Nuevo Laredo

Nuevo Laredo
Monumento Fundadores (Founders' Monument)
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): Chuparrosa (Hummingbird) Puerta a México (Door to Mexico)
Motto: Siempre con la Patria (Always with the Motherland)
Location Nuevo Laredo within Tamaulipas
Location of Tamaulipas within Mexico
Country	Mexico
State	Tamaulipas
Municipality	Nuevo Laredo Municipality
Settled	1755
Established	1848
Government
• Presidente Municipal	Enrique Rivas Cuellar
Area
• City	1,334.02 km2 (515.07 sq mi)
Population (2010 census)
• City	373,725
• Metro	636,516
	metro area includes Laredo, Texas, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Colombia, Nuevo León, & Villa Hidalgo, Coahuila
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CST (UTC-5)
Codigo Postal	88000
Area code(s)	867
Website	Municipio de Nuevo Laredo
Airport: Quetzalcoatl International Airport MMNL

Nuevo Laredo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈnweβo laˈɾeðo]) is a city located in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from the U.S. city of Laredo, Texas. The 2010 census population of the city was 373,725. Nuevo Laredo is part of the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo Metropolitan Area with a total population of 636,516. The municipality has an area of 1,334.02 km² (515.07 sq mi). Both the city and the municipality rank as the third largest in the state.

The city is connected to Laredo, Texas by three international bridges and a rail bridge. The city is larger and younger than its U.S. counterpart. It is the largest inland port in Mexico, just as its counterpart across the border is the busiest inland port (bridge crossing) in the United States. As an indication of its economic importance, one of Mexico's banderas monumentales is located in the city (these flags have been established in state capitals and cities of significance).

Nuevo Laredo was part of the territory of the original settlement of Laredo (now in Texas) which was founded in 1755 by the Spaniard Don Tomás Sánchez in the northern part of the Rio Grande. The settlement's territory was granted to José de Escandón by the King of Spain, and the settlement's territory and population remained unified for ninety years, until the war of 1846-48, the Mexican–American War.

Early in 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo divided the territory attached to Laredo between the United States (specifically, Texas) and Mexico. Nuevo Laredo was founded on May 15, 1848, by seventeen Laredo families who wished to remain Mexican and therefore moved to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. They identified with Mexico, its history, and its cultural customs, and decided to keep their Mexican citizenship. The founders of Nuevo Laredo even took with them the bones of their ancestors so they would continue to rest in Mexican ground.