Security and Human Rights Issues on the Guatemalan/Mexican Border

By Christopher Inkpen

The border between Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico is an overlooked American security and human rights concern, despite serving as a crucial passageway linking South and Central America to America’s southern neighbor. While much of the political pressure and concern over security in the U.S. focuses on its own southern border, greater attention and political cooperation should be directed further south to more effectively stem illegal activities and human rights abuses.

Despite modest efforts by the U.S. and others, the main security issue on Mexico’s southern border remains its sheer permeability. Eighty percent of Mexico’s 713 mile border connects Guatemala and Mexico, and represents the main illegal entryway into Southern Mexico. The Mexico-Guatemala border has only three main crossing sites - Tecun Uman, El Carmen, and La Mesilla - and eight official sites in total, but research from the University of Chiapas suggests that there are over 1000 blind spots, 44 of them accessible by vehicle.(1) Drug and contraband trafficking are prevalent along this border and their presence weakens local government institutions through corruption and bribes.(2)

Drug and contraband trafficking aside, human trafficking and migrant smuggling create both security concerns as well as human rights abuses. The established border sites are used less and less for illegal crossing starting points, as resident gangs in cities on the Mexican side known as “Maras” have taken on the mantle of migrant hunters. Gang members from both Mara Salvatrucha 13 and Barrio 18 lay in wait in nearby border-towns seeking to rob and abuse illegal aliens searching for trains to take them through Mexico. This pushes migrants into areas with even less established security. Lone criminals and organized crime groups benefit from the lack of aid provided to migrants and the inherent fear of government officials while crossing the border, as it allows them to profit while exploiting illegal aliens.

To aid in the persecution of human rights offenses against migrants, Chiapas, a heavily-traveled Mexican border state, created a Specialized District Attorney’s Office for Crimes Committed against Migrants.(3) On the Guatemalan side there are representatives from the Office of the Judge Advocate General for Human Rights specifically assigned to the border region. But while executive offices exist to register complaints, there are no organizations designed specifically to provide aid to migrants in need of help. NGO offices in Tecun Uman have been forced to shut their doors as a result of pressure from criminals with an interest in migrant exploitation.

While governments are searching for a solution, recent plans designed to secure the border and stem human rights abuses have been difficult to implement and offer limited success. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox initiated the Southern Plan (Plan Sur) in 2001 to increase funding for migration checkpoints as well as to provide support for aid organizations known as “Beta Groups”. Fox also convened with Central American leaders to introduce an economic plan known as the Plan Puebla-Panamá to commercially develop the stretch of land from Mexican state Chiapas throughout Central America. However, this plan faced obstacles when it was opposed by Zapatista rebel leaders claiming the plan took advantage of the natural resources in Chiapas without regard for the demands of the local population.(4)

Including changes to legalized agricultural guest-worker programs, current Mexican President Felipe Calderon worked in 2007 with former U.S. President George W. Bush to introduce the Mérida Initiative. Approved by the U.S. in June of 2008, the Mérida Initiative seeks to provide $400 million worth of funding in the form of military and police equipment as well as training to the Mexican government and participating Central American and Caribbean governments. The plan also includes $74 million to address gun smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico, a continuing problem in Mexico’s ongoing war against the drug cartels.

While the Mérida Initiative increases the budget for military and police assistance substantially and highlights the importance of Mexico’s Southern border, it fails to provide comprehensive aid to migrants and political negotiations for the Mérida Initiative have neutered clauses designed to protect human rights. 

Recent news articles and television coverage of the drug-related violence on Mexico’s Northern border attract the attention of the American population, but equal coverage and thought should be pointed towards Mexico’s Southern border. In an attempt to head off security risks stemming from drug and human trafficking that emanate from Mexico, Central America, and South America, the U.S. must treat this area as a veritable third border in regards to diplomatic pressure and aid. This should be reflected in both the diplomatic pressure applied to both the Mexican and Central American governments to carry out the objectives of the Mérida Initiative as well as pressure to ensure the plan is carried out without human rights abuses.

1. The Southern Border of Mexico in the Age of Globalization, Prof. Daniel Villafuerte Solis.
2. Mexican Drug Violence Spills into Guatemala, National Public Radio, June 1, 2009.
3. Transmigrants and Mexico´s Southern Border, Prof. Daniel Villafuerte Solis, International Conference at New Mexico State University.
4. Mexico´s Forgotten Southern Border, Prof. George W. Grayson, Center for Immigration Studies.

Christopher Inkpen is a 2009-10 Fulbright Scholar in Mexico. His research explores the duality of Guatemalan immigrants in Mexico, through the examination of a visa program for Guatemalan seasonal workers in the southern state of Chiapas, and its effects on immigration into Mexico and the United States.

Flikr photo by ChuckHolton used under a Creative Commons license.