"Government officials say that human rights are honored and that we are all equal, that no-one is worth more than others. But this is not true, our lives, the lives of the migrants who leave because we have no choice and everything is against us, our lives have less value, almost none. Just look how many deaths and aggressions there are here on the border, and nothing is done about it. They are not interested in us, we are simply seen as problems and not as persons. We are treated as delinquents just because we leave in search of a better life". Central American migrant, December 2015.

"Central American migrants are one of the most painful and acute expressions, of exclusion and inequality, within States and societies where money and power are more important than human lives". Dedicated to the memory of Manual Antonio Ventura – a Salvadoran who died in Tapachula on May 10, 2016 -- and to the Central American migrants in transit through Mexico who have lost their lives on the hard path in search of a dignified life.

Migration, chains of exclusion and impunity

The migration of Central Americans in transit through Mexico has gone on for years, and for over a decade has reached massive proportions and represents one of the present regional processes of exclusion and violence that are among the most serious in Latin America. It is a migration involving men, women and children, above all from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and which has different causes related to inequality and marginalization, in contexts of accentuated poverty and unstable conditions resulting from economic reforms in a neoliberal framework, or situations of chronic violence linked to delinquent groups or gangs -- as in Honduras and El Salvador. Behind the migration there are national States that have been unable to guarantee social rights to their citizens, as well as the political and economic intervention of the US government and the multinational companies in the region from the end of the twentieth century to date. The migrants, before engaging as individuals in the long and dangerous trip to the United States, were and are impoverished peasants, unemployed youths from the cities, persons threatened and attacked by delinquents and gangs, children and adolescents whose parents work in the United States.

Migration, in these scenes of drastic adversity, represents not just persons without papers moving across international borders, but the faces of those who do not have a dignified place, nor any hope of a better life in the place where they were born and live. For them the illusion of a different future is in another place, far from the permanent deprivation and anxiety. More than just individuals in an irregular migratory situation, Central Americans in transit are excluded and forgotten, both in their countries of origin and in the States of transit and destination.

In their passage through the south of Mexico, plagued with adversities and aggressors -- delinquent groups, gangs, authorities and members of the security forces of the Mexican State -- tens of thousands of migrants have suffered diverse aggressions, many endure permanent and serious injuries from attacks and more than a few have lost their lives. The crimes that the migrants have suffered include a wide spectrum where robbery and extortion are two of the most common, but that also include the abuse of authority, threats, sexual abuse, rape, assault, corruption, homicide, intimidation, injuries, illegal privation of freedom, kidnapping, bribery and human trafficking [1].

Stories of indifference and impunity

Since the opening of the Programa Frontera Sur (Southern Border Program) by the Mexican government in 2014, the migratory flow has not declined, and in fact, according to data of the Secretaría de Gobernación in Mexico, there was an increase in 2015, when close to 300 thousand people attempted to pass through Mexico to the United States; and of this total, the Mexican authorities detained nearly 200 thousand and deported some 140 thousand of them [2]. Thus, as various non-governmental organizations and religious shelters for migrants -- such as La 72 --, have pointed out, the number of detentions, deportations and violations of human rights of migrants have steeply increased [3]. And among the Central American migrants, who are already vulnerable -- both because of their socio-economic situation and their level of education, as well as for their irregular migratory condition and the ignorance of their human rights as persons in transit, -- there are two social groups in particular that are even more susceptible to suffer crimes and aggressions: women and children,  especially those who travel alone. Referring particularly to the migration of Central American unaccompanied minors -- mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador -- some media have indicated that there has been an increase of 330% in the past two years, and last year alone (2015), the Mexican authorities deported more than 14 thousand children and adolescents from this part of the continent [4].

Migration and violence

The new governmental actions in the extreme south of Mexico emphasizing and strengthening border control and security policies, have not only failed to bring a solution to the causes of Central American migration, but have in practice aggravated the criminalization of migrants, thus contributing both to undermining human rights of the Central Americans in transit and to a notable increase in the physical, emotional and socioeconomic vulnerability to which they are exposed. Closing borders does not resolve the humanitarian problem, nor does it attend to the reasons and causes for which they have left their places of origin. On the contrary, these measures only contribute to put off an in-depth solution and increase the invisibility of the migrants. Therefore, these Central Americans, rather than being seen and attended to as subjects suffering situations of material shortages and structural violence, are treated as criminals by the Mexican authorities.

As happens with other excluded social groups in Mexico, the Central Americans in transit, to the extent that their human rights are respected neither in their home countries nor in Mexico, suffer in their own flesh a selective, partial and discretional exercise of law on the part of the Mexican government and are labelled as delinquents and violators of the law, instead of being treated as refugees who, in the search for other options of life, flee from manifold and complex contexts of adversity, in which their lives and physical integrity are at stake as well as the perspective of a decent future. Moreover, to the extent that the Mexican government does not apply the law to punish crimes against migrants, it encourages situations of impunity and violence that allow organized crime and certain public officials to enrich themselves on the backs of migrants, taking advantage of their defenselessness: in practice, this enables and encourages the violation of the human rights of these Central Americans.

08/06/2016

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)

Bibliography

[1] Migrantes invisibles, violencia tangible, Informe 2014. REDODEM.

[2] Cifra record de migrantes detenidos en México; casi 200 mil al cierre de 2015. La Jornada, 27 de diciembre, 2015.

[3] El programa frontera sur dispara deportaciones y riesgos para migrantes. La Jornada, 19 de octubre, 2015.

[4] En dos años aumentó 330 por ciento la migración de menores no acompañados. La Jornada, 7 de abril, 2016.

- Guillermo Castillo Ramírez is a professor at the UNAM, México http://unam.academia.edu/GuillermoCastilloRamirez