ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Armando Méndez Zárate examines the shaping of the border line between Chiapas and Guatemala in three distinct historical moments: the first in 1824, when the region separated from the Mexican empire and tensions arose between Guatemala and Mexico over the issue of the Soconusco territory; the second in 1842, when Mexico invaded the Soconusco and reincorporated it to Chiapas; and the third in 1882, when the Treaty of Limits was signed between Mexico and Guatemala. Using the concept of porous border, the author analyzes the influence of the territory's natural elements and social and economic processes in the establishment of Soconusco border policies in the nineteenth century.
