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CANDELARIA BRIDGE IS GONE: ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL 
Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 05:55 PM
Posted by Administrator

ABOVE IS THE BRIDGE ON 3-22-08
PHOTO BY GLENN JUSTICE


ABOVE IS FORMER BRIDGE SITE ON 3-24-08
PHOTO BY GLENN JUSTICE




PHOTO COURTESY CLARA LONG@BORDER STORIES.ORG
PHOTO BY GLENN JUSTICE


Yesterday after I posted the article and photos of the bridge, a large contingent of Border Patrol trucks and personnel removed the Candelaria footbridge. It no longer exists. As soon as we learned of the removal, we drove to Candelaria arriving there about 10:30 am. The last of the Border Patrol trucks were just leaving and the road blocked by heavily armed but courteous BP guards. I ask if the bridge was gone and if I might go take some photos at the crossing. They let us pass after the last truck drove out of the bosque. The bridge is gone. Not even a scrap or tiny piece of it left on either side of the river. Across the river on the Mexican side, a few amazed locals waved back to us. It was swift and efficient removal. Yesterday, it was there, today it is gone. They hauled every piece of the old bridge out on a flat bed trailer. As we drove by the school, the entire schoolyard was crammed full of Border Patrol vehicles. The remains of the bridge sat encircled on the trailer by U.S. government vehicles. We decided it was time to go home. It is a sad day on the river. For more than 50 years, the little bridge stood as a symbol of cooperation between two tiny Texas-Mexican border villages. Now it is history.

Gj




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