A tale of two border cities

By Mercedes Stephenson, QMI Agency

Last Updated: December 5, 2010 12:40am

El Paso, Tex. - John Wayne's version of the Wild West feels like it's still alive and untamed along this border between El Paso, Tex., and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Walking a fragile line between the two cities, I can't shake the feeling of teetering on the edge of order, looking over into chaos.

Arriving in El Paso, I was stunned to discover how close both cities are to the notorious borderline. They brace up against it. It literally cuts through the heart of them.

At first, the proximity makes it feel as though someone has artificially dissected a single city in half. But even a casual look through the bars makes it clear Juarez and El Paso are very different places. Worlds apart, in most ways.

On the American side of the line, a massive and towering metal fence rises up to interrupt the landscape.

The fortified divide is capable of surviving a SUV ramming it - and yes, that's been tried.

The complete fence is also deep enough to prevent drug smugglers from tunnelling below most parts, though they've been known to exploit shallow sections.

The looming barrier could have come from any maximum security prison, but here, it's clearly meant to keep people out, not in.

U.S. border patrol agents are visible every few metres in SUVs and on horseback, adding to an intense feeling of law here and disorder just beyond.

I see more of a security presence here than I did while on assignment is Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Mexican side of the border could not be more different than the U.S. version — no barriers or police, just poverty and lawlessness.

Kids who should be in school play soccer a few feet from a drug lord's surveillance outpost, blatantly positioned to monitor U.S. security forces.

Here two worlds collide and clash against each other. Peace and castle-like security face violence and chaos, divided only by pieces of metal and a line of men.

The intensity of the fear, sadness and frustration that seeps across the fence - from both sides - over a desperate situation are palpable.

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