Page 16 - Bi-National Socioeconomic Handbook 2020 Laredos Region

HISTORY

of “Laredos Region”

Porfirio Díaz
Bridge (Late
19th Century)

n May 15, 1755, Captain Tomas Sanchez founded San HISTORY OF THE CUSTOMS
Agustin de Laredo, on the left hand margin of the
Rio Grande, in what today is the center of a dynamic Throughout history, the strategic location of Los Dos Laredos
Oregion that is recognized for its international has favored the international exchange of merchandise and
trade leadership, as well as for the competitiveness of its goods between the north and the south. That was the main
businesses, organizations and individuals. reason why the Nuevo Laredo Custom Port was created on
August 26, 1855, only seven years after the founding of the
The “Sister Cities” of Laredo, and Nuevo Laredo, the first one city. This brought official recognition and legal stability to
in Texas, in the United States, and the latter in Tamaulipas, trade between both nations through these sister cities.
Mexico, are also recognized either as “Los Dos Laredos” or as
the “Laredo Region”. In both sides of the river that divides but When the railroads arrived, in 1881, economic and population
also joins these two great nations, more than 650 thousand substantially grew. Before two U.S. railroads connected
persons live and work, many of them in the international Laredo, Texas with San Antonio and Corpus Christi, and the
trade sector, which is the main economic activity that has Mexican one connected Nuevo Laredo with Monterrey and
made the Nuevo Laredo Customs Port the most important from there on to Mexico City, merchandises used to cross
in Mexico. On the U.S. side, this leadership, experience and by ferry. That same year, 1881, the first international railroad
drive is the reason the Laredo Customs District is number 3 bridge that linked Los Dos Laredos was built and this allowed
in all of the United States, only behind Los Angeles and New formal consular and trade actions between both nations.
York. As time flew by, both Laredos continued to grow, in an
interdependent and sisterly way. The brotherhood between
As a consequence of the Guadalupe-Hidalgo accord, people was strengthened by families who had members on
subscribed in 1848 after the U.S.-Mexico war ended, the Rio both sides of the river, something that still today is very frequent.
Grande was determined to become the dividing borderline
between both nations. When faced with this new reality, a
group of families that decided that they wanted to continue
being Mexicans, crossed the river and founded what now is
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, on the 15th day of June of 1848.
2 | Institute for Competitiveness and Foreign Trade of Nuevo Laredo