"Jules Siegel" wrote in message
news:1144071204.485867.168430@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> [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
>
> Newsroom-l, news and issues for journalists
> http://www.newsroom-l.net/
Uh..........., soooooooooo what's your point? It's obvious that Cancun
is an important economic engine for Mexico, but the picture isn't nearly as
rosy as your article would like to paint. I've spent a lot of time in that
area and have spoken with quite a few of the locals. I met an electrician
who was making $15 a day--no work-no pay, no insurance of any sort. I spoke
with another guy who was making, and spending, good money as a
bartender--seasonally. Many of the workers in that area are migrants because
the work is seasonal. The enviromental impact of rapid growth in the area is
so obvious I won't even bother with that. Mexico has tried to repeat Cancun
in other areas without much success, so the latest plan seems to be to
repeat it in that area.
Do you think Cancun, or more Cancuns, are going to replace immigration
to the US? According to your article the area employs around 200,000 people
. Migration to the US accounts for many millions of Mexicans. Just as with
the rest of Mexico the money is not being spread around evenly. For the
average Mexican living conditions in that area are no better than what you
find in the rest of the country. In some ways they are worse.
TB
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