A condor and a golden eagle to restore humanity to Tijuana's border wall

https://english.elpais.com/culture/2025-08-29/a-condor-and-a-golden-eagle-to-restore-humanity-to-tijuanas-border-wall.html

A condor and a golden eagle to restore humanity to Tijuana’s border wall

While the US wants to paint the fence black to deter migrants, Alfredo ‘Libre’ Gutiérrez used it to create a mural promoting unity between the two neighboring nations, based on an Indigenous prophecy

MARISOL JIMÉNEZ
AUG 29, 2025 - 06:45 EDT

Alfredo “Libre” Gutiérrez continues to stare at the border wall that saw him grow up in Tijuana 43 years ago. A wall that the United States now wants to paint black so that the heat will make it even more hostile and more difficult to climb. Libre smiles and says: “We responded with color, with love. That is our strength.”

Just a few days ago, he finished covering a section of the border fence in Playas de Tijuana with a monumental mural: a condor and a golden eagle flying wing to wing. The work, titled Shared Flight, is inspired by an Indigenous prophecy that predicts peace will come when the two birds fly together. In contrast to the U.S. plan to darken the wall, the painting by Libre proposes filling it with color.

“I do believe that art can raise awareness. If we don’t try, we’ll never know. For me, painting this wall is a way to humanize the inhuman,” he says during an online interview with EL PAÍS.

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