Central America's Rampant Violence Fuels an Invisible Refugee Crisis Nina Lakhani - The Guardian
go to original October 13, 2016

'If you come back, we'll kill you': Central Americans seek refuge in US only to be sent home (The Guardian)

As huge numbers of Syrian and African refugees risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to escape war-torn states, advocates say a parallel refugee crisis has unfolded on America’s doorstep amid an undeclared but increasingly brutal war between criminal groups and security forces.

An estimated 80,000 people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, mostly families and unaccompanied children, are expected to apply for asylum overseas this year – a 658% increase since 2011, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Tens of thousands more will be forcibly displaced, but not seek international help.

During the 1980s, the three countries known as the northern triangle were blighted by vicious civil wars between US-backed military dictatorships and leftist guerrilla groups. But even after ceasefires were agreed, peace never came to the region as unresolved inequalities and amnesties which let war criminals escape justice fuelled a new wave of violence and corruption.

This toxic mix of warring gangs and corrupt security forces is driving one of the world’s least visible refugee crises, Amnesty International will say in a new report on Friday.

...While reaching the US remains the primary goal for most Central Americans in flight, Mexico is an increasingly popular final destination.

In Tapachula, the largest city near the Guatemalan border, shelters which once served transient migrants hoping to find work in the US are now full of frightened asylum seekers.

“Before, people left home in search of a better life – now they’re fleeing overnight to save their lives,” said Olga Sánchez Martínez, founder of Jesus the Good Shepherd shelter.

The shift is in large part down to the Southern Border Plan: the US-instigated immigration crackdown on Central American migrants, launched in June 2014 after a surge of unaccompanied minors that year, which has made it much harder to traverse Mexico.

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Related: US and Mexico’s Mass Deportations Have Fueled Humanitarian Crisis – Report (The Guardian)

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