Message in a Minute Collection

The Mexicans call the great river, Rio Bravo. North of the border, the river is called Rio Grande. The channels of a river are never permanent. They meander and wander, flood, and even disappear. This is the story of a region called the Chamizal, also the name of a bush indigenous to the Rio Grande Valley. The history of the border covers an area of 1900 miles along the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers forming a geologically unstable border between El Paso Texas and Juraez, Mexico.

In 1849, a Joint Boundary Commission was formed becoming the first effort to survey the wandering borderlines. This difficult and slow process led to the understanding that erosion from one bank and accretion to the opposite became the basis of international guidelines leading to significant agreements between the two nations leading to the Convention of 1884 that declared the boundary to be the center of the deepest channel of the river.

Anyone living along a body of water knows the rules of Mother Nature can change dramatically. Early flood control was attempted, but as usual, the river took over. The river channels flooded and receded in their own time and choked off large tracts of land that had been considered Mexican owned. The boundaries now extended to the north of the border. The dispute grew into an impasse of international proportions.

The significance of the Chamizal dispute and the fact that so captured my attention was the peaceful solution involving sharing and mutual concern that has lasted for almost half a century. When this is contrasted with today’s repeated news reports of failed agreements and treaties, Chamizal stands out as being very special. In 1962, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Adolfo Lopez Mateos acted to break the deadlock. Technology overtook international law in this case and concrete-lined channels for the Rio Grande were built to maintain the boundaries, making north and south banks permanent.

After JFK’s death, President Lyndon B. Johnson also a strong advocate of U. S. Mexican relations, signed the Chamizal Treaty of 1963 and final agreement of 1967. The mural (see the photograph and the portraits of the presidents) is one of 100 murals depicted on the walls of the Chamizal monument in El Peso, Texas and elsewhere in the cities of El Paso and Juarez.

Chamizal celebrates the joy of sharing and peace that this place has come to represent. Every spring, a large festival celebrates the Mexican American cultures and the long lasting friendship and goodwill that have become associated with Chamizal. What a lesson for the rest of the world.