The X of Juarez: A Fable of Neoliberalism

Abstract

This essay establishes a dialogue between bodies and public spaces in Ciudad Juárez. Reading its monumental grammar from South to North along the Ruta Panamericana, this systematic analysis traces the history of the Neoliberal era through the city’s iconographic formations. The monuments in question are: El Umbral del Milenio, the Monumento a la mexicanidad, and the Parque público federal el Chamizal. Ultimately, this monumental grammar both manifests the optimism of global capitalism—in a massive, yellow door at the city’s entrance—and marks the spot of its failure—a red, monumental X at its exit into the United States.