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GUERRERO CITY, OLD AND
NEW
(Click
on pictures to enlarge; click on BACK to return to the story.)
 The
Rio Grande River begins in the mountains of Colorado and snakes its way
south and east to join the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way,
like a giant serpent, it twists and turns through all the compass
directions. Toward the end of its journey, it forms the international
border between the United States and Mexico. Along its final push toward
the Gulf, there is a point where it runs almost due south for many miles.
At that point, Mexico is west – not south – of Texas.
Nearly a century before the Rio Grande became an international border,
it was the major source of water and the main route for transportation
through that barren and thorny wilderness. It was a vast area inhabited
mostly by cactus, thorn bushes, javalina, deer, coyotes, rattlesnakes and
other hardy wildlife when José de Escandón began to explore that part of
northern Mexico in 1748.
Since water represented life itself in that arid and empty terrain,
Escandón, the "father of the lower Rio Grande Valley,"
established a town on the west bank of the Rio Grande in 1750. It was one
of more than twenty towns he founded during his seven year expedition.
This one he named "Villa de Señor San Ignacio de Loyola de Revilla"
in honor of the patron saint of the Jesuit religious order.
 Citizens
of the new town shortened the name to Revilla for daily use and they set
about building their new home. One year after its founding, the new town
hosted its first religious ceremony. By 1755, the church, "Nuestro Señora del Refugio" (Our Lady of Refuge) was completed. It was an
impressive stone and adobe structure with graceful columns, three bell
towers, and natural light streaming in through well-placed windows.
The church faced the central plaza of the city on the north, a school
was constructed east of the plaza, an open-air market and hotel to the
west. A bakery operated on the west edge of town and homes surrounded the
plaza on all sides. The plaza was adorned with a central gazebo and
benches for resting and socializing.
 All of the buildings were skillfully built of large uncut field stones
secured with quantities of mortar. A walled cemetery was established as
the final resting place for residents of the city, many interred under
elaborate crypts or markers with ornate metal work.
The city of Revilla grew through the years. It was home to José
Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara and his brother Antonio, famous rebel fighters
in Mexico’s war for independence from Spain. In 1840, the city served
briefly as the capital of the Republic of the Rio Grande. At about that
same time, the name of the town was officially changed to Guerrero in
honor of Vicente Guerrero, second President of Mexico. During his brief
presidency, Guerrero had abolished slavery in his nation thirty-five years
before Abraham Lincoln did the same in the U.S.
In 1953, however, the world came to an end for the old city of
Guerrero. The U.S. and Mexico had completed a joint project to control
flooding on the Rio Grande and insure a more dependable source of
irrigation water downstream. The crowning achievement of that effort
was the construction of Falcon Dam and twin electricity generating power
plants, one on each side of the international border. The dam created a
lake, Falcon Lake, sixty miles in length which flooded over the cities of
Guerrero on the west bank and Zapata on the east bank of the river.
   Both cities had to be re-located a safe distance away from the growing
waters of the lake. The Mexican government arranged for the building of a
new city – Nuevo Guerrero – on high ground near the breast of Falcon
Dam, downstream several miles from its former location. The new city
includes an impressive city building (Palacio Municipal), attractive
school, a church, a few small businesses, and many little adobe houses.
The federal government gave each resident family of the old city a house
and lot in the new city.
  The future of the new city includes a Medical
School now under construction. It has been nicknamed "Battery
City" because of its unique use of recycled battery cases in the
construction of the access road, the entrance gate and surrounding wall.
Current rumors indicate that relocating the old cemetery was the
hardest part of the move from Old Guerrero to New Guerrero.  Residents
 of
the old city were reluctant to leave the remains of dead relatives and
loved ones behind to be buried a second time, this time by the waters of
Falcon Lake. Arrangements were made so families who wished to could have
graves opened and contents removed to the cemetery in the new city. The
old cemetery is now faithfully guarded by a flock of turkey buzzards.
In the 1990s, years of on-going drought slowly lowered the water level
of Falcon Lake. Some of the buildings of Old Guerrero peeked out of their
watery tombs after forty years of obscurity. A Mexican National Historical
Commission has begun renovations in some of the buildings of the old city
and invites visits to that historic site.
 Our trip there last week was much faster and more comfortable than
José de Escandón’s journey 250 years earlier! The tour bus was
heat-controlled, smooth on the bumpy roads, supplied with bottles of
water, soft drinks, sandwiches, and had a bathroom on board! The tour
company fed us well before, during, and after our visit to the old city.
They also included a stop at a boot factory in the near-by town of Mier,
and entertained us with a movie en-route home!
    Walking the silent streets of Old Guerrero was a reminder that life
sometimes takes unexpected twists and turns. The deserted market recalled
past days of abundance and prosperity.
  We peered into sturdy but roofless
houses, now overgrown with weeds, and remembered that even strong stone
walls cannot protect us from change.
 The empty streets of the plaza
whispered "Once there was life here. Children played. Young folks
laughed and talked together. Old people shared stories of the past. Now
they are gone – all gone – and my city is dead and in ruins. Such is
the price of progress."
   Above it all stands the bell-less tower of the church. Outside, she
wears a bright yellow coat of new paint whitened below from standing in
water for months last year. Inside, her ceiling has been
restored with beautiful, rosy-red mahogany beams.
 Signs of destruction
surround her and the marks of high water mar her interior walls, but she
stands secure.
 She smiles at all who visit the old city, inviting them to
stop in and remember that, in the midst of life’s changes, there is a
changeless Eternal.
16 Feb 2010 - mshr
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