Violence, disasters cause more than 200,000 internal displacements in Mexico: Report

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO CITY (AA) - Insecurity and natural disasters in Mexico have forcefully displaced 207,000 people in 2023, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre's (IDMC) global report released Tuesday.

The Norwegian think tank, which specializes in monitoring human internal displacement, said Mexico underwent great mobilizations in 2023, from organized crime violence and natural disasters, including Hurricane Otis, which struck the Pacific coast in October.

Overall, natural disasters accounted for 196,000 internally displaced people, of which 187,000 resulted from Otis.

The Category 5 storm devastated the Western coast of Guerrero, resulting in 50 deaths and more than 30 disappearances. It destroyed 250,000 homes, according to figures reported by the federal government.

IDMC said the state's disaster risk mitigation infrastructure was more geared toward earthquakes, hampering preventive measures from the hurricane's landfall.

The also report details the unrelenting violence in Mexico, which accounted for 11,000 forcefully displaced people in 2023 -- a 20% uptick from the previous year.

Violence between drug cartels has placed the general population in the crossfire of criminal organizations fighting for control of territories.

The report cites that Chiapas, in southeastern Mexico, was the most affected state in the country.

The bordering state facing Central America has been coveted by the most prolific and violent cartels, such as the New Generation Jalisco Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel.

Clashes between the two cartels have torn the social fabric of southeastern Mexico and caused intense episodes of mobilizations of people fleeing the violence.

Between May 21 - 26, about 4,000 people fled the town of Frontera Comalapa on the border with Guatemala as a result of the violence.

Around 392,000 people were living in displacement as a result of conflict and violence in Mexico at the end of the year, the highest since records began in 2009.