Abstract

ARMAS LUCAS, Álvaro Napoleón; VILLAFUERTE SOLIS, Daniel  and  MEGCHUN RIVERA, Rodrigo. Gracias a Dios, in Guatemala: Frontierization, International migration, criminalization, and the increased costs and risks of migratory mobility. Carta econ. reg. [online]. 2023, vol.36, n.132, pp.151-182.  Epub Oct 01, 2024. ISSN 2683-2852.  https://doi.org/10.32870/cer.v0i132.7878.

The article proposes that the North of Guatemala has become an object of frontierization, with an increase in the persecution and punishment of undocumented international migration. The case study presented is that of the migration route from Huehuetenango to Gracias a Dios and it addresses some of the actors and their practices, and the creation of spaces that help or hinder their migration. Our main concept is frontierization, which lets us analyze the articulation and deployment of different spaces of containment and exception, created to prevent the mobility of groups of migrants to the United States (externalizing borders). This allows us to see the Guatemalan border as dynamic and expansive. The research question is: which are some effects of frontierization on international migrants and «border crossing facilitators» (Izcara, 2014) or coyotes? The article is based on an extensive set of observations made and dialogues held in the region between 2014-2017, as well as on five depth interviews held in the first quarter of 2023, with key migratory actors from Gracias a Dios, to update our data. One conclusion is that although the border is porous, it has been disposed in such a way as to detain migrants, including Guatemalans in transit.

Keywords : Frontierization; undocumented international migration; coyotes or «border crossing facilitators»; vulnerabilities; Central America.

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