Joe Rogan | The Strange Story of Mormon Colonies in Mexico (and Mitt Romney's Dad) w/Ed Calderon

Did you have any involvement, this is barely related, but did you have any involvement or know anybody that had any involvement with those Mormon cults that are down there? Yes. I do know people that in the Juarez region, that some of the Mitt Romney's family members in that region area, yeah. I know some federal police guys and military guys that were curious about the amount of firearms that these guys had because they basically fought the cartels off. How crazy is that? Well, it's pretty interesting being there and finding a white guy that speaks amazing English and was born in Mexico. And there are Mormons. And there are Mormons and they have to get a visa to travel to the U.S. People don't know that Mitt Romney's dad, the reason why Mitt Romney's dad never ran for president is because he was born in Mexico. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of white Mexicans, which is another weird thing that people don't know about. Canelo. Louis C.K. Yeah. Louis C.K. Canelo, yeah. Anybody that's of Irish ancestry, if you go into a bar in Mexico, some bars in Mexico, you can probably get some free drinks if you tell them you're Irish, because the Irish betrayed the Americans in the last Mexico-American war. And a lot of them stayed down there and married some of the locals. I got an Irish last name. I'm one quarter Irish. That's how you got a Canelo probably, right? Yeah. The Mormon community in that area basically, a few of their members got abducted. Yeah. And the cartels were, you know, wanted to do more against them. And these guys apparently got some high power to long-range rifles. And they were shooting at these people from afar. And they set up this whole security apparatus around their town. And the Mexican government basically looked the other way and kind of said, you know, it's fine. Just don't, you know, don't get too crazy with it. There was some sort of interaction as far as them trying to appease things with them, you know, because realistically, the town that they made out there is a paradise. I mean, amongst other towns in that area, it's a beautiful place. Really? It's a beautiful place. Very organized. What is it called? Is this it, Jamie? This is their Mormon little town. So what kind of military did they have that protects this town? Like, have they made their own military? So I actually got to do a few reconnaissance things there. This is passing by. And what I saw that they had were a bunch of basically machine gun nests on some of the hilltops. And they limited the amount of access points to that little town. So they had the bear basically there. What happened when the people got abducted? I think one of them got killed. And then, you know, they wanted to kill other people. And there was this whole thing. They went to the government for help and they didn't say anything. Somehow they, you know, procured firearms down there. So they started defending their own. What a strange story that is. Because they left the United States when polygamy was illegal. Yes. When they started making polygamy illegal in Utah, they went, well, we'll just go to Mexico. Because back when they did it, there wasn't even cars. So it was like no big deal to live in Mexico. Like, you're riding a fucking horse no matter where you are. Yeah. No difference. So they said, we'll go over here. But it is a nice, I mean, again, it's a weird American-like town. In the middle of Juarez. How many people? Goila. It's probably in the thousands, tens of thousands maybe. Wow. Yeah. All Mormons. All Mormons and a lot of Mexican converts now. Really? Yeah. There's a lot of Mexican converts down there as well. And are there more than one family? More than one of these towns? I think so. Yeah. There's a lot of family names in that region. They're kind of famous. Wow. The Barons are one of those. But it's only this one town. There's a few out there. There's a few Mormon communities out there. Wow. It's all the same sort of deal. Yeah. Arm to the tits. Discreetly armed. I don't know if it's as open as it was, but back then when it was really rowdy, they were openly doing things to keep people from not coming to their town. And they're full on Mexican citizens. Yes. Wow. But they speak English and they're white. They don't speak Spanish? Some of them do. But they don't need to because they live in this community and they don't go out of it. A lot. It's a weird place. That's fucking really weird. Yeah. Wow.