Poor public health conditions mean it ’ s no surprise that the residents of Nogales , Sonora , do not live as long as their northern neighbors . They also don ’ t have access to many public amenities . Roads are in bad condition south of the fence . Law and order is in worse condition . Crime is high , and opening a business is a risky activity . Not only do you risk robbery , but getting all the permissions and greasing all the palms just to open is no easy endeavor . Residents of Nogales , Sonora , live with politicians ’ corruption and ineptitude every day .
In contrast to their northern neighbors , democracy is a very recent experience for them . Until the political reforms of 2000 , Nogales , Sonora , just like the rest of Mexico , was under the corrupt control of the Institutional Revolutionary Party , or Partido Revolucionario Institucional ( PRI ).
How could the two halves of what is essentially the same city be so different ? There is no difference in geography , climate , or the types of diseases prevalent in the area , since germs do not face any restrictions crossing back and forth between the United States and Mexico . Of course , health conditions are very different , but this has nothing to do with the disease environment ; it is because the people south of the border live with inferior sanitary conditions and lack decent health care .
But perhaps the residents are very different . Could it be that the residents of Nogales , Arizona , are grandchildren of migrants from Europe , while those in the south are descendants of Aztecs ? Not so . The backgrounds of people on both sides of the border are quite similar . After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821 , the area around “ Los dos Nogales ” was part of the Mexican state of Vieja California and remained so even after the Mexican- American War of 1846 – 1848 . Indeed , it was only after the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 that the U . S . border was extended into this area . It was Lieutenant N . Michler who , while surveying the border , noted the presence of the “ pretty little valley of Los Nogales .” Here , on either side of the border , the two cities rose up . The inhabitants of Nogales , Arizona , and Nogales , Sonora , share ancestors , enjoy the same food and the same music , and , we would hazard to say , have the same “ culture .”
Of course , there is a very simple and obvious explanation