Peace Monuments Related to US/Mexican Friendship

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1851 - Boundary Monument, Friendship Park, on international border between Border Field State Park, San Diego, California (USA), & Tijuana (Mexico). Monument of Italian marble made in New York, shipped around Cape Horn, and erected in 1851 (soon after the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848). When area started being call a Friendship Park has not be determined. Fence now separates the two countries and the monument. Mexican lighthouse and bull ring visible in background.

1931 - "Allegory of California. / Alegoria de California," Main staircase between 10th & 11th floors. Exchange's Luncheon Club/City Club, Pacific Stock Exchange Tower, San Francisco, California (USA). Fresco by Diego Rivera [1886-1857].

1932 - "America Tropical," Italian Hall, Olvera Street, Los Angeles, California (USA). Mural by Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros [1896-1974]. "According to the text on a plaque on Main Street, Siqueiros was invited to paint a mural on the second floor exterior wall of the building. The mural (featuring an Indian bound to a double cross, surmounted by an imperialist eagle, and surrounded by pre-Columbian symbols and revolutionary figures) was considered hightly controversial." "The mural was partially whitewashed shortly after its completion, and then fully painted over within its first year on public view, beginning a legacy of censorship that still haunts Los Angeles. In the 1970's, 40 years after it was painted over, the image began to reemerge from the whitewash."

1933 - "Detroit Industry," Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan (USA). A famous series of twenty-seven fresco panels by Diego Rivera [1886-1857]. Gift of Edsel B. Ford. Images show North & South Walls.

May 22, 1933 - "Man at the Crossroads," Rockefeller Center, New York City, New York (USA). Mural by Diego Rivera [1886-1857]. Had many parts including: society women drinking alcohol, pictures of cells (sexually transmitted diseases), Leon Trotsky, and Vladimir Lenin (depicting communism). Lenin infuriated Rockefeller, and the mural was removed. Rivera repainted it at a smaller scale at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City where it can be found today, renamed "Man, Controller of the Universe."

1964 - John F. Kennedy Torch of Friendship, Bayfront Park, Miami, Florida (USA). Contains seals of Mexico & other Latin American countries.

1968 - Campana de Dolores / Bell of Dolores, Los Angeles, California (USA). Replica of the famous bell which hangs in the Zocolo in Mexico City.

June 1968 - Ruta de la Amistad / Route of Friendship, Olympics, Mexico City (Mexico). Nineteen sculptures along a 17 kilometer segment of the Anillo Periferico / Preferential Highway. Designed by international artists for the 1968 Olympic Games.

April 15, 1966 - Statue of Abraham Lincoln, Luis G. Urbina Park (since renamed Parque Lincoln), Polanco, Mexico City (Mexico). Gift of the United States presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Reproduction of a satue made in 1887 by Augustus Saint-Gaudens for Chicago's Lincoln Park.

1969 - Statue of Benito Juarez, Foggy Bottom, Virginia & New Hampshire Avenues, Washington, DC. (USA). Sculpted by Enrique Alciati. Gift from Mexico in exchange for a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Juarez is the 'George Washington of Mexico,' and the statue points to the bust of Washington at George Washington University. Benito Pablo Juarez Garcia [1806-1872] was a full-blooded Zapotec Indian who became the first president of Mexico. He corresponded with Abraham Lincoln to get advice on how to establish a democracy, particularly one plagued with interracial problems.

1969 - Amistad Dam, between Del Rio, Texas (USA). & Cuidad Acuna (Mexico). Image shows both national emblems on the border inthe middle of the dam.

1973 - Chamizal National Memorial, El Paso, Texas (USA). "Established to commemorate the Chamizal Convention of 1963 which resulted in the peaceful settlement of a century-long boundary dispute."

1987 - Fuente de los Delfines / Fountain of the Dolphins, Malecon, Puerto Vallarta (Mexico). Sculpted in sister city Santa Barbara, California (USA).

1988 - International World Peace Rose Garden, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Plaza de las Américas, Núm. 1, Col. Villa de Guadalupe. México City (Mexico). Theme: "Friendship between Mexico and the United States."

1991 - Jardin de la Paz / Peace Garden, Tlatelolco, Mexico, DF (Mexico). Created by Medicos Mexicanos para la Prevencion de las Guerra Nuclear, a chapter of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) & linked to Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). Large garden contains agora, peace bell, children's statue & other peace monuments. Near site of the 1967 anti-nuclear Treaty of Tlatelolco and the Tlatelolco massacre just prior to the 1968 Olympic Games. Entry #1384 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001). Photos by EWL.

1993? - Pacific Crest Trail Monuments, on US/Canadian Border (Washington & British Columbia) & on US/Mexican border. Identical wooden monuments 2,650 miles apart at each end of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).

1997 - Plaza of Peace & Friendship, Rotary Peace Park, Calle Iturbide, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco (Mexico). Park, peace pole & plaque next to the main cathedral & city hall [El Palacio Municipal], according to Entry #1385 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001). Not found when area combed in December 2006. Image scanned from Bennett.

April 15, 2000 - World Trade Bridge, between Laredo, Texas (USA), & Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas (Mexico). Eight-lane bridge for commercil traffic only. "Named in honor of a free World Trade market, because international trade is one of the key components to the Laredo/Nuevo Laredo economies."

October 31, 2000 - Flame of Friendship /Flama de la Amistad, Convention Center, San Diego, California (USA). By Leonardo Nierman of Mexico City (Mexico). A gift from the Government of Mexico that was presented to the people of San Diego as a gesture of friendship. Has stunning vistas of San Diego Bay. The sculpture is made of polished stainless steel and is nearly 21-feet in height.

2001 - Friendship Monument, Shoreline Boulevard at Lawrence Street, Corpus Christi, Texas (USA). "Bronze sculpture of Captain Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon by artist Sherman Coleman, M.D. The Westside Business Association sponsored this statue. The statue pays tribute to Falcon, an empressario credited with founding the first Spanish settlement north of the Rio Grande, near Petronila in 1764. In 1762, Falcon was commissioned to explore the Nueces River area by Don Jose de Escandon, the Governor of Nuevo Santander, a Spanish Territory extending from the San Antonio River to the Punuco River near Vera Cruz, Mexico. He later brought the first longhorn cattle to South Texas when he established a ranch in the area."

2002 - Torch of Friendship, San Antonio, Texas (USA). Fifty-ton sculpture made in Mexico. A gift to San Antonio from the Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs. According to scu;ptor Sebastian, "Obviously, I thought of all the possible allegorical meanings of a burning torch, such as the fire of friendship, relationships, strength, and creativity. The complexity of the work is that it is in two parts; in this case from two countries, which is complex but the same time satisfying, festive, and friendly."