S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. An investigation uncovered fraud at San Diego stadiums and a charity that didn't exist. Now , that reporting has led to the guilty pleas of two men behind the scam. Then the dwindling Colorado River provides precious water for many U.S. states , as well as Mexico. Why ? A group of Baja farmers are fighting for compensation for that water. Plus , the host to the KPBS podcast Port of Entry , join us to share what they love about living along the border. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. Two men behind a charity fraud scheme , pled guilty to federal charges this week. The cases involved a scheme to siphon money from concession stands at some of San Diego's most well-known stadiums , including Petco Park , home of the San Diego Padres. Scheme was originally uncovered through reporting from Voice of San Diego , which started covering it back in 2023. Will Hansberry is an assistant editor and former senior investigative journalist with Voice of San Diego , who began reporting on this over two years ago. Will , welcome back to roundtable.
S2: Thanks for having me , Andrew.
S1: Great to have you here. We really appreciate your time. I mean , you know , we had you on about two years ago talking about this very story. Tell us about the latest news. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. The latest news is that we learned two men , um , pleaded guilty to , uh , wire conspiracy , fraud. Um , you know , related to everything we uncovered back in 2023. Their names were Noli , Elordi , in Martin Rebello , prosecutors found that they got $3.5 million from Petco Park from running concession stands and pretending to be a softball charity over nine years. And then they also got a quarter of a million from Snapdragon Stadium doing the same thing you mentioned.
S1: This softball charity was called Chula Vista Fastpitch. Break it down.
S2: You know , when we uncovered this story in 2023 , it seemed clear right away that it was a criminal enterprise. And , you know , that that is the finding that's been backed up now , essentially. But Chula Vista Fastpitch started as a real softball league. Uh , but then in 2014 , it stopped being a softball league. And these two guys , um , Elordi and Rubio. Um , they started using it as a front to run concession stands in Petco Park. And for people who don't know , um , the concession stands in many stadiums. A lot of them are staffed by volunteers. And so a volunteer group , uh , you know , like a softball league will go in , they'll bring a lot of bodies and they'll get to keep 10% of the take from their stand that that money is supposed to then go to softball in that case , or whatever your preferred charity is. Um , but in this case , uh , robo yo and LRT were paying people under the table and below minimum wage , uh , $50 a game in a lot of cases. Um , and then they were keeping all the rest of the money for themselves. And , and so that was the big thing that we busted open in 2023. A lot of follow up stories. But that is also the bulk of what these criminal charges come from. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And that relationship between local charities and stadium concessions.
S2: Yeah. I had no idea that that was how it worked. Um , you know , we got an anonymous tip. You know , I think Voice of San Diego is is known for for its investigative journalism. And , you know , anybody out there listening , feel free to keep hitting me up with those tips. But , you know , we got an anonymous tip. This was happening. And then I had to kind of learn more about it. And it's like , oh , okay. This is actually common practice across stadiums across the country that these volunteer groups come in and staff. I went to the stadium , I started approaching people who I could see were volunteers because they wear different uniforms and the actual people who are getting paid toward concession stands. And I started going up to the Chula Vista fast pitch stands and saying like , hey , um , do you work with one of these charities ? What charity are you supporting ? And , you know , a lot of times I was getting , um. Yeah , I think so. Or. Yeah. What do we support again ? Sports. Softball. What is it ? And so that was an immediate huge red flag. Right. Because if you're a real charity and you've got these volunteers coming out to work for free , it seems most likely you're going to know what you're supporting out there , what charity is you're volunteering for. Absolutely.
S1: Absolutely. Yeah. And you know , part of your reporting , you also spoke with the these two men , Martin and Noli , who who just pled guilty. Tell us about that. You know that that story. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Yeah , I did talk to them. Um , you know , I approached , uh , Noli at a ballpark eat stand on the main level there at Petco , and , um , you know , told him and I , I was a reporter and asked him what Chula Vista fast pitch is , if he runs it , and he immediately kind of threw the other guy under the bus , um , Martin and was like , his name's on all the paperwork. He runs it. Uh , I'm just a manager. And he , like , disappeared very quickly. Um , and then Martin , I got him on the phone , and that conversation was even stranger. Uh , he was like. I was like , do you run Chula Vista ? Fast pitch ? And he was like , no , no , it's another guy. And I was like , well , who's the other guy ? And he's like , well , I don't remember his name. Um , I think I remember his last name. I think it's such and such , you know , and , um , you know , I kept pushing , uh , asked him if there was , uh , you know , anything shady going on here ? He says no. Then he weirdly says , oh , you know , there's another entity called Chula Vista Fast Patch. And I'm like , okay , so I looked that up. Turns out that was a charity. Briefly. It's something these guys actually did register , but immediately kind of stopped being a charity because they didn't follow the right paperwork. So so I mean , the , the , um , shady ness , uh , let's call it , um , was was pretty immediate right away.
S1:
S2: You know , because we continued to dig into this after we found out about Chula Vista Fastpitch. Um , you know , it seemed like , um , a whole system that's ripe for exploitation. And so we started talking to concession workers at other places like Chula Vista Amphitheater. Um , and we found two other charities that were paying workers under the table and below minimum wage to do this work , which is not allowed either. Um , and you know , so. So it it did. And we talked to a guy who had been a former minor league baseball team owner who had , you know , been part of the system a lot. And he said that the whole thing was like a cesspool , really that that , you know , it's just there's it's big business selling these hot dogs and these beers is big business. And the Padres make a lot of money. And the concession companies that kind of handle it all for them make a lot of money. At Petco Park , that's Delaware North. And so , you know , if somebody comes to you and tells you they're a charity , um , and brings the people to staff the stands , you know , there's not a lot of built in incentive , um , to check up on that necessarily. And so and that's what Nollie and Martin were doing at one point , they were staffing like a third of the stands at Petco Park. And so I think when you've got somebody bringing in that many people , you know , it's unclear what questions you're asking. But it is very clear that , like , those people are helping you out. Um , and so , you know , after our reporting , Delaware North said they did change their practices , but they wouldn't tell us how. Um , and so , uh , and the Padres kind of said , Delaware North runs our operations. This is not us. You need to talk to Delaware North. Yeah. Um , and so it's still a little bit of a black box , like how much this has changed. There was , you know , companies told us they changed it , and they're doing better. But we , you know , they haven't showed us all the receipts on that.
S1: So , you know , it's hard to not talk about the story without talking about your role in it. Right. I mean , the prosecutor confirmed how your reporting kind of got the ball rolling on the case. And I'm just wondering , you know , as a journalist , what's what's your reaction to that ? How has that been to process ? What do you take from it ? Yeah.
S2: You know , it's been really good validation , I think. Um , you know , as I said , when we wrote the initial story , it seemed clear it was a criminal enterprise. It seemed clear that was what we had uncovered. It didn't take a lawyer to figure that out. And so to. And then we knew the FBI was investigating , but we kind of thought maybe the investigation had fizzled out and nothing would come from it. So , you know , that's a little disheartening , as an investigative journalist , that you uncover this conspiracy that the whole city gets really up in arms about and wants something to be done about. You know , I mean , there are legitimate charities that could have been benefiting from this. So , so to have it all validated that it was like deeply inappropriate , um , you know , is is huge as a , as a reporter , you know. You know , That's. That's why I got into this whole thing , right ? Is to uncover , um , uncover stuff that goes against the public interest. And I think that's what we uncovered here and now , like , you know , to get this final validation has been amazing.
S1: You know , on roundtable , we talk with reporters and a lot. We talk about their approach to their work and also about just the challenges the journalism industry is facing. You know , we're seeing like shrinking local news , right. And stuff that we talk about regularly.
S2: It's really humbling to see your work have impact. And and I think it shows that we need to be investing in local reporting. You know , there's no national reporter that was going to find this story. That's just not the case. And so you know , I hope that people who were invested in this story will also be invested in local news , in places like KPBS and places like Voice of San Diego. And and help us continue to do that mission because , you know , you go to like , um , you know , a presidential debate and you see 5 million reporters , they're like , all covering the same story. And that just does not have the same impact as , like , high quality local reporters focusing like on a community and , and with an accountability lens , you know , attempting to hold public officials accountable , attempting to hold institutions accountable and charities accountable. And so that's why I've been at Voice of San Diego so long , I think almost nine years now , because it gives me the opportunity to have an impact here in my community and that is very fulfilling. Okay.
S1: Okay. So these two men have pled guilty. You know what's next for the case ? What are you. Are you still following it ? Like , what's coming up ? Yeah.
S2: Um , they they pleaded guilty. Their sentencing is coming up in the summer. Um , elder day will be sentenced in late May , or that's when it's scheduled. And Rebello um , later in June. Uh , wire fraud conspiracy , which is what they were both charged with , carries a maximum of 20 years. Basically , I think the shorthand version of what that boils down to is like lying to get money. Um , now , Rebozo was also charged with other things. He was charged with Social Security fraud because he was receiving disability while he was getting this money , and he was also charged with tax fraud because his name was on all the documents. And he's going to have to pay back $550,000 at least to the IRS. And , you know , we'll certainly be watching that sentencing this summer to see what comes of it. And , and we'll , we'll stay on the stadiums , you know , to see , to see how they respond to it and what they're going to do about it , if anything.
S1: Well , it's , you know , amazing investigation and really just incredible to see the result. Will. Congratulations. Will Hansberry's an assistant editor and former investigative reporter with Voice of San Diego. You can read his stories. We'll have a link to that on our website at KPBS. Well , thanks again for taking the time to break this down for us.
S2: Thanks , Andrew.
S1: Coming up , how a fight over Colorado River water is playing out in Mexico. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Our next conversation brings us to the Colorado River. It's the key water source for seven US states and much of Baja California. But the river is struggling due to overuse and climate change. Over in Mexicali , a group of farmers are protesting. They say the government owes them millions of dollars for conserving some of that water. I'm joined now by two journalists who have collaborated on reporting on this story. McKenzie Elmer is environmental and energy reporter at Voice of San Diego , and Vicente Calderon is also here. He's founder and editor of Tijuana Press. McKenzie Vicente , welcome back to roundtable , both of you.
S3: Thank you very much.
S4: Thank you for having us.
S1: Great to have both of you here , McKenzie , before jumping into this reporting that you both were working on. I'm wondering if you can just first paint a picture for us , the role the Colorado River plays in our overall water picture.
S3: San Diego would not exist without the Colorado River. We get most of our water drinking for commercial for business. Everything same as LA. Many large western states all exist because the Colorado River water is shipped in to help power those economies.
S1: And Vicente. That brings us to Baja and Mexico.
S4: So we are seeing that we don't have enough sources of water other than the Colorado River , and we have more demand now.
S1: And how exactly does that water , you know , come from Colorado River , come down to San Diego , but also get its way to Baja ? Mackenzie , is that something you can. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. There's a large aqueduct system built for San Diego. It runs from the Colorado River to Los Angeles , and then Los Angeles has an aqueduct built south to San Diego , which ends in a reservoir , and for for Tijuana. It gets its water also through an aqueduct , over the mountains , through Mexicali and , you know , across the border from canals that bring the water down south.
S1: So , you know , your story here focuses on a group of farmers in Mexicali and looking for , you know , compensation for not using some of this water. And it's involves an agreement between the U.S. and Mexican governments. Can you tell us more about that ? McKenzie. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Um , so most of the Colorado River water , a large portion of it is used for farming , pretty much kind of , um , in the US and in Mexico. So in order to , um , save water , uh , the United States and Mexico basically have to work with their farmers to agree to not grow crops in order to save water on the Colorado River , which is , you know , facing a really big problem.
S1: So and Vicente , tell us you know , more about these farmers and what they've told you about the money they're saying they're still owed here.
S4: Well , the thing is that these farmers agreed to to follow in their lands or to not to farm their lands just because the reduction of the allocations of water coming from the Colorado River. But they were promised by the Mexican government that in exchange for their rights , the given rights from history historically , as farmers , they will be compensated. And this , uh , since these negotiations between the US and Mexico happened on the highest level , they ended up just receiving as a third party , so to speak , the money. And they are complaining that there's not enough transparency in the way the Mexicans authorities , Mexican authorities have been distributing or using this money. They are saying that they are invested most of it to some public works , but also since they give up their likelihood of forming in exchange of the. For the reduction of the water allocations they are now. Want to see more clearly where the money is going and what happened with the other thousands of dollars or pesos that were promised for them to allow the water to be used for some other purposes ? Kennedy.
S1: Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Just to add to that , so more context , this is actually like US taxpayer dollars that are funneled to the Mexican government in order to achieve these , um , you know , fallow lands or to get farmers to not produce crops in order to save water. And that kind of same mechanism is used. That's actually how San Diego gets a lot of its water. Um , San Diego pays a high price to farmers in the Imperial Valley , and in exchange , they get to use the water that those farmers would otherwise have used for their crops. And so what we're talking about here is what the Sunday and I are trying to figure out is , you know , there's been these treaties or agreements between Mexico and and the United States to get Mexico to reduce its use of the Colorado River , which a lot of US states , especially in the northern portion of the country , Colorado , etc. , are not agreeing to do. And so a lot of the the effort to save the Colorado River or reduce our use is kind of incumbent on places like Mexico. And so we can't really figure out still exactly how much money we know , how much was promised. We don't we know how much I think was paid by the United States , or at least what they have said , but how it's been dispersed and where the rest of the funding is , is kind of unclear. And maybe Vicente can can elaborate on that some more if he wants.
S4: Well , the farmers are telling us that they have agreed voluntarily to this exchange of getting money compensation instead of the they understand the situation of the mega drought and the impact of climate change. But the problem is that they have seen no clarity on the way this money has been expended. You have to keep in mind that this is just a fraction of the huge problem of the water crisis we are facing at this side of the border. The Colorado River runs naturally in about 80% of the allocation gets to Mexicali for thanks to the farmers that are willing to other groups of farmers that are willing to see their rights. We have water in Tijuana and in Rosarito. So when even when this is a small group of about 1200 farmers , mainly all are citizens who have been farming their land for several years. This has a big impact. The lack of clarity in the way they are negotiating with the Mexican government and the US government.
S1: And , you know , this group of protesting farmers , they've been at odds with the Mexican government for for many years at this point. Right.
S4: According to what they were promised. They have been taken over to the offices of ConAgra. The Maine Water Commission or the Maine Water Authority in Mexico. And for the third time last month , they took over the offices. They agreed to see if , according to what they are told us , were told by the US agencies. Um , they're going to be able to get more money from the US. So these people , 40% of these farmers that are protesting are our seniors , according to what this group has told us , are waiting to see if there's an amicable way to resolve this problem. Otherwise , they're promising that they're going to go and take over again. The ConAgra offices. Just keep in mind that even when this is a small group , the whole agricultural groups in Mexicali are supporting them and different levels because they are seeing that their long history the the water acquire water rights are on jeopardy due to this situation of the mega drought and the new laws that Mexico is taking full control , Mexican government is taking full control of the use of water in the country. Mackenzie.
S1: Mackenzie. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. Just to expand on what Vicente just said , our first story we wrote about this issue , the farmers were actually blockading the produce routes to the to the United States with their trucks. And it was actually over a different problem , much also complex. But Mexico President Shane Baum's administration made sweeping changes to the water laws in Mexico and basically nationalized all of the water resources there. And the impact of that in Mexicali was , you know , as President Sheinbaum had said , you know , we're trying to stamp out these black market water markets , and that's what the government essentially considered the trade between market Kelly farmers who had these sort of concessions from the government to use water and sell it to Tijuana. They consider that like a black market. So we've kind of seen , um , we're sort of tracking this pressure from the federal government on this , um , this agreement , these agreements that have existed for a while. Yes , it is a market. It's a trade between the cities and the farmers. But it seems like the Mexican government is trying to just basically claw back that water and control over it. Um , and I think part of this is because of mounting pressure between from President Trump , who has stepped in on some of these water disputes between Mexico and the United States. And so that's a whole other conversation , potentially for another day.
S1: But I wanted to turn a little bit to your each of your , you know , your collaboration in this obviously water you mentioned in kind of come starts to Colorado River and it affects both countries. But there's the very obvious border there. Um , I'm wondering if you can just kind of maybe , Vicente , reflect on on what this , you know , collaboration with McKenzie here on the north side of the border with , with your reporting , um , you know , what have you learned from it ? And how does that kind of impact each of your own reporting ? Uh , you know , reporting on stories like this.
S4: You're hitting a very important point , because the problem is that we are sharing this problem , but we have very terrible communications. One of the first demands that the , the , the agriculture that the farmers are doing right now as well , we want to find out. We want to talk to the US authorities to see how are they distributing their this money. So you have two different agencies that are , that are affecting the way they work , uh , affecting the citizens , the way they are working. And we don't have enough communication looks like among these problems , we cannot solve these problems by or independently from the other ones. We share these natural resources and we are using this a very respectable but artificial boundaries that interfering with these resources that are the livelihood of this area of the of the country we are sharing the mega drought to. And we are we need to find something that joins a takes in consideration the needs of the residents on both sides of the border.
S1:
S5:
S3: Collaborating since 2020. When I first started at Voice of San Diego , I wanted to cover the Tijuana sewage crisis , and I was told right away by federal authorities that , well , you're a US journalist , you talk to us ? And then the Mexican journalist , they talk to the Mexican government. And I thought , well , that sounds dumb. How are we supposed to know what's going on on both sides of the border ? There's there's no. So , you know , Vicente , I'm very grateful. He gave me his time and educated me a lot about this area. And we agreed to try to through grants , we're able to do a lot of reporting on both sides of the border , publish our stories in newspapers , in Tijuana , in Spanish , and try to drive some of the conversation on that crisis. And then in our , you know , in our reporting , the sewage crisis is also points to and connects to the water scarcity problem. And so Vicente and I have started to sort of expand our collaboration to cover this Colorado River issue , which is really in we're heading towards a very problematic year. We don't have any snowpack right now in the Rocky Mountains , which feeds the river. We're not expecting a huge you know , unless we have a miracle march of rain and snow. The river is headed towards serious crisis , probably before anyone's going to make any agreements on how to share the river. So we're going to see this pop back up again in the news , and we're going to be following it.
S1:
S4: And we have so many businesses owned by American companies here that everybody is affected here. So we have to treat this situation as a whole region and in the way we collaborate. Mackenzie has been very kind , but also we are learning a lot because it's very difficult thanks to the collaboration with them , with her particularly because you have to be very patient with so many technicalities and the problems with the translations to try to make it understandable , not just for the readers but for us first. So we are trying to see what are the most pressing issues , or the ones that are not well covered from this binational , bilingual perspective.
S1: I've been speaking with McKenzie Elmer. She is energy and environment reporter with Voice of San Diego along with Vicente Calderon. He is the founder and editor of Tijuana Press. Com. You can check out their full report Voices San Diego. Org. It's also linked on our website at KPBS. Thank you both so much for joining us today. Thanks.
S3: Thanks.
S4: Thank you.
S1: Up next , we catch up with the hosts of the KPBS podcast , Port of Entry and hear more about the cross-border stories they're telling. Roundtable returns after the break. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. With over 200 movies in more than 100 million views. The films of Emilio Montiel are in genre of their own.
S6: Exactamente Los muertos. No habla. Muerto. Al presidio infernal.
S1: Has created a B-movie empire in Tijuana , built after years of hard work , resilience and a never say die spirit. And he's the focus of the most recent episode from the KPBS podcast Port of Entry. For well over five years now , Port of Entry has been telling often unexplored stories along the San Diego Tijuana border , and I'm joined by the hosts of Port of Entry Natalie Gonzalez , Gonzalez Rodriguez and Alan Lily. Welcome to roundtable. Hello.
S7: Hello. Hello.
S1: So great to have you both here. Um , Alan , I just want to start with your latest episode here on Emilio Montiel. Tell us more about him in his work.
S8: Emilio is is quite a character. Figuratively. Literally. He's just a very inspiring man. He's he's older. I think he's 60 something. He's been making him. He's he's 71. Oh , that's even wilder. Yeah. I mean , just his dedication to movies is really is really wild. And how much ? Uh , um , what's the word I'm looking for ? Like , just judgment. He's faced for the kind of art he creates. Because technically , he's not. I mean , this is something we explore in the episode. You know what is good art ? Because his his movies are watched by millions and millions of people who really love what he does.
S1: Tell us more about why. Yeah.
S9: Yeah. Well , I'm a theater actress.
S8: Very serious theater.
S9: I'm a very serious and professional theatre actress. And I was. Yeah. I was very skeptical , um , about this episode , actually. The first time I watched some of the clips of his movies , my first thought was , wow , this is terrible. This is terrible. Like , how can people like this ? But then when I when we met him , when we met Emilio and we met some of the crew and actors of of the movies , I realized that these , these films , they mean a lot to a lot of people , especially to his audience , uh , to his Mexican audience that is living in the United States. It allows them to feel closer to home watching these movies. So I think it means a lot to them. And it's it's totally worth it that they're producing these type of movies.
S1: A lot of the stories you highlight , you often talk with artists in the border region in Tijuana , around the border , um , like Emilio Emilio , you know , in his drive here to make films no matter what , like no matter what hurdles are in front of them , which the episode just just illustrates beautifully. And you yourselves are artists working here in Taiwan along the border. I'm just wondering what makes this region a special place for creating art.
S8: Ah , that's that's kind of like the thing I've dedicated my life to speaking about that , um , there's many things , but to keep it brief , I think it's one of the most interesting places in the world. Because anytime there's , there's , there's any kind of emergency in the world , some of that population ends up in Tijuana. So Tijuana has this , this very strange energy where people bring their dreams and aspirations and hopes for the future in Tijuana , trying to get either somewhere else or just they stay in Tijuana. So as an art , people who are artists , who are very sensitive to their environment , you absorb all that and it creates , you know , I mean , you if you know how to direct that , that energy , there's a lot of there's a lot of , uh , it has a lot of its potency. Um , and it's also like , you know , there's an extra added motivation of when , like Emilio's movies where people are always judging the kind of art he makes. Tijuana also has has lived a similar story where people are always judging what Tijuana produces , because Tijuana has a pretty , um , charged reputation. So. So I think it adds fuel to the fire of people that are creating in Tijuana to want to to just keep going. And that is reflected in the art. You know , if you're if you're making art somewhere , I don't know , like Palm Springs where there's like there's there's none of that. You don't have to. You know , it's like if you go to the gym , the bigger the resistance , the bigger your muscles get. So when there's like all these external opinions telling you what you should be or what you are , it only adds strength to those that can withstand it.
S9: Yeah , it's kind of sounds so cliche , but there's a lot of beauty in the darkness. Mhm. Yeah.
S1: I mean your banter , your relationship I can already hear it here , just in being in the room with you. But it plays such an important role in port of entry , right ? I mean , you guys are kind of finishing each other's sentences. You're guiding the listener through these stories you're telling. And I'm just wondering , you know , like how how did you find that rapport ? Did you know each other before ? You know.
S9: We're not even friends.
S8: We're acting right. Now.
S9: Now. We're acting. She.
S8: She. You think she's a serious actor ? I'm a super serious actor.
S9: Because we had , like , an instant connection the first time we met on zoom. Yeah.
S8: Yeah.
S9: Yeah , yeah.
S8: Um , the first time Nat and I ever met in person , we were wearing nearly the exact same outfit. Same color beanie , same colored shirt. And that's happened to us. I can't dozens of times where we show up somewhere and we're like , what ? You would think that we would have. Someone would not believe us that we did not coordinate just how similar it was. And that just goes to show , you know , you know , like Destiny has , has a mysterious way of connecting you to people.
S9: Also , we share the same humor and I think that helps a lot. For sure.
S1: I want to talk about that humor because another piece of port of entry that's that's fairly unique. I mean , it makes sense for a border podcast , but you do episodes in Spanish and English , and I'm wondering how that process works for you all. I mean , I think one thing about translation is it's a lot of times more of an art than a science , right ? It's a difficult thing. How do you approach changing an episode from Spanish to English or vice versa ? Natalie.
S9: Well , um , our producer , Julio and I , we translate the episodes together. And yes , sometimes it gets difficult because the subjects are saying something that there's just no way to translate it because it's just so powerful in Spanish to translate it from Spanish to English. But some of the people , most of the people I'm going to dare to say that we interview sometimes they they prefer to do the interviews in Spanish. So it just makes our work easier for when we , you know , do the episodes in Spanish. Um , well , it's been all right. Uh , but we wouldn't change it for the , for anything because we , I think we have a lot of audience who are , uh , their first language is Spanish. And I'm going to dare to say that our episodes in Spanish are actually way funnier than the ones in English , because we're just. I don't know how to say this , but Mexican humor is just unique. There's there's nothing that compares to it. So the episodes in Spanish , if you speak the language and you listen to them , you're going to realize that we're way funnier in Spanish than we.
S1:
S8: The Spanish language is just hilarious.
S9: It is hilarious. Yes.
S7: Yes.
S8: Not that that not that you can tell good jokes in English , but there's something about just going. You know , like it's our mother tongue. And a lot of these characters , it's their mother tongue. So there's like , I was going to make I know we're live. I won't make that joke. Let me. Uh. Sorry. Um , yeah. It's just there's a difference going straight to the source as opposed to putting , like , a mask on it. Not even a mask , because it's still authentic. But , you know , you have to. There's a layer of separation from what they're really trying to say when they're speaking a second language that is not straight from their heart.
S1: Well , and that that layer of separation , obviously , it's like a metaphor for where this podcast is being produced. Um , we have , you know , you are covering this single binational region. We often hear about it right , referred to , but there are two very distinct sides. And I'm wondering how you approach that in the stories you tell. And when you , you know , think about covering on Port of Entry.
S8: I think to me the most important thing is , even though we are cognizant of that , is being that bridge and being that like finding the threat of similarity. Like even though there are different languages and there are different. Differences in culture and cuisine and whatnot , there are. We also share a lot. And and exposing that shared humanity is is to me the the point of this podcast to kind of humanize and demystify what the other side is like. Because if you can do that , I think , I mean , the ripple effects of that are a net positive across the board for society. When you stop , like fearing the other side.
S1: And I imagine , you know , obviously a lot of your episodes do just that. And I wanted to kind of get gauge each of yours , maybe a few or one favorite episode that stands out to you during your time hosting the show ? Natalie.
S9: Uh , my favorite episode. I have a couple , but definitely the one that I treasure the most is it's called Pura Vida A case for the Tijuana Dream. It's about a couple from El Salvador and Costa Rica. Rubi and Javier. They migrated to Tijuana with the purpose of staying in Tijuana , because you hear a lot of stories of people arriving in Tijuana because they want to to cross the border , to go to the states , but no Javier Ruiz. They wanted to stay in Tijuana and leave their own Tijuana dream. And that episode is my favorite because they opened the doors of their house and we sat down with them drinking coffee at their kitchen , and they opened up about some childhood trauma that they never talked about before with anyone. So it was a very cathartic experience , eye opening , and we cried a lot. I cried a lot during that , that interview , actually , and we bonded for life , I think.
S1: Well , we'll have a link to that episode again. It's called Pura Vida.
S9: Pura Vida case for the Tijuana Dream.
S1: Alan , what about you ? What jumps out to you is like a memorable episode.
S8: Yeah , I have , I mean , process wise , my favorite ones are always the ones that we get to eat food ? Because there's a lot of really delicious food in this region. Like we went to Cusco. Is this this place in Bahia where this Moroccan guy who has his restaurant there , after having some challenges in San Diego , was able to make his dream come alive in Tijuana. Um , Moomin , shout out Moomin ! But my. I think my favorite story that we've ever told is a few years old. It was actually before even that was a co-host. Um , it was Seth Sullivan. He's called Art. His nickname is Art pusher. But he. He to me is such a he's just a contagious , joyful , positive human. But once you hear his story of how he how he ended up in Tijuana , his parents were , like , worked for the CIA. Just he ended up. He has a really crazy story. I really recommend that. It was called hustle , hustle , hustle. But he so represents the eccentric ness and the diversity of this region and what all the wild reasons how people end up here and make the best out of it and make art out of out of their circumstances that I. I just always think of him when I think of this region and the beauty that it produces.
S1: And you each you know , now , both of you live in Tijuana , but you have , you know , different backgrounds , right , Alan ? You spent time as a child , you know , childhood in San Diego. Natalie , your time in and through and through. Right. Born. Born in Tijuana.
S8: And even when I decided when I , because I fell in love with Tijuana , decided to go move to Tijuana for my parents , it was like all the stigmas that you hear about Tijuana , I was like , why I worked all this hard ? Like , I worked so hard to get you to America. You know , you're going back to Tijuana of all places , even all the rest of Mex. Not only is American media paint a negative picture of Tijuana. But a lot of Mexican people have a very negative view of Tijuana.
S7: So it's like it's.
S8: I mean , to me , I'm constantly having to defend or or like sing the praises of Tijuana , not only to American people , to both sides of the border.
S7: And it makes me.
S8: You know , like , because that is the role that I chose in this life. It makes me. I don't know if it's changed my , my , my view of the region , but it's definitely it has made my , my eyes for the things I appreciate about this region and the things that I can , I can use as ammo to tell these people like , no , this is why this place is great and has so much beauty and richness and warmth. Uh , it just made me more , I think , more sensitive to that.
S9: I love that , I love that you mentioned that. It's not it's not only Americans , but also people who live in Tijuana that have a very negative , uh , perspective about Tijuana , because that was me for a long time , for all of my teenage years. At least I started. I was born and raised in Tijuana. I started in one of my whole life. Been living there my whole life. But I started crossing the border to go to work when I was 18 years old. So I was studying college and I was also studying. I was also working here in the States , and I actually had a very negative perspective about Tijuana , because my teenage years were during the presidency of Felipe Calderon , when the war on drugs was declared. And there was a lot of things there were a lot of horrible things happening in , in Tijuana , mass shootings , a lot of terrible things that I don't want to talk about right now. So I had I did have a very negative view because there were bad things happening. You know , it was it was not just the media , like I was a witness of those things. But then I realized that I this is going to sound so dramatic and romantic , but that I am who I am because I grew up there and I have this. I am the artist that I am , and I am the the host and web producer that I am , because I got to see those two sides of this region , the Mexican side and the US side. And ultimately , I think that's why I have a very open perspective of life. I don't know , that's just how I see it.
S1: Oh , that's really well put and we'll have to leave it there. I've been speaking with Natalie Gonzalez Rodriguez , along with Alan Lilly , through the host of the KPBS podcast Port of Entry. They're available wherever you listen to your podcasts. Nos vamos pronto.
S7: Nos vamos pronto.
S1: That'll do it for this week's roundtable. Thanks so much for listening. Roundtables technical producer is Brandon Truffaut. The show is produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is roundtable senior producer , and I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Have a great weekend.
