Human Rights violations: Central American Immigrants at the Northeastern Mexico Border

The conflict that devastated the Central American region in the 1980s and created a dramatic population movement had an effect on the migration patterns of the people in the area and the evolution of self-sustaining social process. This generated new regional migration system. In turn, these processes turned Mexico into a transit country-and in a minor way a destination- for the thousands of migrants coming form Central America and moving to the United States. Because of the particular characteristics of the undocumented migration phenomenon, there is an absence of quantitative information that would allow more precise knowledge of the nature and extent of the problem of human rights violations of Central American migrants crossing Mexican territory. This chapter gathers the results of a research project conducted in the cities of Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros, main border sites in the state of Tamaulipas (Mexico).The analysis confirms that the travel of Central American transit migrants is a high-risk enterprise: almost 5 out of 10 migrants suffer some type of aggression or abuse on their journey through Mexico. The majority of abuses and crimes that migrants suffer remain free from punishment. The study presents some the normative, geopolitical and institutions factors that explain why this situation does not change, despite having been denounced by human rights organization sand specialized agencies of the United Nations.

FERNÁNDEZ ZUBIETA Ana;  MARTIN ALVAREZ Alberto; 

2010-02-01

The University of Arizona Press

JRC56920

978-0-8165-2805-9,