States in southern Mexico, the ones that expel the most people, due to violence

In Mexico, more than half of the cases of forced displacement due to violence occur in the south of the country.

According to statistics from the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPDH), from January 2019 to July 2022, at least 52% of the cases have occurred in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero. If those from Michoacán are also considered, the figure increases to 65 percent.

Nationwide, from January to July 2022, at least 4,521 people have been forced to leave their communities. An average of 161 each week.

The records of that civil organization indicate that, from 2019 to date, at least 103 episodes of this nature have been registered in 14 entities of the country and, except for Zacatecas, which since last year has become an extremely dangerous place to live In several communities, the entities in the south of the country are the ones that have always been among the first on the list of those where more people are forced to leave their places of origin.

Last year, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero registered 40% of forced displacements nationwide, in 2020 58% and in 2019 69 percent.

Ligia de Aquino Barbosa, coordinator of the internal forced displacement area of ​​the CMDPDH explained that these are three entities where a good part of the displaced population is indigenous. Particularly in Chiapas and Oaxaca, where the majority of those who have been forced to leave their villages are indigenous.

The specialist explained that some people move close to their communities, in the same municipality, although others go further, but within the state and others cross its borders, especially towards the north of the country. The latter occurs particularly with those expelled from Michoacán, which has even forced the state government to open IDP offices in Tijuana, Baja California, where there are a large number of them.

“At first it is common for them to go to the municipal seat or stay in the same state, but later they may also look for another state,” he mentioned.

He said that one of the problems with this type of mobilization is that there is no certainty as to what is happening with these people. It is not known how many return or when they do it, under what conditions and who never set foot in their communities again.

The specialist commented that, since 2019, when the Mexican government recognized the existence of internal forced displacement, progress has been made at the federal level and in some entities, but there needs to be good coordination between the different government agencies, to attend to those people who leave their communities in a highly vulnerable situation.

At the national level, the greatest advances are in the generation of information, particularly in the National Population Council (Conapo) and the Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior, as well as the interest in seeking alliances with international organizations and civil society. in Mexico, he mentioned.

For the activist, it is necessary to have a national law on the matter, which is frozen in the Senate of the Republic, after being approved in the Chamber of Deputies in 2020, as well as approving the necessary budget to implement care programs for displaced by this type of violence.

Chiapas

Between January 2019 and July 2022, Chiapas is the state in the country where the most displacements have occurred, with at least 28 episodes, followed by Guerrero, with 16, Michoacán 13 and Oaxaca with 10. In that border entity in the south of the country, Entire communities have been forced to flee.

Among the causes of the violence that forces entire families into exile are mainly agrarian conflicts and conflicts between communities, to which are added other types of violence, including that carried out by paramilitary organizations and organized crime that are also involved in conflicts between communities.

In March, more than five Tzotzil families from Santa Marta, municipality of San Pedro Chenalhó, were forced to flee their homes and take refuge in nearby communities when they were attacked with firearms by presumed inhabitants of the municipality of Aldama.

Likewise, in May there was a massive displacement in the municipality of Ocosingo, specifically in the autonomous municipality Moisés Gandhi, after armed attacks by members of the Regional Organization of Coffee Growers of Ocosingo.

At least 83 people from the towns of Emiliano Zapata and La Resistencia, part of the support bases of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, were forced to flee.

In July, at least two events of internal displacement due to violence were registered in Chiapas.

In the first, around 400 people from 850 families were displaced from the municipalities of Frontera Comalapa and La Trinitaria as a result of the violence generated by the irruption of armed groups and the clashes between them and the public security forces.

Likewise, in the municipality of Larráinzar, 15 people from two families were forced to leave the community of Chuchiltón, after receiving threats for not having paid the fine imposed on them for not cooperating in holding a religious festival, since they belong to to another religion. The displaced families were also stripped of their belongings, according to monitoring by the CMDPDH.

In that entity, during 2019, the first year of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, there were nine forced displacements, including massive ones, that is, when more than 10 families are displaced; in 2020 they occurred, in 2021 11 and from January to last July there are at least four.

If the displacements since 2016 are taken, that entity ranks third with 22,000 displaced persons.

oaxaca

From 2019 to last July, at least 10 have been registered, of which three occurred in 2019, five in 2020, one in 2021 and one this year.

In this case, the violence is due more to local conflicts, whether of a political nature and clearly related to electoral processes and territorial conflicts between communities, particularly in the Triqui region.

Last January, at least 30 people from six Mixe indigenous families were expelled from the community of San Pedro Chimaltepec, municipality of San Juan Mazatlán.

Prior to that, at least six evangelical men had been detained and held incommunicado for religious reasons.

Guerrero

In Guerrero, from January 2019 to last July, at least 16 forced displacements occurred, of which eight took place in 2019, five in 2020, two in 2021 and one this year.

If the displacements since 2016 are taken, that entity ranks second, with around 24,000 displaced persons.

Aquino Barbosa commented that most of the displacements in that state have to do with the operation of criminal groups, as well as with attacks.

In March, less than two weeks after returning to the community of Zihuaquio, municipality of Coyuca de Catalán, more than 200 people had to leave the community again due to threats from organized crime. The displaced people returned to Vallecitos de Zaragoza, where they had taken refuge after their displacement in January 2020.

Michoacan

In Michoacán, from 2019 to last July, at least 13 such events have been registered, of which three occurred in 2019, three in 2020, five last year and at least two so far in 2022.

Ligia de Aquino Barbosa, coordinator of the internal forced displacement area of ​​the CMDPDH explained that if the data from 2016 is considered, Michoacán is where this type of violence occurs the most, especially because in 2021 more than 13,000 people had to flee their communities. for fear of his life or that they threaten his physical integrity.

In January of this year, several communities in the municipality of Tepalcatepec were attacked with high-caliber weapons and explosive devices launched from drones. The aggression was attributed to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

This caused the displacement of inhabitants of El Bejuco and La Romera, where at least one person was injured and several houses were damaged.

diego.badillo@eleconomista.mx