The complexity of the southern border | Article

Mario Luis Fuentes

ORThe border, which is just over 1,100 kilometers long, is, by this fact alone, a region of enormous complexity. In fact, there are few countries in the world that have borders of such a scale, and in all of them the difficulties and problems are enormous: regulating the migration of people, effectively controlling the movement of goods, preventing crime and violence. just a few of the most notable ones.

In the case of Mexico, the southern border, which implies a complex relationship not only with Guatemala and Belize, but with the entire Central American and Caribbean region, represents one of the most serious problems for the closure of this administration and, above all, for the government that will begin in October 2024.

Moreover, we cannot ignore the fact that what happens on the southern border is determined not only by our relationship with our main trading partner, the United States of America, but by the fact that it continues to be so to this day. , the most powerful country in the world, and which has powerful instruments and devices of power and pressure, which, when its interests deem it necessary, impose upon us measures and policies, even contrary to the principles of foreign policy. pressure that has been exerted since the presidency of Donald Trump and has extended to President Biden.

At the same time, there is no doubt that domestic policy in this matter is truly foreign policy, and vice versa. Much of our national security is at stake, as well as that of our neighboring country, which has for several years raised alarm about the real possibility of possible infiltration by possible terrorist operatives who could enter their country across the Mexican border. territory.

It has been reliably known for many years that the southern border of our country, which includes not only the state of Chiapas, but also Tabasco, is one of the most “porous” in the world. All types of illicit trafficking circulate through it every day: the number of victims of human trafficking and human trafficking is in the tens of thousands every year; and the flow of all kinds of goods and products that are transported illegally is truly incalculable.

Until a few years ago, the issue was considered “a matter of strict federal jurisdiction or interest”; However, the situation changed quickly and noticeably. First of all, this is reflected in the increasingly widespread territorial presence of organized crime groups, which have infiltrated other types of criminal activities such as extortion, kidnapping, rent collection, vehicle theft and other crimes that local authorities must combat.

All of the above, unlike what happens in other territories of the Mexican Republic, occurs in a territory where problems of violence and crime are constantly intertwined with ethical or social conflicts; in disputes based on identity or religious affiliation; and with hereditary disputes over territorial boundaries.

The records available in this entity clearly show how criminal organizations have destroyed or completely erased traditional forms of social organization; they have devastated or absorbed local organizations; but they have also invented new forms of control over important populations and entire communities who have no choice but to either participate and accept these new forms of imposition and de facto power, or flee their places of origin.

The above exacerbates and deepens the long-standing problem of forced internal displacement: there are stories of the exodus of families and entire communities who no longer have a social support base, let alone any recourse to formally constituted authority. he does not have the resources, either human or material, to resist the “many-headed monster” created there.

The panorama of violence and crime, the fragmentation and erosion of society, internal and international migration, the lack of employment opportunities and prosperity are problems that in Chiapas have acquired a polymorphous, multifaceted complexity in which the authorities have chosen not to intervene. excluding containment strategies and actions at best, but mainly based on a logic that assumes that the resolution of the crisis can be postponed indefinitely.

It is not an exaggeration to suggest that unprecedented troubles are brewing along Mexico’s entire southern border; Unknown forms of invasion and infiltration into communities that have historically resisted through traditional indigenous forms of organization but now appear to have succumbed and been fractured, perhaps permanently and irreversibly.

The Mexican state faces a number of challenges throughout the region that cannot continue to be ignored. And so it is extremely limiting to assume that the mere presence of the Mayan Train will create conditions for development, prosperity and a reduction in crime. Because if anywhere in the country it is clear that poverty and inequality are not necessarily the main determinants of crime, impunity and lack of government are, it is our fragile, abandoned and broken southern border.

Changing the situations mentioned here requires open and decisive government intervention to strengthen and support local authorities, both in the areas of governance and, above all, in the areas of public safety, procurement and the administration of justice. And this requires careful coordination with our immigration policy and our foreign policy; because everything is happening in a very complex way in one of the most forgotten territories and with the greatest historical delays in the Mexican Republic.

Researcher at PUED-UNAM