Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
The taxi cab dropped me off on the
wrong side of the highway, I had to walk back up the hill, and cross the highway
to the western side, where a caged in walkway led to the Rio Grande and the
border. I passed by an SUV that housed a border patrol agent. He nodded as I
walked past. It was the only official I saw. Walking over the border there was
no one to ask me for my papers, nor even to ask a question of. I looked down and
there was the Rio Grande, when it was behind me I knew I must be in Mexico.
Nothing made any sense, no signs just a chain link walkway.
What impressed me most about Ciudad Juarez was that it was a city of fear, raw raw fear. At every bank, at every restaurant, each location that we went to there were men at each entrance, standing at the entrance, ready for trouble. Of course the trouble they were ready for would have overwhelmed them. I was most impressed that this enormous city was full of honest decent people who were simply trying to live their honest decent lives. They were surrounded by events that had overtaken the city, the state and their country. And there was no force that could help. The military had been sent in to disarm the police...but who could now help the military?
