Impacts of the migration process on Guatemalan indigenous boys, girls, and adolescents who go to work in Mexico:

The case of the Mam indigenous populations from El Naranjo

Carol L. Girón Researcher

Tijuana, Baja California, April 22, 2010

XV Regional Conference on Migration (RCM)Regional Seminar on Migration and Family

General Context

• Guatemala – a country of origin, transit, destination, and return• Migration to the USA, Mexico, and Canada• Border regions with the highest numbers of migration to

Mexico: San Marcos (77.67%), Quetzaltenango (11.88%), Retalhuleu (4.01%), Huehuetenango (0.84%)

• Mainly men (79%) but also women (21%) • Low education levels: 39% have not finished elementary education, 22% have never been to school• Migration of adolescents: 13% (age group: 15 – 18 years)

Location of Research Sites

ALDEA EL NARANJO, MALACATÁN, SAN MARCOS

TAPACHULA, MX

Map taken from: http://pueblosmayas.com/img/img-mapaGuatemala.jpg

Factors Associated to Migration

• Family migration history • Economic aspects• “Indirect pressure” by the family• Consolidation of social networks• A strengthened image of the receiving country • Social mobility

Map of the migration route of indigenous Map of the migration route of indigenous boys, girls, and adolescents from El Naranjo, boys, girls, and adolescents from El Naranjo,

San Marcos, to MexicoSan Marcos, to Mexico

Rural-Rural Migration

• Children 0-7 years of age travel within family groups,

helping with labor activities without receiving any

payment in return;

• Children 7-9 of age, family migration, parents negotiate

labor agreements, receive low salaries;

• Boys, girls, and adolescents 10-17 of age travel by

themselves, negotiate their own hiring processes, and earn

average salaries depending on their level of education.

Rural-Urban Migration • Female adolescents, 14 years of age and older, with no

education, are accompanied by their fathers to find employment as household workers or caretakers of children and elderly people;

• Boys and male adolescents, 11-17 years of age, travel by themselves, work as street vendors, shining shoes, selling balloons, washing cars, etc.;

• Female adolescents, 14 of age and older, work as salespersons, waitresses, and shop assistants;

• Male adolescents, 11 years of age and older, travel by themselves and find employment in the construction sector, as servants, to carry loads, etc.

In Mexico:

• Finding jobs – a sustained income;

• Learning to use and manage new technologies and gaining

other skills;

• Gaining knowledge about hiring systems, negotiating

employment terms and income;

• Strengthening their autonomy.

Impacts of Migration on Indigenous Boys, Girls, and

Adolescents

In Mexico:

• Taking on family responsibilities;• Taking advantage of other social spaces; • Opportunities of access to education and health.

In Guatemala:

• Building the social imaginary of migration;

• Consolidating social networks for migration;

• Changes in the family structure at home – in the process of

communication, separation, control, and authority;

• Sudden growth of the under-age person;

• New forms of social interaction;

Impacts of Migration on Indigenous Boys, Girls, and

Adolescents

In Guatemala:

• Taking on responsibilities at an early age – direct

contribution to the family economy: CHILD REMITTANCES;

• Renouncing and concealing the Mam identity;

• Emergence of “new diseases”: cases of HIV/AIDS.

• To carry out in-depth studies about the topic of “Child Remittances”;

• To strengthen inter-institutional coordination processes between Mexico and Guatemala and to follow up on current Agreements and Memos of Understanding;

• To include the topic of specific assistance to indigenous boys, girls, and adolescents as key actors within current migration processes into the bi-national agenda;

• To replicate best practices relating to education and health in the coffee region in Chiapas;

• To focus on the southern border as a region with a significant movement of populations and as a risk area for indigenous boys, girls, and adolescents.

FINAL THOUGHTS