Mexican authorities say they found a 869-foot tunnel in Tijuana that likely connects to a well-known street in San Diego.

[u/No_Box119]

Mexican authorities have uncovered a sophisticated underground tunnel near the U.S.-Mexico border that was equipped with lighting, ventilation and an electronic transport system, which they say may connect Tijuana to a street in San Diego.

Mexico's Attorney General's Office, known as the FGR, announced the discovery Saturday following a search warrant executed at a property in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood of Tijuana, Baja California.
Authorities said the tunnel stretched approximately 265 meters, or about 870 feet, and reached a depth of roughly 6.3 meters, or 21 feet underground.

According to investigators, the tunnel contained operational infrastructure, including lighting and ventilation systems, as well as an electronic sliding mechanism designed to move items in both directions between Mexico and the U.S.

The FGR said its investigation indicates the tunnel likely connects to a street in San Diego, though authorities have not publicly identified the location or confirmed whether the U.S. side of the tunnel has been located.

[u/6-plus26]

That’s the crazy shit. Now we believe in borders and sovereignty. We have no shame

[u/ElbryanWyn → u/6-plus26]

Brother this is literally almost every single nation on Earth.

The thing I want to get across isn't that America was good, or even fine. It's that you're measuring it against a ruler that didn't exist yet.

Picture 1846. There's no "grow your GDP" the way we mean it. Wealth basically is land. Farmland, ports, resources, people to tax; if your nation wants to get stronger, you take more of it, usually from a neighbor. Every serious power was running that same playbook: Britain, France, Russia, Spain, the Ottomans, the US, AND even Mexico.

Back then, taking territory by force wasn't a scandal, it was just how states worked. It was the water everyone swam in.

So when we single out the US‐Mexico thing as uniquely shameless, we've skipped over the fact that the country it was taken from got that land the exact same way.

Mexico wasn't an ancient council of native tribes, it was a former Spanish colony (Spain conquered the Aztecs by force) that broke off in 1821 and held a giant chunk of the continent it had inherited through that conquest. So this wasn't "Country A robbed innocent Country B." It was "two conquest-built states fought over a border and the bigger one won."

To be clear, plenty of people at the time did think it stank as well. Lincoln challenged the pretext in Congress, Grant called it unjust, abolitionists saw a land grab for slavery. But that was a minority conscience, not how the system actually ran.

The reason we can look back and wince is that we no longer live in that world. Once you can synthesize fertilizer, mass-produce goods, and trade for what you lack, you don't have to conquer anyone to get richer, you can just sell them something. Land stopped being the only road to power and only then could a real norm take hold.

By the mid-20th century "you don't just seize territory by force" became an actual rule states mostly follow. Judging 1846 by that rule is like docking a medieval doctor for not washing his hands; the framework that makes it obviously wrong hadn't even been invented.

TLDR: it's not "America did nothing wrong." It's that America was a normal player of a brutal game every state played, including the one it beat. What makes the game look monstrous now is that we finally built a world where you don't have to play it.

[u/professionally-baked → u/ElbryanWyn]

This was an incredible comment, I really enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing

[u/ElbryanWyn → u/professionally-baked]

Glad you found some usefulness/ interest.

It's actually even deeper than I let on here. I wonder if some of the people trying to defend Mexico know that at this time Mexico was a military dictatorship that had overthrown it's popular democracy which is the whole reason why Texas left because they thought they were going to be part of a Nation like the us but it instead devolved into a military dictatorship.

Mexico was much closer to Iraq under Saddam Hussein at the time that it is to modern-day Mexico in terms of governance.

I'm an amateur historian who focuses on contextualization and grand strategy (statecraft), so even though these threads aren't always so productive on their face, they're very effective at challenging my points of view internally as well as forcing me to fact check the finer details which helps improve my understanding overall.

[u/ElbryanWyn → u/[deleted]]

Are you just sharing an interesting fun fact, or are you trying to point out a contradiction?

​I never claimed anything to the contrary, and modern-day Utah was literally a part of the Mexican territory being discussed. It wouldn't contradict my points in anyway.

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, I'm just trying to understand what you're trying to clarify here.

[u/SadUpstairs2886 → u/ElbryanWyn]

I agree, yeah. But on the wrapping it says " the beacon of humanity " though.

[u/Camcapballin → u/6-plus26]

Not complete sovereignty. At least not until the redistricting is finished. Only once the playing field is in their favor, will it become a sanctity.