ABSTRACT
At the border, two nations colossally unequal in wealth and military strength face each other in a modern version of David and Goliath. Nowhere else in the world does the asymmetry loom greater, as the huge gap in per capita income and production between the two neighbors verifies. But although per capita income in El Paso is low by US standards, that of Ciudad Juarez is far lower, a symbol of the asymmetrical relationship that exists between the countries. El Paso had intercontinental links to both the West and East Coasts of the United States, but the railroad from Ciudad Juarez ran only to the south, which made that city economically subservient to El Paso. Yet the development of such cities as El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, as well as the two Laredos, is the result of a symbiotic relationship.
