Decade-Long Drug War in Mexico Has Caused Mass Forced Internal Displacements Jose Antonio Roman - La Jornada
go to original April 7, 2017

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)

In 2016, there were 29 massive episodes of forced internal displacements recorded in the country, a situation which has affected at least 23,169 people in 12 different states; with this figure, the number of internally displaced individuals in Mexico is estimated at more than 310,000 from 2009 to date.

According to the information from the Mexican Committee for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH), an organization which has been monitoring these kinds of problems in the country for several years, out of these 29 cases, 20 were directly caused by violence and the fight against organized crime, of which 20,031 people were affected, which adds up to nearly 90% of the total population that was displaced the previous year.

In the report entitled, Forced Internal Displacements in Mexico, the organization notes that the largest section of the population to fall victim to this problem consists of women and mothers, who are forced to flee from the violence with the aim of protecting their life and the lives of their family, taking their girls, boys and elderly people with them.

In 2016, indigenous groups were those who were most affected with at least seven cases of forced internal displacements. Guerrero, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua are the states where the largest concentration of this exodus occurred, with seven, six and three events, respectively. Veracruz, Michoacán, Durango and Tamaulipas are the states that complete this list of registered cases caused by violence and the fight against organized crime.

Furthermore, Chiapas, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Oaxaca and Zacatecas also reported cases of displacement but this was because of political violence, religious conflicts, land disputes, and mining activity, in the case of the last state mentioned.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices | Spanish Original

Related: Number of Missing People in Mexico Rises to 30,000 By End-2016 (Reuters)

Related: Mexico Drug War: Security and Justice Are Inseparable (Mexico Voices)

Translated by Carl Eadie

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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