On the 15th of December, The Guardian released a video that compiles different women’s voices raised against violence in Central America, where their loved ones are forced to migrate to the United States after facing death threats by local gang members. In order to reach their destination, the migrants need to cross the vast Mexican territory, which is known for not being a safe place, especially for the Latin migrants, but in some way this destination ends being their safest option, as they do not face any direct death threat there.
Migrants in Mexico
According to The Guardian, “every day almost a thousand people enter Mexico on the way to the US”, where most of them go missing, kidnapped or raped on their way to pursue the American dream. The video shows the dangers any Latin migrant face when crossing Mexico to arrive in the US, combining it with an emotive point of view from the mothers who have lost their children to this journey. Some of them called their families for the last time while they were in Mexico, but after a while of not getting any news from their children, their families know that they might have been kidnaped, jailed and/or raped. Migrant women are the ones who are more exposed to the hazards of crossing the Mexican territory.
One woman explained that her mother went missing after calling her from Mexico to let her know she was alright, but after months of not getting any call from her, she knew she might have been raped and kidnapped by local criminals who might have killed her.
Authorised crime?
“All the violence we have in our Central American countries cannot be called organised crime anymore.
We consider it to be authorised crime” a statement made from a member of the women’s group where she condemns the lack of implication by politicians. It is known that Mexican authorities do not get involved in searching for missing migrants, but also the local authorities, from those Central American countries where the high level of violence force their citizens to put their lives at risk by crossing the border, does not take enough action against the organised gangs they have, and who are terrorizing not just the local community, but the entire continent.
Concerns have been raised against the lack of involvement of local authorities in fighting the organised crime and finding a solution towards the migrant crisis in the American country, especially now that Trump has promised to block the entrance of any illegal immigrants by building a monstrous wall on the Mexican border. Latin American governments cannot longer turn their back to the rising numbers of violent incidents their countries are experiencing, and now more than ever they should build a common front and find a solution to their #migrant crisis.
