In June 2008 the Cross-Border Issues Group visited Chiapas, Mexico to study immigration issues.  Below we present a few video samples of their work during their visit.

CBIG Members:

• Jennifer Vieth, UNM
• Maggie Ybarra, UNM
• Christina Lovato, UNM
• Carolyn Gonzales, UNM
• Richard Schaefer, UNM
• Arturo Lopez Duran, UFLP
• Rafa Quijana, UFLP

For more info: schaefer@unm.edu

Chiapas DVD 2.1 "Life in rural village"

Amelia Díaz Hernandez grew up  in the small village of  San Andrés Larráinzar before immigrating to the nearby city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. She describes the hard living conditions in rural communities, even those that have been influenced by Zapatista principles.
(Runs 2:43, interviewed in June 2009 by CBIG’s Carolyn Gonzales and Richard Schaefer, video by Richard Schaefer)

Chiapas DVD 2.2 "NAFTA and the Resistance"

Miguel Pickard White of the Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Politicas de Acción Comunitaria (CIEPAC) in San Cristóbal de Las Casas explains how NAFTA and globalization contributed to the migration of rural indigenous from Chiapas and Guatemala, and how the Zapatistas in autonomous zones have organized to resist those forces. CIEPAC provides information and analysis for those communities.

(Runs 5:28: interviewed in June 2009 by CBIG’s Carolyn Gonzales and Richard Schaefer, video by Richard Schaefer

 

Chiapas DVD 2.3  "Migration adversely affects traditional rural communities"

Santiago López Gomez of the Comité de Derechos Humano in Ocosingo assists migrants, indigenous and indigents in Mexico and Guatemala. He describes how the lure of migration adversely affects both young migrants and their traditional rural communities, as well as how migrants are abuse and violence in transit.

(Runs 3:40: interviewed in June 2009 by CBIG’s Christina Lovato, Jennifer Vieth, Maggie Ybarra, Carolyn Gonzales and Richard Schaefer, video by Christina Lovato and Richard Schaefe

Chiapas DVD 2.4  "Amelia identifies with her  indigenous Tzotzil roots"

Amelia Díaz Hernandez grew up in the small in San Andrés Larráinzar, speaking Tzotzil before migrating to the nearby city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas. She continues to identify with her indigenous Tzotzil roots even though she migrated to the city to improve her lifestyle and for economic opportunities for her family.

(Runs 10:28, interviewed in June 2009 by CBIG’s Carolyn Gonzales and Richard Schaefer, video by Richard Schaefer)

 

Chiapas DVD 2.5   "CBIG group members cross border to Guatemala"

Cross Border Issues Group members Christina Lovato, Jennifer Vieth, Maggie Ybarra, Carolyn Gonzales, Richard Schaefer, Arturo López Durán and Rafa Quijana, along with Romeo Méndez, crossed the Mexico-Guatemala border at Ciudad Cuauhtémoc to see the effects of globalization and immigration on Mexico’s southern border.

(Runs 7:32, videotaped in June 2009 by CBIG’s Christina Lovato and Richard Schaefer)

A Regional Approach to a Global Epidemic

April 1 - 3, 2009

Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown Hotel

2600 Louisiana Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Human trafficking is a form of slavery in which people-mostly women and children- are bought, sold, and transported against their will, in order to exploit their labor or sexual services. An estimated 27 million people are in bondage globally, and some 4 million are victimized each year through a trade that generates almost $10 billion in annual revenue. One of the most heavily trafficked regions in the world is the U.S.-Mexico border, where

• Black-market smuggling of drugs, guns, and undocumented immigrants creates a fertile context for human trafficking.
• An estimated 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States from Mexico each year.
• The growing threat to regional security has led the U.S. to commit $8.2 million in foreign aid to help Mexico combat trafficking along its northern border.

Addressing the problem requires a multi-pronged approach in which researchers, legislators, law enforcement officials, service providers, and victims' advocacy groups from both sides of the border coordinate their efforts. Conference objectives include:

• Bringing together researchers, policy-makers, law enforcement officials, and service providers from Mexico and the U.S.
• Offering cutting-edge information about the causes, consequences, and best practices for addressing human trafficking and modern-day slavery
• Promoting insight into the ways human trafficking on the U.S.-Mexico border is similar to and different from the forms it takes in other world regions
• Stimulating dialogue about the distinctive challenges faced by law enforcement officials and victims' rights advocates to increase awareness and collaboration
• Developing manuals, handbooks, and other types of written materials on best practices for use by legislators, law enforcement agents, and service providers
• Producing a scholarly volume on trafficking and slavery on the U.S.-Mexico border to help address the lacuna of theory and research on this misunderstood issue