Extranjero en mi tierra (Stranger in My Homeland): Migrant Realities in Mexico's Riviera Maya

Abstract

The explosive growth of Mexico's tourism industry in the Yucatán over the past thirty years has exacerbated the poor living and working conditions of thousands of immigrants in Mexico's Caribbean coast. My main research question asks how migrant workers experience discrimination and human rights abuses on Mexico's Riviera Maya (Quintana Roo). Ethnographic field research and the collection of testimonies focuses on the ways in which construction workers are exploited and forced to live in squalid housing and have poor working conditions. Data analysis reveals that indigenous migrant workers from Chiapas and Guatemala are subject to discrimination by other migrants, employers, and police officials. Conclusions suggest that poor working and living conditions for migrant workers are caused by the lack of legal protection, inequalities, marginalization, and racism that exists in Mexico's glamorous paradise.