Text of the Chamizal Declaration Recognizing the Transfer of Lands Between the United States and Mexico at El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.
DECLARATION OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
At 12:01 this morning, the boundary between Mexico and the United States changed at El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. In accordance with the Convention of August 29, 1963, the area known as El Chamizal has been returned to the jurisdiction of Mexico.
We thus lay to rest a century-old dispute. Reason, understanding, and good will have achieved a settlement of which both our peoples can be proud. This victory has been achieved while protecting our respective national interests, and assuring equity and justice for those whose lives and property were affected.
The monument which the people of Mexico have already erected on this site will stand forever as a symbol of good will between our two nations--and as a sign to the world of what men can accomplish when they approach their differences in a spirit of compromise and mutual respect.
From this great monument, we see the pass carved through the sierra by the Rio Grande. We recall the explorers who marched through this gateway and we look ahead to the progress and prosperity which the Chamizal Settlement will bring to future generations in these sister communities.
A relocated Rio Grande means a new boundary; a new boundary means new bridges linking our two countries. Today we dedicate three such bridges.
--Mindful of the history of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, we name the bridge closest to the sierra the "Paso del Norte Bridge". It stands as a memorial to those who pioneered this area.
--The bridge to the east joining our two countries, we name the "Bridge of the Americas". It is a reminder that the cities stand upon a major route of travel and commerce between Mexico and the United States.
--We name the bridge rising between the two the "Good Neighbor Bridge", in commemoration of the spirit uniting our nations.
The new channel of the relocated Rio Grande running under these bridges we name the "President Adolfo Lopez Mateos Channel".
May these links between our two countries, like the Chamizal itself, stand as testimony to the world of how good neighbors conduct their affairs.
DONE at Ciudad Juarez, in duplicate, in the Spanish and English languages, this twenty-eight day of October, 1967.
For the Government of the United States of America:
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
For the Government of the United Mexican States:
GUSTAVO DIAZ-ORDAZ
Note: The text of the declaration was released at El Paso, Texas.
The act concluding legal requirements for the transfer was signed by Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Antonio Carrillo Flores at approximately 5:30 p.m. on October 27 at the White House with President Johnson and President Diaz Ordaz as witnesses. Remarks of Secretary Rusk on the occasion are printed in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 3, p. 1491).
An accompanying White House announcement noted that the new demarcation line was recorded in detail by the International Boundary and Water Commission on October 19 in an agreement known as Minute 228, to which Secretaries Rusk and Carrillo Flores gave effect, as of 12:01 a.m., October 28, by signing the final act (3 Weekly Comp. Pres. Docs., p. 1480).
For a statement by President Kennedy upon approving the Memorandum of the Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mexico of July 17, 1963, which led to the Chamizal Convention of August 29, 1963, see "Public Papers of the Presidents, John F. Kennedy, 1963," Item 307.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Text of the Chamizal Declaration Recognizing the Transfer of Lands Between the United States and Mexico at El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238510