Mall in eastern Guatemala becomes a microcosm of region's shifting reality

CHIQUIMULA — The mall in Chiquimula city in eastern Guatemala is more than just a place to shop. At the center of a region marked by growing migration, job shortages and unproductive soil, it also offers residents a means of escape — for a price.

An immigration office on the second floor outlines the procedure for a visa application and warns people to beware of extortion. Signs plastered to the glass-fronted office list numbers to call to report victims of human trafficking. 

Next door a travel agency carries advertisements for Disneyland and Salt Lake City. A sales agent at cellular provider Claro says he learned English from a visiting Mormon missionary. 

The mall also boasts a credit agency for micro loans that bustles even as it nears closing. 

It’s a one-stop shop for dealing with the challenges inflicted by this arid region where jobs are increasingly scarce and erratic weather has heightened food insecurity. Years of over-farming and population growth have depleted the soil of nutrients and, in more recent years, droughts end with torrential rains that spark landslides and wash crops away.

For a growing number of families, migration is a way of coping with such losses. Prolonged dry spells and warmer weather have accelerated the exodus and reduced demand for seasonal labor families had come to depend on. As more men and youth leave their towns and villages, they reshape communication and power dynamics. Mobile plan vendors say cheaper, easier cell phone access has allowed people to stay in touch more regularly but also given men more control over their families. 

For others, tucked high up in the mountains, a sense of hopelessness is pervasive. Young girls aged 14 and 15 talk about how they would like to be in school but their families can’t afford the cost of uniforms, supplies and transportation. Many young women only receive sixth-grade educations. Their parents seldom see a point in investing in further study since it’s presumed they’ll get married rather than find work and contribute to household finances. Girls are seen as a cost, and their opportunities lie in finding a husband.

And so the mall in Chiquimula is a wonder. Need a loan to buy seeds and fertilizer following a failed harvest? Savings and credit agency Micoope can help. They also facilitate remittances. Taken on too much debt so that migration seems the only option? A regional immigration office offers visas. 

Such resources are mainly for those with some means. But as a city and a department transform, the mall reflects a changing reality, one centered on debt, departure and at times deprivation — none of which bode well for the future.