35

took a hit too. Supply

26:39

chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

26:41

and escalating tensions between the US

26:43

and China convinced some American firms

26:45

to move business closer to home,

26:48

nearshoring it's called. Mexico

26:51

and Laredo especially have

26:53

been beneficiaries of this. Last

26:56

year, Laredo surpassed Los Angeles to become

26:59

the number one port in the country,

27:01

judging by trade value. About 20,000 trucks

27:03

cross the city's bridges

27:06

each day. Sometimes the

27:08

lines of lorries stretch back miles

27:10

as drivers wait to cross. Firms

27:13

can't build warehouse space fast enough.

27:16

Laredo developed as the business center,

27:19

Nueva Laredo as the cultural one.

27:22

In this period there was a lot

27:24

of cultural activity. A

27:29

lot of people pursued careers

27:31

in acting, singing and well

27:33

here's the example, a large

27:35

theater. I glanced

27:37

around the room to see what else

27:39

is in this slightly random collection of

27:42

items, many donated by locals.

27:45

I saw over in a corner

27:47

a signed techos baseball bat and

27:49

ball encased in glass. This

27:52

team matters so much that their

27:54

equipment mixes into the archives. We

28:02

couldn't have a museum without this, right? The

28:05

baseball bat autographed by the Te Colotes.

28:08

Carlos makes me understand, really

28:10

feel, how the border is

28:12

so central to Nuevo Laredo's

28:14

identity. The city has

28:16

always been in Mexico, and people living

28:19

there feel strongly Mexican. But

28:21

it is also a melting pot. There

28:23

are Mexicans who came from other parts of

28:26

the country. There are Latin

28:28

Americans from other places who intended

28:30

to migrate to the United States

28:32

and ended up staying in Nuevo Laredo instead.

28:35

The city, Carlos tells me, has

28:38

a diversity and open outlook that comes

28:40

with being on the border. In

28:46

Laredo, the effects of being on the

28:48

border feel a little bit different. The

28:51

town used to be in Mexico. Many

28:54

Americans living there are of Mexican descent. Laredo

28:57

is 95% Hispanic, one

28:59

of the highest proportions of a major

29:01

city in the US. And

29:03

everyone speaks Spanish, or at least

29:06

Spanglish. So

29:08

it feels a bit like a hybrid between

29:10

the two, as Andrea, the museum manager, explained

29:12

to me. I think

29:14

the people from Laredo have a mentality. And

29:18

I don't know if it's just from Laredo, but

29:20

a border mentality, where you're neither

29:23

from here nor there. It's really you are

29:25

from the border. Our language is

29:27

a little different. Our way of life is

29:29

a little bit different. A lot of people that come from out

29:31

of town tell us, oh, this looks a lot like

29:33

Mexico, but you're not in Mexico. In

29:36

the context of this border culture,

29:38

having a team that plays both

29:40

sides actually means something. For

29:43

the players and the fans, regardless of

29:45

their nationality, like Eduardo,

29:47

the backup catcher who I crossed the border

29:49

with. The

29:55

two Laredo sides are really the same fan

29:57

base. We can't divide the fans. It's

30:00

the same passion. It's the same

30:02

people that live here in Nuevo Laredo that

30:04

when we play on this side, they cross

30:06

over to go there. It's a different culture

30:08

because it's a different country. I mean, it's

30:11

different rules, different things, but at

30:13

least I feel it's the same passion. It's

30:15

the same passion for baseball. But

30:19

in the last 20 years or so, that

30:22

sense of different rules that shared

30:24

passion has came under stream. First,

30:27

9-11 tightened border security

30:30

everywhere, including this part of

30:32

the border. Passports

30:34

were required. Checkpoint queues

30:36

grew longer. Owning a

30:38

business on one side and living on

30:41

the other became difficult. That's

30:44

why Andreas firmly moved to Laredo

30:46

from Nuevo Laredo. Around

30:49

that time, cartel violence in

30:51

Nuevo Laredo also got much

30:53

worse. Car bombings

30:56

are apparently a new tactic for the

30:58

drug cartel. There have been four

31:00

reported since the height of the drug war just

31:02

south of the border. A decapitated body

31:04

and a blood-stained message were left on

31:06

a busy Nuevo Laredo street around 5

31:08

a.m. Wednesday. The message warns people not

31:11

to use social media to report crime.

31:13

A border warning from the web-counting sheriff

31:15

do not cross to Nuevo Laredo because

31:17

of reports of cartel gunfights. That's just

31:20

across the border from Laredo. Contrabant

31:22

has always crossed borders, flowing through

31:25

the towns on either side. Criminals

31:28

were, and today gangs are,

31:31

attracted to Nuevo Laredo precisely

31:33

because the same roads that

31:35

facilitate trade help them

31:37

deliver drugs or migrants or whatever

31:39

else it might be. For

31:42

many years, Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party,

31:44

better known as the PRI,

31:47

kept a lid on gangs by making pacts

31:49

with them. But in

31:52

2000, the PRI lost power for the

31:54

first time. Violence

31:56

started to grow, nowhere

31:58

more so than here. Nuevo

32:02

Laredo was home to the Zetas, a

32:05

gang made up of soldiers who

32:07

defected from the Mexican army. They

32:10

started out as part of the Gulf people.

32:13

Thanks to their military training,

32:15

the Zetas were incredibly brutal

32:18

and smart. They expanded

32:21

from trafficking drugs to also

32:23

extorting businesses, bribing the police,

32:25

you name it. In

32:28

2006, then-President of

32:30

Mexico, Felipe Calderon, decided

32:33

to directly confront those criminal

32:35

groups. With the help

32:37

of the United States, he launched the war

32:39

on drugs. The less drugs we

32:41

use, the less pressure there will be in Mexico. He

32:45

has got responsibilities to help prevent guns

32:47

from going from the United States into

32:49

Mexico. We have a

32:51

very strong compromise for

32:54

combating and spreading

32:56

the criminal issues in Mexico. This

33:01

had unintended consequences. There

33:04

was a violence expected in clashes

33:06

between government forces and the gangs,

33:09

but gangs also started to splinter

33:11

as leaders were taken out and others

33:14

fought to take over. These

33:17

divided gangs started to fade and

33:19

added to the bloodshed. This

33:22

led to huge issues in areas where

33:24

gangs were operating. Nuevo

33:27

Laredo became infamous as

33:29

the site of horrific violence. People

33:31

there talked to me about the climate of

33:34

terror that they lived through and

33:36

they told me the most awful stories. Mexico

33:40

Day in 2012, when nine bodies

33:42

were found hanging from a bridge. The

33:45

same day, police also found 14 heads

33:48

in cool boxes. The

33:51

bodies were later found dumped near a bridge

33:53

to the United States. Americans,

33:58

even Laredo natives, were

34:00

advised to stay away. America's

34:03

State Department currently warns people not

34:05

to travel anywhere in the state

34:08

of Tamalipas. Several

34:10

Laredoans told me that sometimes you

34:12

can hear gunshots ring out across

34:14

the river. Andrew,

34:17

the amateur historian, tells me he hasn't

34:19

crossed since he was a child. All

34:34

this means that the two cities are

34:36

starting to feel very different. Most

34:40

of the new development in Laredo is happening

34:42

away from the border on the north end

34:44

of the city, near the Tejos Stadium actually.

34:47

There are brand new neighborhoods

34:49

of mega-mansions and manicured lawns.

34:52

Local officials hang out at the country club

34:55

and for the first time during this trip

34:57

more people actually spoke to me in English

34:59

than Spanish. By

35:01

comparison, the historic downtown seems

35:03

sort of economically depressed. The

35:06

trade bridges carrying the keys to Laredo's

35:08

new wealth blow right by it. Downtown

35:11

seems forgotten, almost like a

35:14

historic artifact. Nueva

35:16

Laredo's downtown has fared better.

35:19

Its historic plazas near the border

35:21

still seem to be the center of

35:23

life in the city. Children

35:26

play there. Vendors sell fresh

35:28

fruit and elote. Musicians

35:30

play. But around

35:33

the corners from the bustling plazas

35:35

are the scars of the last

35:37

two decades of violence. Gift

35:40

shops are boarded up. Side

35:42

streets are abandoned. Posters

35:45

plastered on light poles show the

35:47

faces of Nueva Laredo's most

35:49

wanted. Our

35:58

communities are very intertwined. and

36:01

embedded together. Nilda Garcia is

36:03

Texas A&M International University which is

36:05

situated just on the road from

36:08

the Unitrade Stadium, studies gangs. She's

36:11

also from a Mexican border town that's

36:13

a few hours away and

36:15

she was a student in Laredo. But

36:17

when it comes to violence and security

36:19

is an immense, it's a world of

36:21

difference. People

36:24

crossing the border from the north may not notice

36:27

but Nilda tells me there's gang

36:29

members that hang out in the city at

36:31

the plazas around the corner from

36:33

the border and they're all monitoring

36:36

what's happening. Right around the time

36:38

I was in Nuevo Laredo, gangs detained

36:40

four local umpires and it's

36:43

a reminder that there are real safety

36:45

issues that the tech-offs have to keep

36:47

in mind as they're shuttling players, staff

36:49

or umpires back and forth. So

36:51

today these vigilantes or alcónez are all over

36:53

the place as soon as you cross you're

36:55

gonna see them and when you come back

36:57

and cross it again to come to the

36:59

United States you're gonna see them everywhere. The

37:06

murder rate has fallen but not

37:09

because the gangs are losing power, it's because

37:12

one single gang, the Northeast Cartel,

37:15

has control here and when

37:17

one gang rules there are fewer clashes

37:20

but violence could flare up really at

37:23

any time it's totally unpredictable. This

37:27

is not going to change, gangs are

37:29

so entrenched, they not only

37:32

basically run the illicit economy but

37:34

they inter-time with the legal one

37:36

too. But

37:39

gang violence isn't the only problem

37:41

raising tensions on the border. As

37:44

president Donald Trump wanted to use

37:46

military funds to put up a border

37:48

fence in part of Webb County which

37:50

includes Laredo. It was never

37:53

built but locals still feel the threat

37:55

of that wall looming especially

37:57

with migration so high right now.

38:00

In 2023, more migrants were

38:02

apprehended crossing America's southern border

38:05

than any other year

38:07

on record. Compared to

38:09

other border cities like San Diego

38:12

or Nogales in Arizona, Laredo doesn't

38:14

see that many migrants, but their

38:16

numbers are growing. American

38:19

officials are also worried about drug

38:21

trafficking. Fentanyl is

38:24

killing tens of thousands of Americans

38:26

every year, and it's

38:28

coming from Mexico. So

38:30

the border everywhere has

38:33

become more politicized, more

38:35

militarized, harder. Locals

38:38

worry that security is going to

38:40

tighten, making crossing even

38:42

more difficult and increasing

38:45

the friction between the two cities.

39:12

Back at Nuevo Laredo, the tackle's pitchers

39:14

are warming up for tonight's game. The

39:17

crowd is slowly filing into the

39:20

stalls, and they're getting themselves settled

39:22

with pre-game drinks and feets. While

39:25

down on the field, the power hitters slug it

39:27

out in batting prices. The

39:32

vibe is relaxed, friendly. Players

39:34

are ribbing each other in both English

39:36

and Spanish. In

39:39

contrast to the new Unitrade Stadium

39:42

in Nuevo, the Nuevo Laredo Stadium

39:44

hasn't changed much, if at all,

39:46

since Quit La Work, the general

39:48

manager, grew up catching fly balls

39:50

decades ago. I'm

39:53

on the roof, there are flying ants and

39:55

lots of bricks and tiles that are broken.

40:00

peeling paint. There's a guy up here

40:02

filming, someone drinking a

40:04

coke, but yeah it is run

40:06

down. But

40:10

none of that matters once the game starts.

40:19

The Laredo audience may be rowdier than

40:21

the average American major needs baseball one,

40:24

but the Nuevo Laredo site puts them to

40:26

shame. People

40:37

are using retractors, those wooden rattles that

40:39

make a huge noise when you spin

40:42

them around, and some people even

40:44

bought large drums. But

40:51

faces here are making jokes as much as they are

40:53

watching the game. Everyone

40:55

seems to be drinking beer from a

40:57

huge plastic cup, often rims with sores.

41:01

And there's a lot of eating, a lot

41:03

of eating. People beckoning

41:05

over circulating food vendors to order

41:07

crisps and with hot sauce or

41:09

skewers of prawn. Oh hang

41:11

on, there are bruschettes going around with those to come around. There

41:14

is good food this high. The

41:20

Laredo is so close, you can

41:22

almost chat to the players. It's

41:25

so close you can see them dancing to the next

41:27

jubu. Well,

41:29

dancing is an exaggeration. I'm walking

41:35

to the next jubu. I'm walking

41:37

to the next jubu. I

41:40

spot this one fan, Yolanda, part way through

41:42

the game. She looks

41:45

like she's in her 70s, she's got white

41:47

hair. And I go to

41:49

speak to her and she tells me she's been

41:51

buying these same seats for 40 years. The

42:00

huge megaphone wish she says is her

42:02

second one because she thought he faces

42:04

from same thing see loudly when the

42:06

pack of get ahead. She. Alternate between

42:08

south and for her megaphone and

42:10

having it make the siren found

42:13

on I Run a Run a

42:15

have. A

42:17

conversation actually isn't syrup. The i'm Sick

42:19

of the Cycle score. Than

42:23

it is said. And

42:30

I told the buffalo that as early as

42:32

thought loud. And

42:36

I mean. As a. Pack

42:38

of when this nine eleven for

42:40

three which they really needed in

42:42

between opening weekend. And this game

42:45

two weeks later, said loss for

42:47

their six away games. The.

42:49

Nuevo Laredo games. So Mexican.

42:52

But. The league is becoming lesser.

43:00

Role changes have a lab teams. To

43:02

bring in more foreigners, mainly former

43:04

major league baseball players. Players

43:07

like Tennis Vargas who used to

43:09

play in the Mlb for the

43:11

Minnesota Twins. Know

43:13

I'm your guy that feel

43:16

Olaf Bird Minister my bag

43:18

of little retire to this.

43:22

But he was the biggest which means

43:24

you're cerebral. I saw by Big Five

43:26

your or be ready to in. Tennis

43:29

is one of the take us

43:31

most powerful centers. He's huge, six

43:33

foot five with the speed boisterous.

43:36

Last, he's friendly and find. And

43:39

we chatted while he was messing

43:41

around during batting practice at Let's

43:43

Hear How to Pass. And

43:47

ten he says the teams unofficial

43:49

barber. he sort of an unofficial

43:52

captain and a joker to cut

43:54

all of their hair in preparation

43:56

for opening day weekends. Players.

43:58

Like Chinese, they've raised the quality of

44:00

the Mexican League. That's where the

44:03

club's owner, China months. Or recruits them.

44:06

As though we another bill of the me we

44:08

i'm nora Bob probably makes you can go went

44:10

off for us to develop make some players. Wayne.

44:13

They pay when independently that we need to

44:15

based on what Having. Fans. In

44:17

our stadiums. So. This even

44:19

the big show. The take us

44:21

has gone from the Mexican team

44:24

to a multicultural one. Tennis is.

44:26

From Puerto Rico. Other

44:28

stars actually then and Venezuelan

44:30

and Mexican American. And

44:33

arctic influx that may have gone to

44:35

those young Mexican players who are just

44:38

starting their careers. But. The

44:40

team is embracing it's American.

44:42

This. Star. Players like Tennis

44:44

appeal to the Mexican fans, but they

44:47

really appeal to Texans who may have

44:49

watched him in the Mlb. Opening

45:04

day at Unit Trade Cdm. the

45:06

team whereas the special jerseys their

45:08

blue and gold and they see

45:10

by. Nationals. On the friends. But.

45:13

As I'm watching the game, I really

45:15

wonder how much of the pomp around

45:17

the city's unity. Is just nostalgia

45:19

or even a good marketing

45:22

tactic? Because. No one

45:24

who we talk to think things are going

45:26

back to the way they were, at least

45:28

not anytime soon. Lots. Of

45:30

border towns have sister cities on

45:33

the other side. San Diego has

45:35

you wanna? El Paso has Juarez

45:37

but the relationship between Laredo and

45:40

Nuevo Laredo is difference. They really

45:42

were one city once and now

45:44

they're very much to. As while

45:46

of his father like coming out here because I can

45:48

the i can just picture everything here and you could

45:51

pick standing. Next to me an adult

45:53

Spanish Plaza and Laredo Anders hat

45:55

is doing it's job flushing the

45:57

afternoon sun. he explains how

45:59

laredo building infrastructure, developing, and

46:01

imagining what it means to be

46:03

a place apart. And

46:06

we went a block down this way which I suppose we

46:08

can it's under construction you can see where there's been a

46:10

lot of action and growth in some of the bars seen

46:12

down there and people wanted to come down here. Yeah, I

46:14

mean that's

46:22

absolutely what it is and it's taken us 15 years to figure

46:24

out what that looks like and now we're getting there. Here

46:40

Andrew takes a long pause.

46:43

It's a hard question

46:45

to answer maybe because it is. I know

46:48

that's probably sounds better maybe it sounds

46:51

better in Latin you know yes it

46:53

is. Why

46:56

would it not be? You

46:58

know just because I can't go somewhere doesn't mean I love it. This

47:07

is the thing I've been struggling

47:09

to understand the whole time we

47:11

were reporting in Laredo. People

47:14

my age, Andrew's age, and

47:16

younger just aren't crossing

47:19

the way their parents and grandparents

47:21

did. So how can

47:23

the two Laredos stay together when there

47:25

are so many things pushing them apart?

47:29

The closest I've

47:31

come to an answer to that question is

47:34

that bi-national baseball reflects

47:36

the idealism that people like

47:39

Andrew or Chadha or Andrea

47:41

or Nilda have when

47:44

they tell me that the two cities are one.

47:47

It's not just nostalgia for the way

47:49

things used to be before

47:51

9-11, before the gang violence,

47:53

before the migrant crisis. The

47:57

Team's very existence challenges

47:59

the. The idea that the

48:01

border is now in in permeable

48:03

negative thing. As

48:05

long as those take those are crossing

48:07

back and forth residents of Los Dos

48:10

Liberate Us can feel joined by the

48:12

border, not just separated by it. The

48:15

team still plays where it wants to

48:17

play. Where. It's fans want it

48:20

to play because as Sarah and I

48:22

saw the Take Us can draw a

48:24

crowd on both sides. Of. The border.

48:32

The day off to the game I went.

48:34

When we have a lot of though I

48:36

was looking across the bridge again with Eduardo

48:38

on. I saw a woman who looks familiar

48:41

I'm sure. That

48:43

the he has. She says that and. That

48:47

nothing was I as nine months I

48:49

see us as a high and didn't

48:52

We see how the last night she

48:54

says yes, she remembered me to She's

48:56

not crossing that for that either. And

48:58

so he goes. again. That's and eight.

49:02

At what he says, it's so nice that

49:04

people from both sides cross to see the

49:06

games. A lawyer but eleventh level of

49:08

most could offer a low low, but others.

49:11

Are a few. And I agree, it really

49:14

is. see us and we won't even though.

49:16

I'm would just as a kid. Gas and us

49:18

easy. To.

49:21

Further, maybe more tedious? Such a vast

49:23

these days. But. At least

49:25

one cyclists fan keeps walking

49:27

across. What

50:17

are we can intelligence with this week

50:19

was reported by Herbert. An errand brought

50:21

the. Producer was making. it is a

50:23

special thanks to my usual sound design

50:25

by you go first. And Executive

50:28

Producers Discriminatory. He's. Been

50:30

listening to a free episode for the

50:32

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