Hey, what's up? It's Gustavo Areano. It's Tuesday, May 24th, 2022, and you're listening to the Times,

Daily News from the LA Times. And today, we're bringing you Border City Chapter 6.

In this episode of the podcast from our sister paper, the San Diego Union Tribune,

longtime U.S.-Mexico border reporter, Sandra Dibble, brings us to an awful

time for Tijuana. The years we know in the Norte has a great recession. Cartels ramped up

violence to horrifying levels, targeting cops and doctors. Police tried to purge traders from

their ranks and went too far. I remember this time well. My family who's been going to Tijuana forever, we actually stopped for a couple of years because things were just too crazy even for us. But through it all, the spirit of Tijuana stayed alive. In the darkness, there were still sparkles of music and art and joy. If you've been liking these border stories, then make sure to find and follow Border City on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen.

But for now, as a legendary Johnny Canales would say, Sandra, take it away.

When I look back at my time reporting in Tijuana, one period stands out, the three-year window

from 2008 to 2010.

It was a period of violence and terror on a scale that the city had never known.

As a helicopter kept watch from above, Mexican soldiers and police rushed to evacuate several schools down below.

All signs of surging violence in Tijuana, a Mexican border city not far from San Diego.

The Adiano cartel was growing weaker.

A breakaway faction was now allied with the Sinaloa cartel. Public displays of brutality were common.

I'd never set out to be a police reporter, but almost every day I found myself covering a shootout

or a police funeral or a dramatic arrest. Police were so scared that they wore black ski masks and traveled in caravans.

Heavily armed soldiers and brown camouflage seemed to be everywhere. But it wasn't just the

violence that was putting the city on edge. This is going to be one of the watershed days in

financial markets history. It was a manic Monday in the financial markets.

The Dow tumbled more than 500 points after two pillars of the street tumbled over the weekend.

In 2008, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression swept across the world.

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