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International Migration News - Volume #8 | |
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Mexico: Fox, Returns, Progresa
Vicente Fox became President of Mexico on December 1, ending 70 years of governance by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which emerged from Mexico's 1910-17 Revolution and wound up brokering differences between social groups within one umbrella party. In his first official act at the President's residence, Los Pinos, Fox met with Mexicans who live in the United States, signaling his resolve to improve ties with migrants. Fox repeated his vow to govern on behalf of "118 million Mexicans," the 100 million in Mexico and the 18 million persons of Mexican descent in the US. The Mexicans from the US said they urged Fox to embrace absentee voting rights for Mexicans abroad and an amnesty for unauthorized migrants in the US. The Service Employees International Union, which bills itself as the largest union in the AFL-CIO, with 1.4 million members, and the largest US union representing immigrant workers, sent a representative who embraced both goals. Fox pledged to expand programs under which the Mexican government matches funds invested by migrants in their home communities. Fox said, "The dream is that each kid, each young person, each of our children could stay with his family on this side of the border." Fox promised to "pitch in dollar for dollar" to help returned migrants and migrant families open small businesses. Fox's first legislative initiative was a package of constitutional amendments that would recognize political, judicial and social rights of Maya and other indigenous peoples. About 10 percent of Mexico's 100 million residents are mostly Indian, including Maya in the far south, Zapotecs in Oaxaca state and Huichol in the northern state of Chihuahua. Much of the speculation in Mexico centered on how PRI-organizations would respond to its new out-of-power role. Many experts predicted widespread citizen protests against unpopular government decisions. Oscar Espinosa Villarreal, a former tourism secretary under Ernesto Zedillo and the last appointed mayor of Mexico City, was accused of embezzling $45 million. He fled to Nicaragua and asked for asylum. Mexico's Population and Immigration Services reported that at least 420 Mexicans died trying to enter the US in the first 11 months of 2000. Mexican immigration authorities apprehended 170,000 migrants on its southern border in the same period; most were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Former Baja California Governor Ernesto Ruffo Appel was appointed to be Fox's border czar to oversee economic development along the U.S.-Mexico border. Returns. An estimated one to two million Mexicans return to Mexico each year for the Christmas holidays, and they usually bring gifts. Mexico has a $50 per person duty-free allowance, which leads to allegations that customs officials demand bribes from returning Mexicans- between December 1 and January 10, Mexicans may take $300 per person worth of goods duty-free into Mexico. Mexico's "Paisano Program" aims to expedite transit across the border for Mexicans living in the US and reduce bribery and corruption. On December 15, Fox said he would be "in the customs offices and on the highways to receive with open arms all the migrants of our country. We are going to make sure no one is blackmailed, no one is shaken down, and that people [returning migrants] are received with the honor that each one deserves." Fox visited several border crossing points as migrants streamed back to Mexico. Migrants say that the checkpoints on highways about 20 miles from the border, staffed by federal anti-drug police from Mexico's Department of Justice -- known as the PGR - are used to extract bribes from travelers. Fox says his government won't remove the checkpoints: "It's not about removing checkpoints, it's about cleansing them of corruption." Ruffo Appel laid out plans for protecting the rights of migrating Mexicans and improving infrastructure in border cities with a $4.8 million annual budget. Ruffo Appel said: "Yes, they [migrants] should obtain permission to leave the country, but they are not sanctioned if they do not do so. [Smugglers] are bandits, they are lawbreakers," he said. "They are trading in human beings. They should be prosecuted." Mexicans abroad remit $6 billion a year to Mexico. The business of transferring money from the US to Mexico is dominated by Western Union and Moneygram. Migrants pay in two ways to send money to families and relatives in Mexico: they pay a fee in the US of up to $30 for the typical $300 remittance, and their families and relatives in Mexico exchange the dollars for pesos at an unfavorable rate. For example, $1 may buy nine pesos when the interbank rate is 9.5 pesos Class-action suits were filed against Western Union and Moneygram, accusing them of deceptive advertising. In December 2000, a federal judge approved a settlement in which Western Union, MoneyGram and Orlandi Valuta will provide discount coupons worth up to $400 million to customers who wired money to Mexico between 1987 and 2000; disclose more information about the total costs of transferring money; and pay $4.6 million into a fund managed by Latino community organizations for Latino causes. (First Data Corp owns both Western Union and Orlandi Valuta). Progresa. Progresa is a Mexican assistance program begun in 1997 that aims to alleviate chronic poverty among the rural poor. In 1998, Mexico spent about $1.2 billion on food assistance; the US spent $32 billion. Enrollment has grown rapidly, from 400,000 families served in 1997 to 2.3 million families in 2000. Progresa replaced three major food assistance programs: DICONSA (Distribuidora Compaa Nacional De Subsistencias Populares [CONASUPO), FIDELIST (Fideicomiso para la Liguidacinal Subsidio de la Tortilla), and LICONSA (Leche Industrializada CONASUPO). Poverty rates range from a low of 21 percent in Baja California to a high of 63 percent in Oaxaca. The five states with the highest poverty rates are the most rural (based on the percentage of people living in cities with more than 15,000 inhabitants)--Hidalgo (57 percent); Zacetecas (58 percent); Guerrero (59 percent); Chiapas (62 percent); and Oaxaca. Progresa provides small-cash payments or scholarships to mothers in exchange for their children attending school (the payments for girls are more than for boys) and getting regular health checkups. Progresa also provides free health care for members of enrolled families as well as health education. Enrolled families also receive about 125 pesos ($12) a month for supplemental food purchases. Payments are made to women. Progresa substantially increases the income of poor rural families. The minimum wage is 15 pesos a day in poor rural areas, and the combined value of Progresa benefits is equivalent to about 11-days minimum wages a month. Progresa targets benefits to needy families via a three-stage process: (1) a geographic targeting process to determine the most impoverished areas using 1995 census data; (2) determining who is poor within impoverished areas; and (3) presenting the proposed list of Progresa beneficiaries to the community at a public meeting to correct any problems with inclusion or exclusion of beneficiaries.
Lee Romney, "Federal Judge OKs
Money-Transfer Case Settlement," Los Angeles Times, December 23,
2000. | |
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