This volume explores several issues pertinent to the history of the cross-border region between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize from new explanatory approaches in order to reflect on a history and a reality that are shared by three neighbouring societies, emphasizing the actors and local practices that shape cross-border dynamics.
This analysis is contributed by eight specialists who study aspects that are fundamental to our understanding of a process involving various persons and institutions in a specific space. Dynamics and Conflicts in a Cross-Border Region addresses an issue of current relevance through studies that focus on the problems inhabitants of the region have faced over the years: the realities of a porous border; the existence of family, trade and cultural ties that surpass the administrative limits negotiated by the states late in the 19th century; the impact of the internal conflicts of neighbour countries in the border space; experiences of exile and refuge at the border and the violence they entail; the role of local authorities in managing regional problems; the pending task of cross-border territorial organization; the efforts of local institutions to promote regional development; and the presence of phenomena like contraband, drug trafficking, organized crime and human trafficking in an increasingly complex and challenging space. This provides a way to use the region’s history as a springboard for conceiving of mechanisms by which we can together face the challenges presented today to the inhabitants of the cross-border region between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.
This book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Latin American history and Social History.