<p>Never a particularly pretty place, the border is at its ugliest right now, with violence, tensions and temperatures all on high. <br /><br />Once thought of by Americans as just a naughty playland, the divide between the United States and Mexico is now most associated with the awful things that happen here. In towns from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, drug gangs brutalize each other, tourists risk getting caught in the cross-fire, and Mexican laborers crossing the desert northward brave both the bullets and the heat. Last week, a federal judge in Arizona blocked portions of new far-reaching immigration restrictions that she said went way too far in ousting Mexicans. Meanwhile, National Guard troops are preparing to fill in as border sentries.<br /><br />All these developments are unfolding in what used to be a meeting place between two countries, a zone of escape where cultures merged, albeit often amid copious amounts of tequila. The potential casualties at the border now include a way of life, generations old, well-documented but decaying by the day.<br /><br />The flow of people at the border has never been one way. The 1,969-mile stretch has long been a netherworld crossed by Americans in search of forbidden pleasures as much as by Mexicans desperate for work.<br /><br />It is an area neither completely Mexico nor completely El Norte. And a dollop of danger, a quest for sin, was always part of its charm.<br /><br />Thirsty Americans<br /><br />The modern story begins with Prohibition, when Mexico became the place for thirsty Americans to go for a cheap, legal drink. Over the years, the lure of cheap booze gave way to quickie divorces, dog races, strip shows, slot machines and brothels where fathers sometimes brought their sons when they hit 16. Through it all, there were plenty of drugs — medicinal (cut rates with no prescriptions) as well as illegal (marijuana, cocaine, heroin).<br /><br />World War II only boosted the market for a generation of soldiers on leave, and for postwar adventurers seeking music and thrills and sex. In the 1960s, Mexico firmly solidified its place as America’s marijuana and heroin provider. As commerce — licit and illicit — grew, politicians and police protected it. But the rules of engagement that once protected innocents eventually began to break down. Nowadays, anything goes.<br /><br />Free-spending tourists<br /><br />The naughtiness that used to give the border its flair seems innocent now. The prostitutes, hustlers and con men who once had free rein are, like everyone else, scared out of their wits. The easy smiles of Kerouac’s Mexican border guards, welcoming free-spending tourists, are giving way to fences and armed American soldiers.<br /><br />And as this happens, longtime lovers of the border fear most for the back-and-forth itself — for the interchange, even if asymmetrical and exploitive, of poorer Mexicans and free-spending Americans that over the generations has, to some degree, fostered understanding between the two countries.<br /><br />As the violence rises — on July 15, officials reported the first car bombing of Mexico’s drug war, in Juárez — tourism has flagged all along the border. Even the State Department forbids its own officials to drive through the border crossings.<br /><br />The latest State Department travel warning speaks of “large firefights” in broad daylight, of grenades being hurled and of highways blocked by outlaws.<br /><br />Juárez and Tijuana, it notes, have been particularly deadly places for Americans. Other Mexican border towns are depressing shadows of their former selves, with boarded-up storefronts and “Se Vende” signs as common as prostitutes and offers of cheap Viagra.<br /><br />Not all is dire. The big-name international brands that operate maquiladora factories continue to operate, taking advantage of free trade and cut-rate labor. And one can still find some art museums, fancy business districts and upscale housing developments along the border — where leaders have made special efforts to show that lawlessness is not always the rule. Tijuana, in fact, is planning a high-tech conference in October, with high-profile participants like Al Gore and Carlos Slim (and their bodyguards).<br /><br />There is also some talk of addressing the sociological problems of border communities by doing things like building more soccer fields for wayward youth. Border experts cite the need for a “21st-century border,” one that uses technology to allow legal trade to flow while slowing the illegal transfers going both ways.<br /><br />The New York Times</p>
<p>Never a particularly pretty place, the border is at its ugliest right now, with violence, tensions and temperatures all on high. <br /><br />Once thought of by Americans as just a naughty playland, the divide between the United States and Mexico is now most associated with the awful things that happen here. In towns from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, drug gangs brutalize each other, tourists risk getting caught in the cross-fire, and Mexican laborers crossing the desert northward brave both the bullets and the heat. Last week, a federal judge in Arizona blocked portions of new far-reaching immigration restrictions that she said went way too far in ousting Mexicans. Meanwhile, National Guard troops are preparing to fill in as border sentries.<br /><br />All these developments are unfolding in what used to be a meeting place between two countries, a zone of escape where cultures merged, albeit often amid copious amounts of tequila. The potential casualties at the border now include a way of life, generations old, well-documented but decaying by the day.<br /><br />The flow of people at the border has never been one way. The 1,969-mile stretch has long been a netherworld crossed by Americans in search of forbidden pleasures as much as by Mexicans desperate for work.<br /><br />It is an area neither completely Mexico nor completely El Norte. And a dollop of danger, a quest for sin, was always part of its charm.<br /><br />Thirsty Americans<br /><br />The modern story begins with Prohibition, when Mexico became the place for thirsty Americans to go for a cheap, legal drink. Over the years, the lure of cheap booze gave way to quickie divorces, dog races, strip shows, slot machines and brothels where fathers sometimes brought their sons when they hit 16. Through it all, there were plenty of drugs — medicinal (cut rates with no prescriptions) as well as illegal (marijuana, cocaine, heroin).<br /><br />World War II only boosted the market for a generation of soldiers on leave, and for postwar adventurers seeking music and thrills and sex. In the 1960s, Mexico firmly solidified its place as America’s marijuana and heroin provider. As commerce — licit and illicit — grew, politicians and police protected it. But the rules of engagement that once protected innocents eventually began to break down. Nowadays, anything goes.<br /><br />Free-spending tourists<br /><br />The naughtiness that used to give the border its flair seems innocent now. The prostitutes, hustlers and con men who once had free rein are, like everyone else, scared out of their wits. The easy smiles of Kerouac’s Mexican border guards, welcoming free-spending tourists, are giving way to fences and armed American soldiers.<br /><br />And as this happens, longtime lovers of the border fear most for the back-and-forth itself — for the interchange, even if asymmetrical and exploitive, of poorer Mexicans and free-spending Americans that over the generations has, to some degree, fostered understanding between the two countries.<br /><br />As the violence rises — on July 15, officials reported the first car bombing of Mexico’s drug war, in Juárez — tourism has flagged all along the border. Even the State Department forbids its own officials to drive through the border crossings.<br /><br />The latest State Department travel warning speaks of “large firefights” in broad daylight, of grenades being hurled and of highways blocked by outlaws.<br /><br />Juárez and Tijuana, it notes, have been particularly deadly places for Americans. Other Mexican border towns are depressing shadows of their former selves, with boarded-up storefronts and “Se Vende” signs as common as prostitutes and offers of cheap Viagra.<br /><br />Not all is dire. The big-name international brands that operate maquiladora factories continue to operate, taking advantage of free trade and cut-rate labor. And one can still find some art museums, fancy business districts and upscale housing developments along the border — where leaders have made special efforts to show that lawlessness is not always the rule. Tijuana, in fact, is planning a high-tech conference in October, with high-profile participants like Al Gore and Carlos Slim (and their bodyguards).<br /><br />There is also some talk of addressing the sociological problems of border communities by doing things like building more soccer fields for wayward youth. Border experts cite the need for a “21st-century border,” one that uses technology to allow legal trade to flow while slowing the illegal transfers going both ways.<br /><br />The New York Times</p>