Torn Social Fabric: Water, Violence, and Migration in Central America

Feb 8, 2017 | Sara Merken
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In the first half of last year, 26,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended by U.S. law enforcement trying to cross the southern border. Most came from Central American states like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Such displacement is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of migration in the region. Many more are moving from rural to urban areas and into neighboring countries seeking opportunity and fleeing violence.

This mobility is a result of “social disorganization” across the region, said Eric Olson, associate director of the Latin American Program and senior advisor to the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center on January 25. “Social disorganization occurs in communities where there is really little social fabric, little community structure, and where the community has little capacity to be resilient.”