Mexican and Central American Immigrant Rights; Local Justice Struggles in a Global City

In September Cicig headquarters were surrounded by US-donated military jeeps, but there was no complaint from the Trump White House. Cicig has investigated corruption cases against Morales, his family and his political patrons, and links between organised crime and politicians like himself. Jimmy Morales, a former comedian and the country’s president since 2016, has announced he is going to close down the UN-backed International Committee against Impunity in Guatemala (Cicig).

The issue of impunity for violence remains central to Guatemala’s chronic problems. Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquín, who died of septic shock and cardiac arrest in US border patrol custody, came from Alta Verapaz, in the northern Guatemala highlands, where small-scale farmers are being driven off their land to make way for agro-industry producing sugar and biofuels. “The destabilisation in the 1980s – which was very much part of the US cold war effort – was incredibly important in creating the kind of political and economic conditions that exist in those countries today,” said Christy Thornton, a sociologist focused on Latin America at Johns Hopkins University. More often US intervention in the affairs of these small and weak states has been deliberate, motivated by profit or ideology or both. “The only way for families to stay together is for women and children to migrate.” “Where it used to cost around $1,000 to make the journey from Central America, it now costs up to $12,000, making shuttle migration impossible,” said Elizabeth Oglesby, an associate professor at the centre for Latin American studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The only hope of paying off those loans is to reach the US, so even if they fail at their quest, they have no choice but to try again, and again. Desperate customers take out big loans at high interest in order to pay. Enforcement measures targeting migrants have multiplied the cost of smugglers’ services. Sometimes it has been a matter of unintended consequences. Photograph: Carlos García Rawlins/Reuters Central America’s inequality and violence, in which the US has long played a role, is driving people to leave their homes.

Mexican and Central American Immigrant Rights; Local Justice Struggles in a Global City