Indigenous people from Guatemala have been seeking refuge in Mexico since 1980. With the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), camps have been set up near the border, by Mexican volunteers and by local Churches, to assist these refugees. As jobs in these areas are very few, the Mexican Government has strictly disciplined all work by refugees, to avoid any competition with local peasants. Yet, this inactivity is beginning to sower relations between Mexicans and the refugees in the camps, as they receive emergency food, shelter and clothing, while Mexicans get poorer because of the economic crisis.
Guatemalan refugee and her child, at the camp La Gloria, in the state of Chiapas. In some of these camps, the majority of the refugee population is composed of women and children – often the only people among indigenous people from Guatemala who could leave for Mexico. [Exact date unknown]
01 January 1985
Yucatan Peninsula, Mexic