Chamizal National Memorial

Chamizal National Memorial is located in El Paso, Texas, near the Rio Grande River. Chamizal national memorial stretches on territory with an area of fifty-five acres.

This place symbolizes the peaceful settlement of dispute on the borders between the United States and Mexico, which lasted more than a century.

The end of this dispute of over hundred years was laid in 1963. The memorial was founded to give visitors the opportunity to more fully understand the problem that was occurring because of the borderline. Chamizal national memorial was founded in 1966 by Congress in honour of this peaceful solution – the Chamizal Convention.

In 1848 it was decided that the Rio Grande is the international border between the United States and Mexico. The natural course of the Rio Grande River, however, was displaced in January and so it moved to the south, which left Mexico with less land than was decided in 1848.

That is when the discussions and disputes on the land and boundary lines began. These were caused by the movement of the Rio Grande. In 1963 President John Kennedy and Mexican President Adolfo Lopez Mateos met to discuss the issue of the Chamizal. Through a number of diplomatic moves this pressing problem is solved with the signing of the Chamizal Convention.

Chamizal national memorial acts as a cultural center and contains galleries with works of art, a theatre and amphitheatre. The park has a museum with a history of the borders between the United States and Mexico. It is located within the visitor centre of the memorial. As an alternative to Chamizal national memorial was established Parque Publico Federal El Chamizal.

The territory of the Chamizal National Memorial is a nearly two miles long tourist route, known as Cordova Island. It orbits around the park. During the tour the tourists who arrive here from different corners of the world, enjoy the view of the Franklin and Juarez Mountains, and the centre of El Paso.