Operation Intercept and Its Effects on Life on the Border in the Rio Grande Valley

In 1969, about two years before his official declaration of the War on Drugs, Operation Intercept was Richard Nixon’s first offensive in a battle that is still debated. This ill-fated two-week operation effectively shut down the border for two weeks in the fall of 1969. While some retrospective of Operation Intercept has been done, this has mostly been done through the lens of the much broader history of smuggling in the borderlands, often focusing on the political history between the United States and Mexico, or the history of the Nixon administration. By focusing on a more specific community, we can examine Operation Intercept as its own event from the ground level.

The Rio Grande Valley, at the time a largely agriculturally based economy located on the border, was hit particularly hard with this shutdown. By focusing on a more specific community, we can examine Operation Intercept as its own event from the ground level. From the perspectives of citizens and business owners to construct this ground level view.

I will use primary sources from the Rio Grande Valley. Primarily by using newspapers, letters sent to City Halls and Chamber of Commerce across the Rio Grande Valley. As researched at local libraries, city halls, museum archives, and the archives at the many university archives across South Texas.

The poster will include images of Operation Intercept along with a QR code that will have sources used along with a narration for attendees that are hard-of-seeing and along with an online version for those visually impaired.

By doing so, we can see Operation Intercept from the ground level and look at these chaotic two weeks and their effects on the people of the Rio Grande Valley.