Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

displaced persons and refugee measurement is that individuals are at times classified as refugees
and at other times they are classified as migrant laborers. In 1985, of the over 300,000 refugees
living in Mexico and the 500,000+ displaced persons in Guatemala, only 18,000 have been
officially resettled by the military (Central America Report, 1985, 269). Return migration was
difficult since migrants are often labeled as subversives and are attacked or killed as they return.
Migrants returning in 1987 to the department of Huehuetenango were required to sign an amnesty
form clearing the military of any violations (REMHI). In 1986 the Guatemalan state created the
Special Commission for Repatriate Assistance (CEAR). Additionally, in the mid 1980s
Guatemala was a receiving state for refugees from El Salvador and Nicaragua, until 1986 when
the number of refugees from the two states dropped to approximately 12,000.
Figure 6.3 illustrates the total amount of intrastate migration, interstate migration, and
internally displaced persons/refugees over time. The level of intrastate migration remained
steady between 1950 and 1955. Intrastate migration levels then increased steadily from
approximately 1955-1956 through 1976. From the mid-1970s until 1986 intrastate migration hit
a plateau and then increased into the 1990s. The level of interstate migration grew steadily from
1950 through 1980, albeit at much smaller amount than intrastate migration in every year. In
1980 the level of interstate migration began to increase steadily, in 1986 the increases in interstate
migration began to taper off, although interstate migration does not completely plateau. The
numbers of internally displaced persons and refugees in Guatemala was low from 1950 to1970, at
which point it increases dramatically at the start of the 1980s. The numbers of internally
displaced persons and refugees remained high, though declining throughout the 1980s and into
the 1990s. From 1950 to 1970 total migration closely follows the reported levels of intrastate
migration. In the 1970s the level of total migration increased to match the significant increases in
internally displaced persons and refugees.
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