How a Forgotten Border Dispute Tormented U.S.-Mexico Relations for 100 Years
How a Forgotten Border Dispute Tormented U.S.-Mexico Relations for 100 Years
The parched strip of land where Mexico drew the line on U.S. expansionism.
Walking through El Chamizal Park, a thirsty sliver of 600 acres of land sandwiched between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, you would hardly consider it a place worth fighting over. A small slice of territory between two very large countries, it is nearly unusable for agriculture and devoid of natural resources.
Yet for a full 100 years, El Chamizal was a huge sticking point in relations between Mexico and the United States. The dispute began with the flood of 1864, when the Rio Grande shifted south, leaving El Chamizal as a no-man’s land wedged between the old dry...
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