There is a more tragic element to this basic story. The town of Boquillas
del Carmen sits across the river from the upstream end of Boquillas Canyon,
near Rio Grande Village at Big Bend National Park. It was part of a
long-standing -- over 100 years -- cross-border community, with people from
Boquillas historically coming across to shop, families with members on
both sides, and until recently Boquillas making nearly all of the town's
income from park visitors crossing over for dinner, curios, a drink, etc.
It's a long, hard drive to any major town or city in Mexico -- 300 or so km
to Monclova and probably over 400 to Saltillo. Many long-time BBNP visitors
knew the Falcon family in Boquillas. Jose (he was the guy in the
wheelchair) ran the cafe for many years, died a few years ago, and his wife
and daughter kept it going. The crossing at Boquillas had been unstaffed on
either side at least since the early 1970's. The US facilities consisted of
an old iron gate that could be either walked around or just opened. At
times when the river was too high to just walk across there were always
guys in boats (one was two car hoods welded together) to ferry you over.
Dinner and a beer in Boquillas was a great way to end a day in Big Bend.
All was OK, even after 9/11, until an enterprising reporter from New York
came through in mid-2002 or so, wrote up a big expose' of the "porous
border" down there, people coming and going at will, etc etc (I remember
reading the article and having a bad feeling about it). The result was that
the crossing was slammed shut, with what I understand is almost-certain
arrest by Border Patrol for anyone crossing in either direction. For the
people of Boquillas (and also the people of nearby San Vicente, many of
whom came across to work at Lajitas) it was a disaster. There was no work,
no income, no food, no anything, and the situation apparently got very
desperate before nearly everyone left the two towns. I've asked in several
places, including a couple of longtime staff at BBNP, and nobody knows
what became, for instance, of the Falcon family, except that "it was pretty
bad".
I've subjected you to this rambling rant because it is truly a tragedy,
where a thoughtless, fun little trip and story idea for some reporter
ruined a community and the lives of numerous people. Off & on I've tried to
find some way to get more in touch with what is happening in Boquillas,
maybe find a way to help a little, but without much luck so far.
Regards
Mike Gross
At 02:01 PM 8/20/2008 -0400, Ted Samsel wrote:
I grew up 40 miles from Eagle Pass, but went to high school in San
Antonio.. one of the rights of passage for a lot of teenaged boys along
the border was going over after the football game to Boys Town..
Wonder how "Friday Night Lights" is gonna skew the data.
T.
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