is the fourth installment in the XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest series.

The endeavor will honor Mexico’s great president and his role in an historic period between the United States and Mexico at Paso del Norte where it occurred.

The Chamizal “conflict” existed nearly 100 years as a boundary dispute between the two countries. It began with the changing course of the Rio Grande, the border between sovereign nations.

On September 25, 1964 Mexican President Adolfo Lopez Mateos and United States President Lyndon B. Johnson officially settled the dispute when they met atop the international bridge connecting El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, shaking hands in a symbol of friendship.

Less than a year later in 1964, Mexico installed a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln near Parque Chamizal in Ciudad Juárez as a symbol of unity. While the United States spoke of a corresponding effort on U.S. soil, that moment never came to fruition…until now.

Sculptor Ethan Taliesin Houser, son of sculptor and painter John Sherrill Houser, who initiated the XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest sculptures, is continuing his father’s work with the completion of the Benito Juárez statue.

Sculptor Ethan Taliesin Houser, son of sculptor and painter John Sherrill Houser, who initiated the XII Travelers Memorial of the Southwest sculptures, is continuing his father’s work with the completion of the Benito Juárez statue.