The radio train Atlantic Express arrives at a border marked by trade, its former belonging to the Spanish and Mexican administrations and a history with all kinds of events: El Paso. Today in the state of Texas, it was, originally, a twin town with Ciudad Juarez, which is located just on the other side of the Mexican border; the area, between both points, continues to be a “crossing for migrants” seeking a future in the United States.
The Mission of the Manso Indians of Our Lady of Guadalupe, origin of the city, was founded by the Spanish father Francisco García in 1659 and is located in Chihuahua, Mexico, in a strategic location on the Camino Real.
The foundation of the Mission is the shared germ of these two cities, Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, now separated by barbed wire and border controls, especially strict to access the United States. At the end of El Paso’s down town, there is a constant coming and going of citizens coming and going, who have no major problems going towards the turbulent Ciudad Juárez, but rather returning or entering US soil. The founder of El Paso del Norte, Father Francisco García, is immortalized in a sculpture that shows him during the Mission’s entry into operation: in his right hand he holds the beam of the lintel with the name of the mission and the year of its foundation. . The grapes he carries represent the European agriculture that he introduced to the area.
The honorary consul of Spain in El Paso, Marta Vera, shows, in Atlantic Express, the missions, the border crossings and the Hispanic heritage that remains in numerous buildings and in the feelings of a population that has Spanish as its first language.
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