Thread: Mexico's Other Border: Guatemala IA's

Mexico’s Other Border: Issues Affecting Mexico’s dividing line with Guatemala
Background

The Mexico-Guatemalan border has been a troubled zone since the Americas gained their independence from Spain in 1821. Since the closing of the colonial era towards the end of the 19th century, repeated incidents have plagued the region encompassing southern Mexico and western Guatemala. The current border came into being after the two nations signed the Treaty of Limits. Nowadays, the bulk of the concern over the border involves Guatemalan migrants crossing the border trying to eventually gain illegal entrance into the U.S. Disputes between the two countries revolve around both the undocumented migrants trekking through Mexico as well as those with final Mexican destinations.

Illegal and legal migration into Mexico reached their apogee during Guatemala’s bitter guerrilla-death squad insurgency when tens of thousands of its citizens fled the latter country between 1963 and 1996. Paying the highest price for an unjust war were the campesinos who worked the land, engaged in subsistence farming, frequently not even being able to speak Spanish, but instead, only their own languages, such as Quiché or Kachikel. Many of these Mayan peoples, who tried hard to remain neutral during the domestic conflict, eventually were forced to flee their home villages or risk being tortured or killed by the Guatemalan military and associated rightwing death squads, or from being attacked by local guerrilla forces, depending upon who saw them as a foe.

Most of the Guatemalan migrants fleeing their country ended up in Chiapas, their first stop in Mexico. Chiapas, Mexico’s most southern state has witnessed the heaviest illegal migration surge being recorded there during the years 1981-1983. At first, the Mexican authorities had the grace and sense of responsibility, to protect the refugees, letting them squat in improvised settlements in order to escape the hated Guatemalan security forces along with their rightwing death squad affiliates. The affected indigenous population sought out Mexico as an interim safe-haven, a place where they could escape a predictably horrendous future. Yet Mexico eventually decided to close its gates as local communities began complaining that they could no longer absorb such a huge influx of refugees, especially in Mexico’s least developed state. Facing the possibility of dislocation, torture, disappearance or death in their home country, Guatemalans in recent decades were forced to illegally cross the border in order to survive. Trying to solve its own illegal immigration-issue, Mexico switched to trying to repatriate its now entrenched refugee population back to Guatemala. As a country that chronically has discounted the intrinsic value of its indigenous peoples, Guatemala refused to meet the demands of resettlement involving such a large percentage of its expatriate population, making that issue into a non-viable option.

Although illegal immigration was still very much in evidence during the 1980s, Mexico did not in earnest defend its border with Guatemala, because it feared that this might interfere with trade while impeding faltering efforts to facilitate family interactions involving immigrant cohorts in both countries. Eventually, between 1993 and 1999, Mexico and Guatemala, working together organized the voluntary return of 43,000 refugees to Guatemala. For the remaining 22,000 Guatemalans thought to be in the country, Mexico implemented a migratory stabilization program, aimed at helping them to eventually gain legal residence in Mexico. In 2003, the number of documented Guatemalans in Mexico had fallen to 2,601. According to a 2000 census, 55 percent of those Guatemalans living in Mexico were to be found in Chiapas. But the indifferent attitude towards the indigenous population along the border has led to an increase in violence and abuse by the Mexican security forces, whom are not always properly charged with rooting out evidence of corruption on the part of officials on both sides of the border.

Migrants
Even after the Central American wars were brought to an end, large numbers of migrants still were trying to cross the Guatemala-Mexico border. The two neighboring countries only recently have begun to increase border security in a meaningful manner, and are still encountering several problems in achieving this. In order to better the situation, the countries must appreciate the viewpoint of its migrant population. The most prevalent categories of migrants trying to pierce the border between Mexico and the U.S. is mainly Guatemalan migrant farmers looking for seasonal work on large commercial farms, as well as Mexicans, Central and South Americans trying to make their way to the United States through Mexico.

Another category of migrant exists. Guatemalan farm workers perform seasonal labor in the southern states of Mexico, often in Chiapas, working on plantations and farms because wages in that country are appreciably higher than in Guatemala and there are far more opportunities to find work. In 2005, according to the Mexican National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migración), 6,679 documented Guatemalans worked on Mexican farms, with 3.5 percent of them under 14 years of age, 89.4 percent between 15 and 48 and 7.1 percent older than 49. Of those, 87.8 percent were male, while 12.2 percent were female. These figures indicate that the majority of seasonal migrants are young men capable of the hard labor necessary in agriculture. One can also presume that they do not yet have a family or have just started a one; thus, they are likely to eventually return to Guatemala and not become permanent residents of Mexico.

Seasonal workers face dangers crossing the border and there is no shortage of discrimination which they are likely to find there once they begin searching for work. Guatemalan migrant workers are systematically oppressed by finqueros who exploit their illegal status in the country in order to acquire the use of cheap labor which tends to be hobbled when it comes to exercising its bargaining power or protesting against harsh treatment. Moreover, the elaborate process involved in filing a complaint, allows the finquero (the property owner) in most cases to mute the sense of outrage of even the legal labor force, let alone the illegal one. In his “Mexico’s Forgotten Southern Border,â€

Thanks, Shocked. This is absolutely fascinating.

Along with some U.S. aid, it would help to economically develop Mexico’s southern states, which in turn might reduce the menacing level of organized crime now gripping the region.

May I ask why the US is responsible for the pudding going on along the southern border of Mexico? Since our deficit is in trillions and we are continually printing debt obligations, a large portion owned by China, why is our own border security not a priority?

The United States should not only be imploring Mexico to help stop illegal border crossings, but it should also provide effective assistance to the countries from which immigrants originate. People leave their strife-ridden country in search of safety and better economic opportunities, not on a capricious whim.

Pray tell what makes MEXICANS leave their wealthy country? Mexico can't or won't take care of its OWN people, much less anyone else's. They just shove them at us. Send em all back!

Thanks, Shocked. This is absolutely fascinating.

You're right vortex. Somebody wrote something worthwhile and informative.

I've been glued to ABC7 because that terrible Metrolink/Union Pacific train crash happened not too far from where I live. Massive rescue efforts. Constant emergency sirens and helicopters for the last 4 hours. People may still be trapped inside. May be as many as 15-20 killed and at least 70 injured.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 4450.story