Once know as the Federal Republic of Central America and part of the First Mexican Empire, Central America emerged as a distinct political entity with its capital Guatemala City, today the largest city in the region. The Republic lasted from 1823 to 1838, when it began to disintegrate because of civil war. After two decades of internal violent conflict, social unrest, and revolutions in the 1980s and 1990s, Central America is still in a period of political transformation. Poverty, social injustice, and violence are still widespread.
In 2007 I went to Honduras for the first time inspired by my experiences as a migrant in Europe and North America. In the following four years, this project became an exploration of the social circumstances in the Central America region of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which see thousands of people, flee to the US. My intention as a photographer was to visually explain this legacy of unrest, the result of this work was put together as my first book My Perro Rano. Chronicles of Central America, published by Editorial RM in 2010.
Clinton a security guard of the banana plantation CASMUL holds a dead iguana ready for being cook on March 14, 2007 in San Manuel Cortes, Honduras.
MY PERRO RANO, CHRONICLES OF CENTRAL AMERICA
Lenin Santos is being hold by his aunt during a private ceremony for wishing a good journey on his upcoming trip to the US on March 17, 2007 in San Manuel Cortes, Honduras. Lenin was deported a few weeks before the image was taken; he left his wife and daughter waiting for him in Texas.
Bus full by Honduras traveling to the border with El Salvador on March 17, 2007 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. This is the first step for reaching the border with Mexico, then everybody walk one week to Arriaga, Chiapas to ride “The Beast” as everybody name the freight train that takes them to the border with the US.
Two women find a moment of peace during a religious celebration on March 8, 2007 in San Manuel Cortes, Honduras.
Fallen police day ceremony at the General Graveyard of the city of Guatemala. July 15, 2008
Painting of Francisco Morazan the once governor of the Republic of Central America in the middle of 1800 hangs in one of the rooms of the presidential palace "José Cecilio del Valle" before the last public appearance of Roberto Micheletti on November 24, 2009 in Tegucigalpa Honduras. He is responsible of the coup that removed Manuel Zelaya from the office.
Demonstration by supporters of Manuel Zelaya former president of Honduras on December 2, 2009 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. They where demonstrating outside the Honduran Congress waiting for the resolution of the legal status of Zelaya.
A man stands in front of riot police duting a demonstration by supporters of Manuel Zelaya former president of Honduras on December 2, 2009 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Overview of the Picacho Mountain on the November 27, 2009 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras just a few days before the general elections where Jose Lobo was elected president of Honduras after the coup, where Manuel Zelaya was removed from the presidency by Roberto Micheletti.
Workers strike at Nuestro Diario newspaper, a crime related publication. Guatemala City, Guatemala. July 17, 2008
Funeral of a Honduran police officer during a kidnapping persecution on March 25, 2007 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. San Pedro the second largest city of the country finds between on of the most dangerous cities in Latin America.
No guns sign at a park in San Salvador, El Salvador. June 12, 2009
Members of an independent security group arrest alleged gang members on a occupied house on November 29, 2007 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The gang falsifies house titles, and sells them on the real state market, the national police refused to act and liberate the house.
A former gang member, shows his tattoo made in honor of his former gang in Long Bech California, at a tattoo store. San Salvador, El Salvador. August 5, 2008
Deported Guatemalans prepare for being processed at the Immigration facilities in the National Air Force in la Aurora Int. Airport on July 17, 2008 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. They were deported from different parts of the US.
Oscar Gramajo a Kaibil special elite commandant of the Northern force of the Guatemalan Army photographed during a tour made to destroy clandestine narco strips in Peten Jungle on August 12, 2008 in Flores Petén, Guatemala. Gramajo was in charge of the control between the border with Mexico and Guatemala.
An illegal crossing spot in the border with Tabasco and Guatemala finds its way on the jungle of Petén on August 13, 2008 in El Ceibo, Guatemala. Approximately 42, 000,919 undocumented Central Americans were arrested and deported from Mexico to their places of origin in 2012.
Illegal crossings between the border of Mexico and Guatemala on November 21 2007 in Talismán, Guatemala.
Lucky US dollar in the hands of a Central American immigrant on January 20, 2008 in Arriaga, Chiapas.
“La Bestia” as immigrants have named the freight trains is seen on January 20 2008 in Tonala, Chiapas.
Immigrants sleeping by the railway tracks on January 20, 2008 in Arriaga, Chiapas.
Freight train full of immigrants made its way trough the limits if Chiapas and Oaxaca during an 8 hours ride on April 15, 2008.
Comic distributed by the Mexican Human Rights Commission is seen on the hands of an immigrant on April 7, 2008 in Arriaga, Chiapas. The comic informs the dangers of the journey such as falling of the trains, being robed, harassed by Mexican authorities and loose limbs or their life.
En Algun Lugar. 28 ’00 I Mini DV I Color.
Jose Torres “Chepito” takes a bath in the public area where he rents a small room on March 22, 2007 in Santa Rosa Copan, Honduras. Chepito is originally from San Manuel Cortes, but he decided to move because of discrimination by his accident and to be near the ngo CAMO.
Deported Guatemalan waiting to make a free phone call in the Guatemalan Air Force on November 12, 2008 in Guatemala, Guatemala I
Deported Guatemalan immigrants point their home in front of a map after arriving at the Air Force on July 16, 2008 in Guatemala, Guatemala.
McAllen, Texas. January 4, 2008
Salvadorian descendants carry the US flag during the Immigrant Day parade. Manhattan, New York. June 23, 2007
David, left, celebrates with his family the 25 wedding anniversary of his parents. Bronx, New York. June 30, 2007
Documents found at the Guatemalan Air Force, after deported migrants dicarded them at the place. The document at the left is a psychometric test, given to them at the detention centers in the US.
A migration officer removes the ID of a US jail from a deportee on July 16, 2008 in Guatemala, Guatemala.
Deportee luggage at the Guatemalan Air Force. Guatemala City, Guatemala. July 16, 2008
After a press conference at the New York Immigration Coalition on July 28, 2007 in New York, NY.