The Suchiate River becomes the liquid border: Mexico is divided here from Guatemala, at least politically and geographically. Here, at this point, which has become an obligatory passage for thousands of Central American and Caribbean migrants in search of the American dream, not only an imaginary strip is crossed, but also a subtle line between socioeconomic concepts “North” and “South”.
Poverty, merchandise smuggling, child labor and the illegal crossing of migrants are some of the most worrying problems in this region, forgotten for hundreds of years by the governments of both countries. Amid seemingly normalized violence, border dwellers do whatever it takes to survive at one of the continent’s most important migration crossings.
On this frontier, the dynamics of work and control have their own meaning. Here, the improbable is considered “use and custom”; the norms and the laws are diluted in the water that divides a continent and two nations. Crossing this river has many meanings, it depends in which direction it is done: if it is from North to South or from South to North, if it is day or night; It depends on the nationality and skin color that people have; crossing it from one side to the other can mean life or death.
“The border is liquid”, is diluted between dreams and memories that navigate the Suchiate River. This invented strip full of life and commerce seems to hide what revolves around it, as if submerging before other people’s and intrusive eyes that do not quite understand the complexity and charm of this place where the border for many and many simply does not exist.