Every Friday KEDT will be catching up with the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal and talking about issues that are affecting the area most. In this first episode Spencer Cihak chats with RGVBJ Managing Editor Naxiely Lopez-Puente about the journal and the ongoing water crisis.
SPENCER CIHAK: Happy to be joined by managing editor of the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal, Naxiely Lopez Puente. Naxiely, thank you so much for taking the time today.
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: Of course, thank you so much for having me, Spencer; we really appreciate the opportunity to connect with your audience.
SPENCER CIHAK: It's so great to get to know more for listeners who are maybe unfamiliar with the Business Journal, what really makes you guys special?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: So we are a digital-only publication that launched in September here in the Rio Grande Valley. Our publisher is the former Edinburgh mayor, Ramiro Garza, and so, you know, he's had this dream about starting an RGV business publication for about 10 years. And so recently, he decided not to run for re-election due to some health concerns, and he decided that this was the right time to launch this new venture. And so basically, we are a news organization that covers both sides of the border. So we cover everything happening, not just in the Rio Grande Valley, but across in northern Tamaulipas and Reynosa and Matamoros. Because, as you know, you know we're a binational region, and so what happens in Mexico, especially in the border, affects not only our Valley, but, the rest of the state, Corpus, you name it. So, we launched in September. We're brand new. We have a website, RGVBusinessJournal.com. We have a podcast, and so we try to offer multimedia news.
SPENCER CIHAK: That's fantastic. So many interesting things going on in the Valley and Mexico. You mentioned the connectivity between the two. What did you mean by that?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: So, you know, anything like goods or workers, water, you know, money moves across the border every day, you know, and so we cannot separate each other. And usually the news, right, the US News tends to stay on the US side, and the Mexican news on the other side. And so when we do see reports, we see kind of like a big picture, we focus on that angle, you know, for our region and for the state.
SPENCER CIHAK: Now, to get those stories, you have to have boots-on-the-ground people going out finding these stories. What does that look like?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: So we actually have a reporter who is based in Reynosa, and so she is, she has been part of the industrial industry for a long time, very well connected. And so what we do is we not only talk to public officials in the US and in Mexico, but we get, you know, like the you said, "boots on the ground." We talk to the farmers, we talk to the workers. We talk to the drivers, you know, the people crossing those bridges every day, because, you know, that's really, you know, you gotta put a face to it. So, so we're very, very proud of that, that we have that connection with the everyday person through our reporters who are actually on the ground, both in the US and in Mexico.
SPENCER CIHAK: Now, big news right now, water in South Texas. What are you hearing from people both in the Valley and in Mexico?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: Water right now is probably the biggest issue that you know we're facing. And let me put it this way, the Valley relies heavily on the Rio Grande River. So like nine out of the ten drops of water that we consume in the Valley is coming from the Rio Grande River. And so that river, it's not ours, it's not Mexico's. It's a shared resource. And the way that we're supposed to share is outlined in the 1944 US Mexico IBWC [International Boundary and Water Commission] Treaty. And right now that treaty, Mexico is not really following the rules. And so this water issue is turning into a trade issue. You, because now you're hearing our local officials. We're hearing President Trump, right, saying that if Mexico doesn't deliver the water that it owes the United States, he's going to impose a five percent tariff on all goods coming in from Mexico. And so now we have also local officials who are asking for the USMCA [US-Mexico-Canada Agreement] to include provisions that will give this treaty some teeth so that we can enforce this, the sharing of this resource. So very complicated, very complex issue for us that water.
SPENCER CIHAK: Absolutely, it's hard to believe just in this, this 21st century world we're living in right now. We're talking on Zoom. I imagine in 1944 when that treaty was being created, that they maybe couldn't have thought this this far ahead. How is the treaty really shaping discussions today?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: So yeah, for example, like I said, the USMCA, but also it goes beyond that, right? Because when, like you said, when this treaty was being formulated, we weren't seeing the drought that we're seeing now. And so we have farmers, not just on the US, but on the Mexican side, that are basically saying the same thing, 'Hey, we don't have water for our crops.' And the thing is, we're at the end of the river, right? We're at the— we're the last consumers, and water is being held up up river in Mexico. So what we're seeing here in the Valley, so are the farmers in Tamaulipas and Matamoros, because if that water is not released from, you know, upriver, then we're both stuck without that water, and so that, that means it's not good for either side, for the farmers. And if you follow our coverage, we recently had a three-part series talking to sorghum farmers in Tamaulipas. And so the issue has gotten so bad there that the farmers have partnered with the transport drivers, the people who drive our goods, you know, from Mexico into the US. They have partnered. And they actually had some blockades along key points in Mexico to stop trade, to be able to say, 'Hey, Mexican government, listen to what we're, you know, the policy issues that we're facing. We don't have water. You cut back on all of these resources that were helping us subsidize, right, our crops.' And so now you see how the farmers and the drivers are getting together and stopping trade, and so that obviously affects us. And there's just not enough water, really, to go around between both countries it seems like.
SPENCER CIHAK: Now, the Business Journal was amongst the first publications in the US to report about the recent blockade in Mexico that tied up Valley trade. What did that situation reveal about the pressures of the border economy?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: How interconnected we are because what is happening over there with the policies in the federal government in Mexico, right, is affecting the business people there. And if it affects the business people there, like the farmers and the drivers, then they're going to stop the flow of goods coming into the US. And that's obviously going to affect us directly, because when goods don't move as fast as they need to, you lose money, and that money needs to be made up somewhere. So it's going to it's gonna have ripple effects, because if your goods and your food is not moving the way it's supposed to, it's gonna cost you more money as the consumer.
SPENCER CIHAK: Now, the sorghum series you had just spoken about got a lot of attention. What did you learn from the farmers, and how does their story connect back to water and policy?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: We had kind of been looking at this issue, you know, from our side of the border, right? Our farmers, they're local, but we hadn't really heard from the other side. And I think that our coverage helped bring some light to that, to to the fact that, you know, we're connected through water, we're connected through trade, we're connected through families. And at the end of the day, what happens there affects us, and what happens here affects them.
SPENCER CIHAK: Beyond water, the Business Journal also covers wages, security, investment and manufacturing. What trends are you seeing right now in northern Mexico and South Texas?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: So in northern Mexico, in Reynosa, at least, we have seen so much economic activity they have had, I think they've been able to bring like, 10 different car dealerships in the last four or five years, Walmart, which used to be in Reynosa, and I can't remember the date, but I want to say about 10, 15, years ago, the Walmart there burnt down, and Walmart said, 'Goodbye, I'm not, We're not staying here.' And you know, a lot of it had to do, had to do with the insecurity in Mexico. But now Walmart has announced that they're returning to Reynosa, and they're investing a lot of the of the money that they're going to invest in Mexico, here in Northern Tamaulipas. And so, you know, you have Tim Hortons opening up its fifth location. I think there's like, maybe one Tim Hortons near us, and I'm saying maybe San Antonio. We don't have one in the Valley, but Reynosa has the fifth one already. So yeah, Reynosa, they're manufacturing right now, when it comes to manufacturing, because of all the threats on tariffs, that's really put a pause on the investment that they're seeing. We haven't really heard about layoffs or anything like that, but it's more people being apprehensive about, 'Wait, should I really expand? Should I really hire more people?' Because remember, Mexico just announced that starting January 1, the wages in Mexico, the minimum wage, is going to go up. And the issue here is that in the border in Mexico, their minimum wage differs from the rest of the country. It's not the same. And so our manufacturers are saying okay, you know, it's they kind of were expecting a higher raise to the minimum wage. So they're kind of okay with it, but they're saying between, you know, between these tariffs, between the wage increases, like you're kind of putting us in a very tight spot. And so, you know, there is investment, there is growth, especially on the retail side, but when it comes to the industrial side, there's a little bit more apprehension, simply because of all of the policy issues that are happening between both countries.
SPENCER CIHAK: I am just so surprised about the Tim Hortons. I'm sure our snowbird listeners will be very excited. They don't have to go back up and hang out near the border of Canada to get some Tim Hortons, they can just come down right South Texas and northern Mexico.
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: Yeah, fifth, and I think they've done it in like, the past two or three years, like it has become a favorite amongst the northern Tamaulipas people very quickly.
SPENCER CIHAK: Now, one fantastic thing, when you visit the the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal website, there's a data portal. Why is that important for for people to access and how can investors, business owners or curious people use it?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: We really wanted that component, right? Because nowadays, data is king, and nobody appreciates that type of information more than people who are weighing financial decisions, right? Because at the end of the day, wherever you're going to locate, wherever you're going to invest, you want to know what the region looks like, and so you can talk to people. And then there's the hard numbers, right? The thing is, in the Valley, we have 48 different cities, and so getting that information from every city is quite the task, especially if you're not from the area, because remember, the valley is seeing a lot of outside interest, a lot of outside investment, and so we wanted to create a centralized location where anybody that is like you said, curious wants to know more about the area, or wants to make a financial decision, they can come to our website, to our portal, and see everything from sales tax figures to airport activity, international bridge crossings, bank deposits, and not just data from the US, but data from Mexico as well too. So yeah, we have that amazing data portal, and we invite everybody to to subscribe and to take a look and really see those figures and see how the valley is changing.
SPENCER CIHAK: For listeners who want to stay informed, how can they subscribe to access your reporting and your podcast?
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: So very simple. They can visit us at RGVbusinessjournal.com and they can skip and they can subscribe for less than $1 a week, and they'll get insights when it comes to businesses, which ones are coming, economic trends, our data portal and so, yeah, we even have podcasts as well. So we invite your listeners if they want some more some more information, some more podcasts. To visit our website as well, and that website, is RGVbusinessjournal.com.
SPENCER CIHAK: Naxiely, I want to thank you so much for taking the time here today to chat. It's been so fun getting to know more about the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal. Thank you again for the time.
NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE: Of course, thank you so much for having us. Spencer, it was a pleasure.