I watched Hugo Rivera, a broad shouldered state police trooper, steer his patrol truck over the bumpy road along the border between Mexico and Guatemala. Two border patrol officers in military gear carrying machine guns sat in the back of the truck. Rivera looked out through the windshield, eyeing the lush green trees that line the river that marks the border. His AR-15 rifle bounced against the seat next to him as he pulled the truck towards the section of the river where migrants cross on inner tubes en-route towards Mexico’s northern border and eventually, the United States.

“We see a lot of cases of Central Americans coming up to rob the migrants. The ones with the tattoos stand out. MS-13, [Barrio] 18 – there are a lot of bad guys coming out of El Salvador,” Rivera told me.

The area was once a major crossing point for migrants leaving Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. In 2005, however, Hurricane Stan destroyed the railway that crossed through Ciudad Hidalgo.

“You used to see the whole top of the train covered with people, but now it’s fewer [migrants] since the train stopped [running through here],” Rivera told me.
Mexican border patrol agents stand watch at an informal crossing along the river that marks the border with Guatemala. Photo by N. Parish Flannery @LatAmLENS

Mexican border patrol agents stand watch at an informal crossing along the river that marks the border with Guatemala. Photo by N. Parish Flannery @LatAmLENS

In an article I wrote for March issue of Monocle magazine I explained, “A combination of security problems and the struggle to boost economic growth has seen the numbers of migrants crossing into Mexico increase substantially.”

Insecurity in countries south of Mexico’s border continues to be a driving force for north-bound migration.

In my article for Fox News Latino I explained:

During a shootout in early 2013, Guatemalan soldiers killed four men riding in a bulletproof truck. At the time, local media quoted Guatemala’s Interior Minister as confirming that Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán was killed in the firefight. It turned out to be an unconfirmed report.

Members of the Zetas, another powerful Mexican cartel, have pushed southward and are now working alongside Mara Salvatrucha gang members and other criminal organizations in Guatemala and the rest of Central America.

Lara Sierra-Rubia, a political risk analyst specializing in Latin America at Red 24, a global security consultancy based in London, told me, “[Former Mexican president Felipe] Calderón’s war on cartels placed pressure on Mexican cartels, and control over Central American routes for narcotics transportation became increasingly important to the organizations.” As Mexican cartels pushed south, violence in many Central American countries increased.

“Every country in this region, to a greater or lesser degree, suffers from drug-related violence,” Sierra-Rubia added.

In my Fox News Latino article I explained, “Starting in 2008, the Zetas pushed into Guatemala in an attempt to seize control of this increasingly important crossing point. Most violence in Guatemala occurs in the country’s capital city and along the Pacific coast near the country’s southeastern border with Honduras and El Salvador.”

Adriana Beltran, a researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank, told me, “In Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras we’ve seen an increase insecurity and violence over the last few years due to the growing presence of drug trafficking.”

Chiapas is Mexico’s poorest state, but it serves as a magnet for migrant laborers who cross the river from Guatemala. Chiapas is home to major coffee growing operations run by companies such as Starbucks and Nestle, corporations that reported, $14.9 billion and $104 billion in revenues last year, respectively. While Latin America’s economy continues to evolve (Nestle reported double digit sales growth in the region in 2013) Guatemala continues to lag behind other countries in the region.

In Guatemala, foreign direct investment accounts for barely 2 percent of GDP. In the late nineties, Guatemala emerged from near four decades of civil war, but has struggled to implement meaningful economic development initiatives. Nearly forty percent of Guatemala’s labor force works in agriculture, and the country’s major exports include coffee and bananas. About half of the country’s population lives below the poverty line.

Chiquita Brands International, the current manifestation of The United Fruit Company, continues to operate in Guatemala. Dole Foods and Fresh Del Monte Produce also operate banana plantations in Guatemala. Del Monte owns more than 8,800 acres of land in Guatemala and leases an additional 4,200.

Dole’s 10-K report  for fiscal 2013 explains, “In Latin America, we source our bananas primarily in Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru, growing on approximately 32,300 acres of Dole-owned farms and approximately 65,500 acres of independent producers’ farms.”

Although the country continues to produce and export bananas and other agricultural products, in recent years street organized crime activity in Guatemala has created new problems for residents.

However, as Guatemalan and Mexican authorities have arrested and killed a number of Zetas leaders, the group’s presence in Guatemala has been weakened.  Still, street crime and gang violence continue to affect the lives of many Central Americans.

In my Fox News Latino article I explained:

The triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras is now considered to be the most violent non-war zone on the planet. San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was the most violent city in the world in 2012, recording more than three murders a day.

Guatemala City has also emerged as one of the region’s most violent. Between 2008 and 2012, more than 24,000 murders took place there. A similar dynamic of street violence and homicides has taken root in El Salvador, the home base of the Maras.

By contrast, in Chiapas during 2010 and 2011 fewer than 200 murders a year were reported. The number nearly doubled in 2012 to 392, but that’s still much lower per capita than the number reported in Mexican cities such as Ciudad Juarez and Acapulco, or even U.S. cities such as Chicago and New York.

“There was a shootout a few years ago but now it’s pretty peaceful,” Rivera, the Mexican border agent, told me, as he looked out at the rippled surface of the river.

“Mexico’s northern border is more problematic,” Rivera said. “Here, it’s pretty peaceful,” he added.