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The Chamizal dispute was an international land and boundary conflict over contested land (estimates range from 600 to 1,600 acres [240–650 ha; 2.4–6.5 km 2]) along the Mexico–United States border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. [1]
Sep 5, 2022 · The Chamizal dispute between Mexico and the United States was a land and boundary conflict caused by the meanderings of the Rio Grande between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Feb 8, 2016 · The Chamizal dispute loomed large as Presidents William H. Taft and Porfirio Díaz agreed to meet in Ciudad Juárez–El Paso in 1909. The two presidents intended to cross the border over El Chamizal. No flags were to be flown as a symbol that the area was neutral territory.
Americans began to settle in the Chamizal and incorporated the land into the city of El Paso. In 1895, the Mexican government, which claimed the land as part of Mexico, elevated the dispute to the International Boundary Commission (IBC), a body of U.S. and Mexican officials.
- El Chamizal
- Chamizal Dispute Begins
- Changing Channels
- Collaboration
- Case No. 4
In the 1850s, gradual erosion and severe flooding shifted the course of the Rio Grande. This created uncertainty about who owned territory along its banks. Eventually, the river flowed south of a piece of Mexican land known as El Chamizal. It became the heart of a boundary dispute for the next hundred years.
1866-67
In 1864, flooding pushed the Rio Grande further south into Paso del Norte (renamed Ciudad Juárez in 1888), beginning a century of formal dispute. Across the river, US residents of El Paso, Texas moved into the land known as El Chamizal. Jurisdiction of this land remained in question. Mexico’s President Benito Juárez lived in exile in Paso del Norte between 1865 and 1866 because of the French occupation of Mexico City. During this time he became aware of the effects of the flood. In 1866 his r...
Sep 25, 2014 · Suddenly the border was in a different place, and Texas had gained 700 acres of land called the Chamizal (pronounced chah-mee-ZAHL), so named for a type of plant that grew there.
Dec 28, 2023 · This land theft became the Chamizal Dispute: an international land and boundary conflict between the U.S. and Mexico caused by the meandering Río Grande that defines the “fixed” international border between El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. In the 1860s, multiple shifts in the Rio Grande “relocated” El Chamizal north of this river/boundary.
