Violence without Truce: Hondurans in the Gulf of Mexico Corridor

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221120007
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Other Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221120007

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 247, Vol. 49 No. 6, November 2022, 153–167

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221120007

© 2022 Latin American Perspectives

153

Violence without Truce

Hondurans in the Gulf of Mexico Corridor

by

María Teresa Rodríguez L.

The Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco have for decades been linked to Central

American migrations, largely through cross-border labor mobility. Today, however, the

diversification of receiving areas in Mexico requires focusing attention on how the dynam-

ics of mobility, settlement, and/or transit impact new contexts. The state of Veracruz, part

of the so-called Gulf of Mexico corridor that connects the country’s southern and northern

borders on the east, has emerged as an unplanned destination—a place of temporary or

permanent residence—for Central American migrants, especially Hondurans.

Examination of the types of violence experienced by in-transit undocumented migrants

and temporary or permanent residents in the area shows how the coercive migration poli-

cies of the Mexican government contribute to maintaining a continuum of violence that

affects people “trapped in mobility.”

Los estados mexicanos de Chiapas y Tabasco han estado vinculados durante décadas a

las migraciones centroamericanas, en gran parte a través de la movilidad laboral trans-

fronteriza. Hoy, sin embargo, la diversificación de las áreas receptoras en México requiere

que enfoquemos la atención en cómo la dinámica de movilidad, asentamiento y/o tránsito

impacta en nuevos contextos. El estado de Veracruz, parte del llamado corredor del Golfo

de México que conecta las fronteras sur y norte del país en el lado este, se ha convertido en

un destino no planificado, un lugar de residencia temporal o permanente, para los migran-

tes centroamericanos, especialmente los hondureños. Un análisis de los tipos de violencia

que experimentan los migrantes indocumentados en tránsito y los residentes temporales

o permanentes en la zona muestra cómo las políticas migratorias coercitivas del gobierno

mexicano contribuyen a mantener un ciclo de violencia que afecta a aquellos “atrapados

en la movilidad”.

Keywords: Violence, Hondurans, Migration, Central America, Transit migration

In recent years, the volume and composition of migratory flows from Central

America through Mexico on the journey to the United States have been receiv-

ing considerable public attention. One aspect that stands out is the persistence

of this phenomenon in spite of the risks, hardships, and obstacles that migrants

confront: the perils of the clandestine journey itself, meager economic resources,

and conditions that force them to walk long distances through rivers, jungles,

María Teresa Rodríguez L. is a professor/researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios

Superiores en Antropología Social–Golfo in Xalapa, Mexico. Her areas of interest relate to ethnic

identities, religion, and migration. A Spanish version of this article was published in Autoctonía:

Revista de Ciencias Sociales e Historia 2 (1, 2018).

1120007LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221120007Latin American PerspectivesRodríguez/HONDURANS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO CORRIDOR

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