Laredo (Texas)
| Laredo | |
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| Nickname : The Gateway City, The City Under Seven Flags | |
 Laredo Downtown |
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| Location of Laredo in Texas | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1755 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Texas |
| County : | Webb County |
| Coordinates : | 27 ° 30 ′ N , 99 ° 30 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) |
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Inhabitants : - Metropolitan Area : |
257,156 (as of 2016) 271,193 (as of 2016) |
| Population density : | 1,189.9 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 218.96 km 2 (approx. 85 mi 2 ) of which 216.11 km 2 (approx. 83 mi 2 ) is land |
| Height : | 137.2 m |
| Postcodes : | 78040-78049, 88000 |
| Area code : | +1 956 |
| FIPS : | 48-41464 |
| GNIS ID : | 1339633 |
| Website : | www.laredotexas.gov |
| Mayor : | Pete Saenz (2014-2018) |
 Webb County Administrative Center |
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Laredo is a city in the US state of Texas on the north bank of the Rio Grande on the border with Mexico . Laredo is the administrative seat of Webb County . Four road bridges and a railway bridge lead to the more populous Mexican sister city of Nuevo Laredo on the opposite south bank of the Rio Grande.
history
The City under seven flags
Laredo's nickname The City under seven flags hints at the history of the city and the seven states to which Laredo belonged:
- (Colonial Empire) Spain ( New Spain )
- Kingdom of France
- Mexico
- Independent Republic of Rio Grande
- Republic of Texas
- Confederate States of America
- United States
Historical overview
The city was founded in 1755. At that time the region was called Nuevo Santander and was part of the Spanish colony of New Spain . In 1840 Laredo was the capital of the 'Independent Republic of Rio Grande'. In 1846 the city was occupied by the Texas Rangers .
The city is strongly characterized by its economic location as a border and trading city on the major roads in North America and has seen a strong upswing in economic and, above all, population numbers in recent decades.
The city is known nationwide for hosting the Washington's Birthday Celebration , a nearly month-long celebration in honor of George Washington . The celebrations include several festivals and attract approximately 400,000 visitors annually. They take place every year from the end of January to mid-February.
Laredo has been the seat of the Laredo diocese since July 3, 2000 . The main church is the Cathedral of San Agustin .
Demographic data
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According to the American Census Bureau, Laredo is the second fastest growing city (after Las Vegas, Nevada ) in the USA. Laredo's population has grown by around 2.5% per year (or more than 33% overall) over the past 10 years. According to the last US census (2000), Laredo is also the city with the highest proportion of Latin American residents in the US (94.1%).
Economic situation
Laredo is one of the oldest border points between the USA and Mexico, in 2005 the city's 250th birthday was celebrated. The Laredo-Nuevo Laredo border crossing became the first “official” entry point on the US-Mexico border in 1851.
Laredo is located on Interstate 35 and benefits from its location on the Pan-American High Way Panamericana , which connects Canada with Mexico and South America. In Laredo, important highway and rail connections from Mexico - also from the large industrial region on the border - are bundled with two important US rail connections and Interstate 35.
Since Mexico replaced China as the USA's main trading partner in 2019, this has consequences for Laredo: More than 830 companies in Laredo are active in the trade and transport business. More than 700 of the Fortune 1000 (the 1000 largest companies in the USA in terms of sales) trade internationally via Laredo.
In March 2019, trade through the port of Laredos was $ 20 billion. This makes it the US commercial port with the highest turnover, ahead of Los Angeles at USD 19.66 billion. Laredo's port sales increased 9.52% from February 2019 - Los Angeles decreased 10.01%. In 2018, the volume of trade in the port of Laredos exceeded 228 billion US dollars. In the port of Los Angeles, trade with China accounted for 51% of sales in 2018. The port in Laredo handles more than 97% of its trade with Mexico only. Los Angeles imports technical and clothing items - mostly from Asia. Laredo mainly imports cars, auto parts, feed and food.
Four road bridges operated by the Laredo International Bridge System of the City of Laredo cross the Rio Grande:
- the Gateway to the Americas Bridge (Bridge N ° 1 - pedestrian and non-commercial traffic),
- the Juárez – Lincoln International Bridge (Bridge N ° 2 - non-commercial traffic),
- the Colombia Solidarity Bridge (Bridge N ° 3 - commercial and non-commercial traffic) and
- the World Trade Bridge (Bridge N ° 4 - exclusively commercial traffic).
Due to the growing demand for transport, Interstate 69 is to lead east from Laredo to Houston and - via Interstate 35 - connect Mexico with the east of Texas and Louisiana .
Role of the Mexican Drug War in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo
Due to its city role as the largest trading port in the United States, drug smuggling from Mexico is a problem. While violent confrontations are the exception on the American side, the violence on the Mexican side in Nuevo Laredo between several cartels claims civilian victims. By the end of 2011, more than 47,000 people were victims of the drug war: This is why many residents of Laredo avoid the border crossing despite their families on the Mexican side (cf. Nuevo Laredo and drug war in Mexico ). The sister city of Nuevo Laredo has been the scene of many shootings, kidnappings and brutal acts of violence since the drug war began . In early May 2012, for example, 23 bodies were found. The city is notorious for the murder of major journalists and bloggers who covered local activities by drug cartels such as Los Zetas . During attacks, the cartels try to intimidate other cartels, the civilian population and politicians, mostly through messages or publicly rolled out banners. In the case of journalism, the cartels try to suppress harmful reports.
Nuevo Laredo is one of the most competitive entry points to Texas and the USA next to Ciudad Juárez and the Rio Grande Valley around Ciudad Mier . According to many reports, the Nuevo Laredo Los Zetas cartel is organizing operations in Mexico and Laredo, Texas.
Therefore, there are "Check Points" on all roads and highways outside Laredo into the USA, where the United States Border Patrol passers-by etc. a. controlled with passport controls and drug detection dogs. The number of murders, arrests, convictions, and the heavy Border Patrol presence suggest that the drug war also seized Laredo beyond the role of a transit station.
Trivia
Since the city's only bookstore closed in early 2010, Laredo has been seen in the US media as perhaps the largest US city without a bookseller.
Javier Pena, one of the main characters in the Netflix series "Narcos", is originally from Laredo.
Laredo is the third largest US border town by population after San Diego and El Paso and the tenth largest city in the state of Texas .
A particularly lavish equipment variant of the Jeep CJ-7 was named after the city.
Town twinning
Laredo names the twin cities:
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sons and daughters of the town
- Walter Frank Woodul (1892–1984), politician
- José Silva (1914–1999), parapsychologist, inventor of the "Ultramind ESP program" and the "Silva method"
- Clementina Díaz y de Ovando (1916–2012), author
- Peggy Webber (* 1925), actress and radio producer
- Earlene Brown (1935–1983), shot put and discus thrower
- Jack Lanza (born 1935), wrestler
- Tom DeLay (* 1947), politician, member of the US House of Representatives
- Federico Peña (* 1947), politician, was Secretary of Transportation from 1993 to 1997 under Bill Clinton
- Poncho Sanchez (* 1951), Latin jazz musician, salsa singer, orchestra conductor and conga player
- Henry Cuellar (* 1955), politician
- Ramon Bejarano (* 1969), Roman Catholic clergyman and auxiliary bishop in San Diego
- Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (* 1972), film director and producer
- Edgar Valdez Villarreal (* 1973), alleged drug dealer
- Tony Dalton (* 1975), actor and screenwriter
- Elizabeth De Razzo (born 1980), actress
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Washington's Birthday Celebration Association Home Page ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Texas Almanac (PDF; 1.13 MB). Retrieved October 4, 2012
- ↑ US Census ( Memento of the original from November 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved October 16, 2012
- ↑ Kazen, Meurer & Pérez, LLP
- ↑ Information from the Laredo Development Foundation ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ken Roberts: Trade War Update: Port Of Los Angeles No Longer Top 'Port' - It's Laredo
- ^ Report on the Nuevo Laredo massacre at focus.de on May 4, 2012
- ^ Report on the Nuevo Laredo massacre ( memento from May 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de from May 4, 2012
- ^ Report on the murder of journalists
- ↑ Zeta's Plan to Make Nuevo Laredo Their Base of Operations (English)
- ↑ CNN article confirming Nuevo Laredo as Zetas headquarters
- ↑ American History Channel report on YouTube about the role of Los Zetas , especially in Laredo (English)
- ↑ Associated Press article ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published December 16, 2009.
- ↑ Article ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on CNN January 22, 2010.
- ↑ City of Laredo –Sister Cities , accessed March 31, 2018
Web links
- Official site of the City (English)
- Laredo in the Handbook of Texas (English)
- Statistics Laredo (TX) and numerous photos (English)