UNHCR and UNICEF have recently revealed the results of a survey according to which the number of people leaving northern Central America has dramatically increased due to gang violence amid a terrible wave of violence and extortion.
The problem mainly concerns three Central American countries – Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The UN agencies that conducted the survey point out that children and women are particularly affected. 20% of the 3,100 interviewed people reported different types of violence including death threats, extortion, domestic violence, or gang recruitment amongst others. These are the main reasons why they have been forced to take the decision to leave their countries. Furthermore, 30% of the unaccompanied children who were also surveyed declared that they had been victims of violence and did not have access to basic services such as the possibility of attending school.
The survey indicates that the level of violence has significantly increased which explains the increase in the number of people from the region heading for the United States. In 2019 this surge was of 456% – 432,000 families who reached the American border – a massive increase from the 77,800 families in 2018.
“Many people from northern Central America are literally running for their lives as gangs target entire families, including children, forcing them to flee. They don’t leave any family member behind because they fear retaliation from the gangs in the communities. Now, after COVID-19 and two devastating hurricanes have hit Central America, the increase in poverty and violence is likely to drive more of these families from their homes in the coming weeks and months,” said Jean Gough, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The UN estimates that by the end of 2019 over 800,000 people from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador have asked for protection either in their own countries or abroad. Women and young girls have frequently become the victims of sexual abuse or gender-based violence while men have been forcefully recruited to drug-dealing gangs.
While the levels of the different types of violence have recently swelled, the situation of those impacted by it has also become significantly more difficult since COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have limited the possibilities of leaving the region as the borders have been closed.
Humanitarian aid experts predict that the surge in violence as well as the poverty which has been further worsened by the two hurricanes that subsequently hit Central America will unleash another huge wave of migration as desperate people will try to reach the United States in an effort to survive. Media reports illustrate one large group of migrants spotted in December 2020. In San Pedro Sula, Honduras a few hundred people formed a new caravan and set off to the US. The caravan was created mostly by young people with backpacks and women with children who started to head towards Guatemala on foot. However, this group may just be the first of many with others soon being formed as Central American governments prove unable to help their citizens who have lost everything as a result of the two recent hurricanes.
