This volume explores several issues pertinent to the history of the cross-border region between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize from new explanatory approaches in order to reflect on a history and a reality that are shared by three neighbouring societies, emphasizing the actors and local practices that shape cross-border dynamics.

This analysis is contributed by eight specialists who study aspects that are fundamental to our understanding of a process involving various persons and institutions in a specific space. Dynamics and Conflicts in a Cross-Border Region addresses an issue of current relevance through studies that focus on the problems inhabitants of the region have faced over the years: the realities of a porous border; the existence of family, trade and cultural ties that surpass the administrative limits negotiated by the states late in the 19th century; the impact of the internal conflicts of neighbour countries in the border space; experiences of exile and refuge at the border and the violence they entail; the role of local authorities in managing regional problems; the pending task of cross-border territorial organization; the efforts of local institutions to promote regional development; and the presence of phenomena like contraband, drug trafficking, organized crime and human trafficking in an increasingly complex and challenging space. This provides a way to use the region's history as a springboard for conceiving of mechanisms by which we can together face the challenges presented today to the inhabitants of the cross-border region between Mexico, Guatemala and Belize.

This book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Latin American history and Social History.

Mónica Toussaint has a doctorate in Latin American Studies from UNAM and works as a full-time research professor and instructor in the postgraduate programs of the Instituto Mora. Published works include Diplomacia en tiempos de guerra, México, Instituto Mora/La Jornada/CIALC (UNAM), 2015.

Marisol Garzón has a master's degree in Modern and Contemporary History from the Instituto Mora and an undergraduate degree in Latin American Studies from UNAM. She has worked as adjunct researcher (by project) and research assistant at the Instituto Mora. Her areas of research are political and social violence in Central America, particularly in El Salvador.