Javier Teniente

The dry land

In May 2021, I travelled to Guatemala, covering part of the Dry Corridor, a region of extreme poverty where some of the country’s most vulnerable communities are found, and I also visited the border that separates it from Mexico, where a large number of Central American migrants cross the Suchiate River on their way to the United States, to document how poverty, violence and desertification caused by climate change are driving thousands of Central Americans desperately on their way to the US.

There are plenty of reasons to migrate in Central America, but a survey conducted by the World Food Programme in the Dry Corridor points the lack of food as one of the main drivers. It is estimated that at least 1.4 million Central Americans will be “climate migrants or refugees” by 2050, as this is one of most vulnerable regions in the world to the consequences of climate change. On the other hand, high levels of organized violence, particularly in the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador), have triggered a humanitarian crisis similar to those in conflict zones: forced displacement, child recruitment, sexual and gender-based violence and extortion.