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14 March 2003
From Mexico
Obituary for an Unknown Mexican
By Richard
Baldwin/HispanicVista.com
Recently, trying to travel on the
Autopista, I was stopped by an enormous
traffic jam. After twenty minutes and
arriving at my destination (about 1 Km),
I learned that a few kilometers beyond, a
man had jumped from a bridge onto the
high-speed lanes and committed suicide. I
don't know who the man was, or what drove
him to this end, as there was (as usual)
no news coverage of this matter. These
things are usually kept quiet so as not
to give others the same idea. I do know
that the same thing at the same place
happened less than two months ago. What
we have here is an indication of some of
the frustration and despair that abounds
in México.
A lot of this is
frustration is directed at a government
that can't give anything but promises for
what the people really want. But more
important is to simply being able to
support yourself and your family.
I have a friend, in
mid-management with a Mexican company,
who was in shock after reading an article
in a US newspaper. The article described
an illegal Mexican immigrant, working in
a basement in Seattle doing production
sewing. My friend's shock came as he
realized that she was making more money
than he was!
Simply trying to
make a decent living in México can be an
exercise is frustration and despair. But
let's look at a brief story of one
Mexican man, and what he ended up doing
to support his family. We will call him
Juan.
After Juan married,
he took his wife to the US where he had
an extended family. His wife had problems
acclimating to the northern culture, and
they returned to México. Juan tried home
building (and I can attest he is good at
it). But doing this type of work as an
individual and above all collecting money
for your work is hard. So, he went to the
local State University and learned
raising cattle for the export market. And
he did well, but in this case he had a
partner. And the partner stole the
proceeds from their first shipment.
With the Mexican
legal system, he never had a chance to
get his share of the money. He built some
more homes for a while and then decided
to go into the horse racing business.
This time with no partners. He became
quite successful and his horses won many
races. At last, he was doing well . .
. for a while. But his success ran
against another big racing man in his
area. He was upset at loosing to Juan's
horses. So, one night Juan's prize horse
was poisoned. Juan knew very well who had
ordered this as he had received quiet
threats telling him to quit racing, but
did not.
He confronted the
man, and in the heat of argument said
"How would you like it if I killed
you?" With that, the man had an
arrest warrant made out for Juan for
attempted murder. Heavy stuff! Now,
remember that under the Napoleonic legal
code, which México operates under, you
are considered guilty until proven
innocent. And the proof is up to the
accused. If you have the means, you can
go for an injunction, but for most
Mexicans having the means to do this is
but a dream. Juan did want most do in
this situation, he
"disappeared" for a time until
things blew over. Of course, he was out
of the racing business.
He then took his
family to a southern state and proceeded
to chop a hole in the jungle to build a
ranch. But the shifting of markets made
the operation unprofitable, and to
support his family . . . he made
the move north.
He is now living in
the US as an illegal, and sending
"remittances" home for the
support of his family. With increased
border security, Juan doesn't know when
he will be able to see his family again
because it is necessary for him to work
in the US to support them, and getting
back "in" is both dangerous and
difficult.
Here is a bright
young man who wants nothing else except
to live a normal life and support his
family, which he loves. Somehow, México
has failed him, although he still loves
México.
I wonder if the
bridge jumper was up against similar
problems?
_____________________________________________
Richard N. Baldwin T.
Tlalnepantla, Edo de México
E-mail: R1041643422@aol.com
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