Mexico and Guatemala They agreed this Friday, August 2, to carry out joint security operations in its border after hundreds of Mexicans recently fled Chiapas to the neighboring country in the face of a wave of violence by the organized crime cartels that dominate the area and for the fear that their children will be recruited.
“The two countries agreed to carry out simultaneous operations, both on land and in the air, on both sides of the border, to maintain permanent communication mechanisms and to convene a high-level meeting of the Mexico-Guatemala High-Level Security Group at the end of August,” the two governments said in a joint statement.
The agreement was reached after a binational meeting between the foreign ministers and security and migration officials.
Since July 23rd Around 400 Mexicans have fled the border town of Amatenango (southern state of Chiapas) to escape violence.
Some 207 people remain in the Guatemalan municipality of Cuilco, Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena said earlier.
“What has worried these families most is that have begun to recruit young people (…) that is why they have crossed” the border, said the chancellor during the usual press conference of the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
He added that forced recruitment occurs in the context of “constant clashes” between two criminal gangs.
Bárcena said that the 207 people who are in Cuilco received a certificate of humanitarian stay for 30 days from the Guatemalan government, while 61 have returned to their homes.
The rest are in neighboring towns or come and go across the border to protect their assets on the Mexican side.
The foreign minister explained that Mexican authorities offered to transfer the displaced to a shelter in the city of Tapachula, but the majority preferred to stay in Cuilco due to its proximity to their communities.
Mexico also committed to Implement a care plan for Amatenango consisting of social programs and support, as well as health care in the affected communities, “which will increase the presence of Mexican army forces in the area,” the statement said.
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