Money From Mexico Starts To Trickle North

Summary: By MARC LACEY MIAHUATLAN Mexico During the best times Miguel Salcedo s son an illegal immigrant in San Diego would be sending home hundreds of dollars a month to support his struggling family in Mexico But at times like these with the American economy out of whack and his son out of work Mr Salcedo finds himself doing what he never imagined he would have to do sending pesos north Unemployment has hit migrant communities in the United States so hard that a startling new phenomenon has been detected instead of receiving remittances from relatives in the richest country on earth some down and out Mexican families are scraping together what they can to support their unemployed loved ones in the United States We send something whenever we have a little extra at least enough so he can eat said Mr Salcedo who is from a small village here in the rural state of Oaxaca and works odd jobs to support his wife his two younger sons and now his jobless eldest boy in California He is not alone Leonardo Herrera a rancher from outside Tuxtla Gutierrez in the southern state of Chiapas said he recently sold a cow to help raise $1 000 to send to his struggling nephew in northern California Also in Chiapas a poor state that sends many migrants to the United States Maria del Carmen Montufar has pooled money with her husband and other family members to send financial assistance to her daughter Candelaria in North Carolina In the last year the family has sent money small amounts ranging from $40 to $80 eight times to help Candelaria and her husband who are both without steady work and recently had a child When she s working she sends money to us the mother said But now because there s no work we send money to her Statistics measuring the extent of what experts are calling reverse remittances are hard to come by But interviews in Mexico with government officials money transfer operators immigration experts and relatives of out of work migrants show that a transaction that was rarely noticed before appears to be on the rise It s something that s surprising a symptom of the economic crisis said Martin Zuvire Lucas who heads a network of community banks that operate in poor communities in Oaxaca and other underserved Mexican states We haven t been able to measure it but we hear of more cases where money is going north At one small bank in Chiapas that used to see money flowing in from the United States more money is going out than coming in I d say every month 50 000 pesos are sent from here to there said Edith Ramirez Gonzalez a sales executive at Banco Azteca in San Cristobal de las Casas And from there we d receive about 30 000 pesos Fifty thousand pesos is $3 840 With nearly half its population living in poverty Mexico is not well placed to prop up struggling citizens abroad Mexico could lose as many as 735 000 jobs this year and its economy may decline 7 5 percent government economists predict making the country one of the worst affected by the global recession Still poverty is a relative concept It is easier to get by on little in Mexico especially in rural areas allowing the poor to help the even more precarious In Miahuatlan Sirenia Avendano and her husband may be more down and out than their two sons both in their 20s who wait tables at a Mexican restaurant in central Florida and have seen their hours reduced and their tips drop precipitously But they live in their own home on land they use to grow corn and other crops We re poor but nobody can throw us out of this house Ms Avendano said wiping away tears at her kitchen table as she spoke of her sons economic travails They worry about that What happens if they can t pay the rent To help make ends meet she sells chiles rellenos a popular delicacy around the neighborhood We have an obligation to help them said her husband Javier They re our sons It doesn t matter if they are here or there In other cases the migrants are returning home as the many passengers who hop off the bus that runs regularly from northern California to a gas station in Miahuatlan make clear There s nothing up there said a young man with an overflowing suitcase who returned one recent night Mr Salcedo who has sent his 18 year old son about $60 five times in the last year said We ve decided to tighten our belt until we re all working again ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Sirenia Avendano wept as she spoke of sending money to her two sons in Florida who are struggling as waiters Antonio Betancourt contributed reporting from Mexico City and Dominique Jarry Shore from San Cristobal de las Casas Mexico Copyright 미주한국일보 koreatimes com 무단전재 및 재배포 금지 By MARC LACEY MIAHUATLAN Mexico During the best times Miguel Salcedo s son an illegal immigrant in San Diego would be sending home hundreds of dollars a month to support his struggling family in Mexico But at times like these with the American economy out of whack and his son out of work Mr Salcedo finds himself doing what he never imagined he would have to do sending pesos north Unemployment has hit migrant communities in the United States so hard that a startling new phenomenon has been detected instead of receiving remittances from relatives in the richest country on earth some down and out Mexican families are scraping together what they can to support their unemployed loved ones in the United States We send something whenever we have a little extra at least enough so he can eat said Mr Salcedo who is from a small village here in the rural state of Oaxaca and works odd jobs to support his wife his two younger sons and now his jobless eldest boy in California He is not alone Leonardo Herrera a rancher from outside Tuxtla Gutierrez in the southern state of Chiapas said he recently sold a cow to help raise $1 000 to send to his struggling nephew in northern California Also in Chiapas a poor state that sends many migrants to the United States Maria del Carmen Montufar has pooled money with her husband and other family members to send financial assistance to her daughter Candelaria in North Carolina In the last year the family has sent money small amounts ranging from $40 to $80 eight times to help Candelaria and her husband who are both without steady work and recently had a child When she s working she sends money to us the mother said But now because there s no work we send money to her Statistics measuring the extent of what experts are calling reverse remittances are hard to come by But interviews in Mexico with government officials money transfer operators immigration experts and relatives of out of work migrants show that a transaction that was rarely noticed before appears to be on the rise It s something that s surprising a symptom of the economic crisis said Martin Zuvire Lucas who heads a network of community banks that operate in poor communities in Oaxaca and other underserved Mexican states We haven t been able to measure it but we hear of more cases where money is going north At one small bank in Chiapas that used to see money flowing in from the United States more money is going out than coming in I d say every month 50 000 pesos are sent from here to there said Edith Ramirez Gonzalez a sales executive at Banco Azteca in San Cristobal de las Casas And from there we d receive about 30 000 pesos Fifty thousand pesos is $3 840 With nearly half its population living in poverty Mexico is not well placed to prop up struggling citizens abroad Mexico could lose as many as 735 000 jobs this year and its economy may decline 7 5 percent government economists predict making the country one of the worst affected by the global recession Still poverty is a relative concept It is easier to get by on little in Mexico especially in rural areas allowing the poor to help the even more precarious In Miahuatlan Sirenia Avendano and her husband may be more down and out than their two sons both in their 20s who wait tables at a Mexican restaurant in central Florida and have seen their hours reduced and their tips drop precipitously But they live in their own home on land they use to grow corn and other crops We re poor but nobody can throw us out of this house Ms Avendano said wiping away tears at her kitchen table as she spoke of her sons economic travails They worry about that What happens if they can t pay the rent To help make ends meet she sells chiles rellenos a popular delicacy around the neighborhood We have an obligation to help them said her husband Javier They re our sons It doesn t matter if they are here or there In other cases the migrants are returning home as the many passengers who hop off the bus that runs regularly from northern California to a gas station in Miahuatlan make clear There s nothing up there said a young man with an overflowing suitcase who returned one recent night Mr Salcedo who has sent his 18 year old son about $60 five times in the last year said We ve decided to tighten our belt until we re all working again ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Sirenia Avendano wept as she spoke of sending money to her two sons in Florida who are struggling as waiters Antonio Betancourt contributed reporting from Mexico City and Dominique Jarry Shore from San Cristobal de las Casas Mexico Copyright 미주한국일보 koreatimes com 무단전재 및 재배포 금지

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