Elvira Villa Lacarra Escajeda

By Tatiana Rodriguez

Elvira Villa Lacarra Escajeda (1920-2022) was the founder of the Chamizal Civic Association, which successfully organized the South El Paso barrios targeted by the 1964 Chamizal Treaty. The treaty settled the century long Chamizal Dispute, a boundary and land conflict over a region known as "El Chamizal" between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.1 A year earlier, in 1963, the residential subdivisions of Cotton Mill, Rio Linda, Cordova Gardens, and El Jardin were condemned as part of the Chamizal Treaty. These neighborhoods were identified for demolition as part of the settlement to return 437 acres of former U.S. territory to Mexico. Official government reports determined that 5,600 residents were displaced, but historical records indicate it was possibly a greater number.2 Several of those displaced were World War II and Korean War veterans and first-time property owners who used VA loans to buy their properties.

During that same year, in 1963, Lacarra formed the Chamizal Civic Association as an advocacy group for Chamizal residents' rights during displacement proceedings. Serving as both vice president and secretary, she sent official association letters of proposals to U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Senator John Tower. Elvira travelled to Washington, D.C. to discuss the Chamizal Treaty with elected officials where she spoke about the failures of local, state and federal authorities to engage people residing in condemned neighborhoods. In El Paso, rumors went around "that condemned properties would be evaluated at their tax value and not a fair-market value."3 In response to these rumors, Elvira confronted Thomas C. Mann, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, who held meetings at the Hotel Paso del Norte. When he refused to meet with her, she reached out to the El Paso Herald-Post and then succeeded with getting Mann to meet with her.

Eventually, the federal government agreed to give homes fair market appraisals. Even though most residents agreed to these appraisals, some disagreed and took their cases to court. Others were removed through eminent domain if they refused to negotiate or leave their homes. One resident who signed a contract agreeing to the federal government's offer later disclosed he was misinformed by one of the government's Spanish translators.4 Reports of inaccurate or misleading Spanish translations were common.

In 1964, Elvira attended the bi-national ceremony to commemorate the Chamizal Treaty as a special guest of Mexican President Adolfo Lopez-Mateos. Later, U.S. "President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded her a silver medal inscribed with her name to thank her for helping the government more equitably settle the Chamizal Dispute."5 The 437 acres returned to Mexico as the Chamizal Zone were officially ceded on October 28, 1967. The land became a public park called Parque Chamizal, directly across the border from the Chamizal National Memorial, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places and National Park Service in 1974.6

Elvira married for the last time in 1977 to Leopoldo Escajeda (deceased), a World War II veteran. She was previously married to Guillermo Lacarra, also a World War II veteran. Following the death of Mr. Escajeda, she began to live in the Eden Assisted Living Center, where she continued to serve in leadership positions. She was a member of Bienvivir, a senior health facility in El Paso, in which she was a member representative and met with management.7

Left image: Courtesy of the Villa Family. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/escajeda-elvira-villa-lacarra. 

Right Image: A home in El Chamizal. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/chamizal-dispute. 

Footnotes:

1 Texas State Historical Association, Jun. 20, 2022. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/escajeda-elvira-villa-lacarra.  

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Texas State Historical Association, Sep. 5, 2022. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/chamizal-dispute.  

5 El Paso Times. https://www.elpasotimes.com/obituaries/tnm058585.  

6 Texas State Historical Association, Sep. 5, 2022. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/chamizal-dispute.  

7 El Paso Times. https://www.elpasotimes.com/obituaries/tnm058585.