So Close Yet So Far

Divided Contexts on the Mexico-Guatemala Border

Abstract

The border between Mexico and Guatemala results from the geopolitical confluence of two countries with different priorities, generating different ways of organization in the lives of its inhabitants and the people who transit through this zone. This context has created conditions of interaction on what each country consider legal, illegal and punishable, leading to several interpretations of the migratory phenomena. We are facing real contexts that adopt the transit of human beings. Situations that are possible and give meaning to the lives of many people in divided contexts.

This article presents an overview of two cross-border locations between Mexico and Guatemala that intend to describe the border zone and the mobility of people as a social phenomenon. What motivates people to move between both countries? and what are the relationships and decisions linked to someone or something being able to move and decide to do so? even more when this mobility means the crossing of a politically delimited border? are some of the questions raised in this article.

To respond to the questions raised, I carried out a qualitative approach, which will also allow achieving a better understanding of the dynamics of people who live in these places.