Guatemala Grants Shelter to 161 Mexican Refugees

(MENAFN) Guatemala’s immigration authority announced on Wednesday that 161 Mexican nationals, who fled their homeland due to threats from organized criminal groups, will be permitted to stay in the country on a temporary legal basis.

The Guatemalan Immigration Institute has approved temporary humanitarian protection for 92 grown individuals and 69 minors from Frontera Comalapa, a municipality located in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, which shares a border with Guatemala.

These asylum seekers, made up of 39 family units, are currently living either in rented accommodations or staying with relatives and host families in shelters in La Mesilla, a Guatemalan town near the border.

This move comes as drug syndicates continue to unleash chaos and violence in the area.

In recent times, criminal organizations have broadened their influence and operations in southeastern Mexico.

Chiapas, due to its strategic geographic location, has become a vital corridor for the trafficking of narcotics, firearms, and people.

Mexico’s two dominant and dangerous drug organizations — the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel — are engaged in a violent struggle for dominance in the region.

Their conflict has transformed parts of Chiapas into an area plagued by armed conflict and insecurity.

Consequently, many residents have been forced to flee to avoid being caught in the crossfire, coerced into joining the criminal groups, or disappearing altogether.

In the previous year alone, almost 600 individuals from Chiapas crossed into neighboring Guatemala to escape violence linked to cartel activity, where they stayed for extended periods.

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