A Message to the United States: A World Without Walls
“A world without walls” is the message from Mexico to the United States, and an old symbol says it all.
Mexico sent its own message by placing remnants of the Berlin Wall just a few steps away: “A world without walls.”
About 3 tons of concrete stand between a bullring, a lighthouse, and the border wall, which extends all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
“Let this be a lesson to build a society that tears down walls and builds bridges of solidarity and understanding, always seeking the common good, social justice, freedom, and brotherhood,” reads a sign beneath the relic from the Cold War, a phrase attributed to Tijuana’s Mayor Montserrat Caballero under the title: “A World Without Walls.”
According to Caballero, the border wall with the United States is both a personal and political matter.
Caballero considers herself a migrant after having to move from the city of Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, with her mother when she was 2 years old, escaping the “vicious cycle of poverty, abuse, and illiteracy.”
The installation was inaugurated on August 13th in a ceremony with Caballero and Marcelo Ebrard, the former Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
Ebrard is now one of the leading presidential candidates.
A World Without Walls
It’s worth noting that Caballero, at 41 years old, is married to an Iranian who became a U.S. citizen and resides in the United States.
She and her 9-year-old son used to cross the border between Tijuana and San Diego.
Since June of last year, Caballero has been living in a military barracks in Tijuana, citing credible threats against her noted by U.S. intelligence officials and the recommendation of the Mexican federal government.
A few weeks ago, her bodyguard survived an assassination attempt.
Caballero said she doesn’t know who wants to kill her but suspects retaliation after seizing weapons from violent criminals plaguing her city.
Pieces of the Berlin Wall can be found around the world following its fall in 1989, as collectors have placed them in hotels, schools, transit stations, and parks.
The wall crosses the Friendship Park, a transborder site inaugurated by then-First Lady Pat Nixon in 1971 symbolizing binational ties.
For decades, families separated by immigration statuses met on opposite sides of a barbed wire and chain-link fence. It’s a cherished and festive destination for tourists and residents in Mexico.
In 2019, artist Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana covered the wall’s Tijuana side with paintings of adults who arrived illegally in the United States as children and were deported.
Visitors aiming their smartphones at barcodes were directed to a website where they shared their stories in the first person.
The U.S. government has gradually restricted access to the park from San Diego over the past 15 years in a state park that once hosted cross-border yoga classes, masses, and music festivals.
Today, “A world without walls” is a more complicated and complex message for world leaders. Despite all the campaign speeches and after prolonged consideration, President Joe Biden’s administration agreed to keep the wall at a height of 5.5 meters.
The mayor of Tijuana said that the need for the United States to strengthen its borders is undeniable.
“Any failure at the border is the collective responsibility of nations,” she said. She emphasized, “We are against violence, against the separation of families, against division, and the wall represents this.”
