Drug War Displaces Over 300,000 Persons in Mexico Annually, 1 Million in Region Aristegui Notiticas
go to original May 11, 2016

Mexico's ongoing drug war is notorious for its tens of thousands of murders and disappearances. But there are many other victims we hear little about, those who are forced from their homes as they flee the violence. (France 24 English)

In Mexico, 1.7 million people were forced to emigrate between 2006 and 2011 because of the threat or risk of violence; on average, there are about 330,000 persons displaced each year.

So documents a report published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, which finds large shifts in the world, especially in Africa and the Middle East, but also includes what is happening in the Americas.

In 2015, there were 287,000 displaced by violence in Mexico, below the 6.3 million in Colombia and 289,000 in El Salvador.

The text points out that organized crime violence associated with drug trafficking and gang activity has reached "epidemic proportions" in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in recent years. In 2015, there were at least a million people displaced in those 4 countries, while in 2014 there were 848,000. Many of the displaced

"leave the cities that suffer the highest homicide rates in the world and levels of violence comparable to a war zone " the Centre stated.

Meanwhile, there were 91,000 people displaced by natural disasters last year in Mexico.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: Mexico Displaced Persons: Government Must Address Plight of Victims of Forced Internal Displacement - National Human Rights Commission Report (Mexico Voices)

Related: Violence Created Growing Population of Displaced in Mexico (The Washington Post)

Related: Wars Have Displaced a Record 40.8 Million People Worldwide, Study Says (Agence France-Presse)

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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