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COVID Slows Central America-US Migration

Megan Janetsky

   ZUNIL, GUATEMALA - For years, Cruz Pelico made a living by tending to
   onions, carrots and lettuce in the rolling fields outside his small
   Guatemalan town. But even with the long, labor-intensive hours, the
   25-year-old farmer struggled to support his wife and 5-year-old son.'Ż

   So in 2019 he began planning to migrate to the United States to lift
   his family out of poverty.

   But as coronavirus tears through the U.S. and lockdowns cut off migrant
   pathways, Pelico dropped his plans to migrate.

   "I'm not thinking about going anymore. With this situation, you can't
   get there now," Pelico said. "The United States has fallen into crisis,
   too. Many Guatemalans who are there have told me," he said. "There's no
   work anymore. I've started thinking it's better to be here."

   Instead of embarking on their journeys northward as people in his town,
   ZunĂl, had done for decades, Pelico said recently departed Guatemalans
   were returning out of fear. It is unprecedented for a town whose
   economy was sculpted by generations of migration.

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