Mexico and the United States Complete the Chamizal Land Exchange

Lyndon Johnson and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz met at the border on 28 October 1967 for the formal land exchange settling the Chamizal dispute. A new river channel had been built under a treaty signed four years earlier, fixing the boundary where the two governments agreed it should run. [3] [2]

The problem had begun with a moving river. During the nineteenth century, the Rio Grande shifted south near El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, leaving land claimed by Mexico on the American side. Boundary law treated gradual erosion differently from a sudden change of course, and an arbitration award in 1911 failed to settle the issue when the United States rejected the majority decision. [1]

The 1963 convention provided for the exchange of land and a concrete channel to prevent the dispute recurring. Residents had to leave the transferred areas, with compensation under each country’s laws. Johnson joined President Adolfo López Mateos for a ceremony in 1964; his later meeting with Díaz Ordaz marked the completion of the agreed land transfer. [2] [3]

The convention assigned the United States responsibility for acquiring land and evacuating its occupants, and directed the boundary commission to replace bridges and demarcate the new border. It also protected residents' citizenship status and preserved jurisdiction over earlier legal cases. [2]

Related Diplomats

1. Hugo B. Margáin Gleason [4]

Related Reading

• Mexico and the United States