Violence caused by a turf war between rival cartels has displaced hundreds of residents in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
More than 600 refugees from villages along the Mexican border with Guatemala began arriving in the Guatemalan municipality of Cuilco in the department of Huehuetenango on July 25, seeking refuge from the violence. The refugees who traveled miles through the rolling mountains described to both local and international media the war between the cartels that drove them to flee to Guatemala.
“I left my home because of the shooting, and out of fear,” a farmer, who requested anonymity for his family’s safety, told the Associated Press.
“Thank God they gave us a hand, gave us [something] to calm our fear,” the man said, expressing his thanks to the Guatemalans who received him. “We’re afraid to return. There’s no authority to fight them. What we ask of the government is to intervene and help us out and send the Mexican army.”
Territorial disputes between cartels have brought increased violence and displacement in Chiapas.
These remote communities, some of which are more than 176 miles from Guatemala City, quickly opened their doors to the fleeing families.
“The Guatemalan population has shown solidarity [for the refugees],” Juan José Hurtado, director of the migration advocacy organization Asociación Pop No’j, tells The Progressive.
“The violence in Chiapas is nothing new,” he says. “But what’s new is that [refugees] are coming to Guatemala.”
Pop No’j has worked for decades in communities in the department of Huehuetenango, which is located along the border with Mexico, and quickly mobilized to support those displaced from Chiapas. The Guatemalan government’s National Immigration Institute also provided temporary residency to the refugees.
Territorial disputes between cartels have brought increased violence and displacement in Chiapas. In June 2024, more than 5,000 people were forced to flee the town of Tila in northern Chiapas due to a battle between warring cartels.
Violence along the border between Guatemala and Mexico started to rise in 2021, when the Jalisco Cartel New Generation began to expand into the region. Since then there have been multiple gun battles along the border, including in La Mesilla, a common border crossing for tourists traveling between Guatemala and San Cristobal de las Casas. The town in the Mexican state of Chiapas is also known for its role in the 1994 Zapatista rebellion and has become a major tourist magnet.
“Narcos have had a presence for decades,” Hurtado says. “But this round of violence began due to a territorial dispute between the Jalisco Cartel New Generation and the Sinaloa Cartel.”
The solidarity from Guatemalans for their displaced neighbors stems from the long history of solidarity between the border communities, which often have familial ties that extend beyond the international boundary.
The solidarity from Guatemalans for their displaced neighbors stems from the long history of solidarity between the border communities.
Mexico has historically been a destination for Guatemalans fleeing violence and persecution. More than one million Guatemalans were forced to flee, with hundreds of thousands fleeing into southern Mexico during the darkest days of Guatemala’s thirty-six-year-long internal armed conflict, which left at least 200,000 people dead and another 45,000 people missing.
“There is a feeling of gratitude towards Mexico,” Hurtado says.
And, Hurtado points out, there was a sense among the Mexicans who supported the Guatemalan refugees in those days that the situation could be reversed in the future.
“I worked a lot with refugees in the 1980s,” Hurtado says. “And the Mexican people said, ‘Look, today it’s you now, but someday it could be us.’ ”
And now, nearly forty years later, it is the Guatemalans who are giving refuge to those displaced from their homes by a war along the border.