Independencia is a neighborhood in

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

History

This neighborhood has a different history than other already established settlements in the city. In the second half of the 19th century and first years of the 20th century, the city of Monterrey experienced the boom of the

industrialization Industrialisation (British English, UK) American and British English spelling differences, or industrialization (American English, US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an i ...

, along with a fast-growing and thriving economy. However, there was a huge demand for cheap labor workers. The government thusly promoted the immigration of people from other states. The neighborhood Independencia was established with the name of 'Barrio San Luisito' in the late years of the 19th century, with poor immigrants from the states of

San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí, officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí, is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 59 municipalities and is named after its capital city, San Luis Potosí. It ...

and

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

being a predominant demographic. Later, the neighborhood was settled by people from other Mexican states who tried to get into the

bracero The Bracero Program (from the Spanish language, Spanish term ''bracero'' , meaning "manual laborer" or "one who works using his arms") was a temporary labor initiative between the United States and Mexico that allowed Mexican workers to be empl ...

program to work in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, but some were rejected by the program in the US. The Mexican government offered these people to settle in a promising city like Monterrey, then having one of the most impressive rates of economic growth in the country. Those new arrivals from San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and other states from Central and Southern Mexico faced both ethnic and class segregation by the people of Monterrey at first, but eventually were accepted as part of the rest of the society.

Today

Despite Independencia's economic wealth, today, it is still one of the poorest neighborhoods in Monterrey. In 2009, Tracy Wilkinson, of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', recalled seeing many dogs and donkeys in the street. As of that year, unemployment was common. Independencia had been home to many local drug dealers for many years. Within two years leading up to 2009, major drug cartels (especially the Zetas), began to make inroads into Independencia and pinned the residents against the government.

References

Neighborhoods in Monterrey {{NuevoLeón-geo-stub