Felipe Calderón, 56th President of Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
Since 2006, at least 250,000 Mexicans have been displaced from their homes due to on-going violence.
According to the refugee office of the United Nations (UNHCR), some five million homes have been abandoned in Mexico over a span of six years, a statistic recognised by the country’s Institute of the National Fund for Workers’ Housing (Infonavit).
Local sources suggest that the displacement of so many Mexicans is largely due to government plans initiated by ex-President Felipe Calderón in 2006 that sent military forces to tackle organised crime across the country.
The UNHCR indicates that the 250,000 refugee number reflects the quantity of “internally displaced” people, or rather, those who have been displaced within Mexico but have not sought asylum outside the country.
In reference to the displacement statistics, Raúl Romero, head of the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity (MPKD), stated that the Calderón mandates marked “the six bloodiest years of the past 40– a period in which Mexico fell behind the rest of Latin America. New problems arose and other existing ones were exasperated, namely injustice, impunity, and criminalization”. He further commented that grave human rights violations appeared in virtually every instance where the Mexican marines or army had intervened during the time.
Calderón is currently facing human rights charges in international courts.
These statistics regarding mass displacement in Mexico have come forth in light of recent reports showing that Latin America is the most dangerous region in the world.
According to the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, in the first 120 days of President Enrique Peña’s term in office at least 5,296 homicides occurred in instances of organised crime.
Agencia Púlsar reports that within the past two weeks, 12 young people have disappeared, four have been killed in an armed attack, at least two hospitalised for bullet wounds, and two cars set on fire just in the Tepito barrio of the Cuauhtémoc department in Mexico City.
The post Mexico: Violence Displaces 250,000 Over Six Years appeared first on The Argentina Independent.