[There's great article on Cancun today in the Washington Post. I've
been writing pretty much the same thing (and more) for many years and
received mostly ridicule, although the London Observer Foreign Service
did publish a couple of my articles some years ago. For an idea of what
I'm talking about, see my argument with the Nation's Marc Cooper online
at . For pretty much the same
thing but much briefer, see
It's about time someone
in the mainstream media published a clear-eyed look at Cancun. --JS]
Making American Money at Home in Mexico
Ample Jobs in Tourism Lure Workers to Cancun, Far From U.S. Border and
Debate on Immigration
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, April 3, 2006; Page A10
[Excerpt]
CANCUN, Mexico -- There was a time when Jose Luis Luevano could
envision making real money -- feeding-the-family, paying-the-rent money
-- only in El Norte, or the United States.
Every nine months or so, he stuffed a backpack at his home in San Luis
Potosi, a sooty industrial town at the northern rim of Mexico's high
central plateau, and went north. He liked the cash he earned when he
slipped illegally across the border. But he hated the journey. And he
hated being away from his family more.
Then, six years ago, someone told him about Cancun. Real money could be
found there, too, they said. American money without having to go to the
United States.
He never went to El Norte again.
Luevano, 30, a taxi driver who also operates a small catering business
here, is still a migrant, but a migrant of another sort. While
President Bush met last week with his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox,
in this seaside resort, tens of thousands of Mexican migrants drawn
here by the promise of a steady paycheck drove the cabs, served the
tropical drinks and managed the front desks.
--
JULES SIEGEL Apdo. 1764, 77501-Cancun, Q. Roo, Mexico
http://www.cafecancun.com/bookarts
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