FREE TRADE ACROSS AN IRON CURTAIN
The line that divides Mexico and the US
Along the frontera, an economic area that is home to some eight million people, lies the great market of a world in breakneck industrial expansion - the world of the twin bi-national cities that are the prototypes for a globalised economy. On the Mexican side, exploitation of the workers is normal practice in the subcontractors’ factories, or maquiladoras. Streams of immigrants from the interior, especially the deprived regions of the south, arrive there, then find themselves caught in a trap. Once they have realised just how wretched life is going to be, they have only one way out - to cross the border. But while goods and finance circulate freely, the US is taking serious steps to stop the passage of people.
by Janette Habel
The red trolley-car from San Diego (in the United States) to Tijuana (in Mexico) takes 45 minutes to reach the border crossing-point. The Spanish names of the tram stops (Chula Vista, San Ysidro, El Cajon, Morena Linda Vista) are reminders that in the 19th century this was Mexican territory. (...)
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