Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador: fleeing from misery and violence

The "caravans", only available option for the poorest population of these three Central American countries.

In recent months (years) the formation of "caravans" of migrants from several Central American countries to the United States has become news in the media. The majority of these migrants come from three Central American countries, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

This is not a new phenomenon. For many decades, migrants from these three countries have emigrated to the United States, where they are important minorities. The last censuses have given a figure of 1,267,000 Guatemalan residents, 1,649,000 Salvadorans and 600,000 Hondurans living in the United States. The true figures are probably much higher, due to the existence of many undocumented people and immigrants arrived in recent months. It would not be risky to estimate the Guatemalans at 1.5 million, the Hondurans at 1 million and the Salvadorans at 2 million.

These states are relatively small and densely populated. In its 108,889 km2 Guatemala houses 17.5 million inhabitants with a population density of 161 inhabitants / km2. Honduras has 9,200,000 inhabitants in a territory of 12,492 km2. Its density is 82 / km2. El Salvador, which has the highest density, has 7,400,000 inhabitants in a small territory of 21,041 km2. The density is 352 inhabitants / km2.

In addition to their high density, these are countries that have seen their ecosystems deteriorated, with forests cut and heavily eroded soils due to the mountainous nature, and the  frequent strong volcanic activity and earthquakes. Being in a tropical region with coast in the Caribbean Sea, they are very vulnerable to strong hurricanes that periodically hit their coastal territories.

To this it should be added the presence of contaminated water in lakes, rivers and coastal environments, related to the indiscriminate use of water resources that are affected by predatory agriculture and uncontrolled mining.

In addition in the three countries the economy is based on monoculture crops, which are very vulnerable to international prices and pests.

Since education has traditionally been postponed by successive governments, a large part of the population does not have qualifications that may allow them to enter a labor market with scarce job opportunities.

These countries have very constrasting social differentiation among their populations. This comes from the time of the colony and has continued with successive oligarchic governments, often military, who have ignored the situation of extreme poverty in which many people live in their respective countries.

In recent decades, urbanization has increased and poor neighborhoods were established in the main cities, with the growth of violence and the formation of criminal gangs (the "maras").

Both the absence of job opportunities and the lack of basic services and insecurity have encouraged several tens of thousands of people to emigrate to the United States where there is already a large Central American population.

In times past, the migration was individual, generally crossing Mexico (country that they had and must cross to reach their destination) by various means (especially by train, a famous railway nicknamed "the beast").

These individual migrations subjected migrants to situations of great insecurity, robberies, robberies, rapes. For this reason, in recent months the migrants decided to migrate together in large groups of people who are called "caravans".

 The Honduran and Salvadoran caravans must travel Guatemalan and Mexican territory to reach the US. Guatemalans only need to cross the 2,000 km of Mexico to the border with the US.

Anyway, 2,000 km is a very long distance to travel on foot or using local transport, generally depending on the goodwill of the drivers. It is worth noting that the Mexican people have been extremely hospitaliaries with the migrants. For a long time, until 2009, it was Mexicans who emigrated, now, at a time when the migratory balance towards the US favors Mexico, Mexicans have been helping migrants from neighboring countries, even offering the possibility that they could stay to live in the Mexican Republic.

However, the migration from Central America to the US will not stop while the deep causes that generate them subsist; poverty, inequality, exploitation and its natural derivative, violence.

Danilo Antón