La Opinión, News Digest, Gardenia Mendoza Aguilar and Eileen Truax, Translated by Suzanne Manneh, Posted: Aug 18, 2008
Drop in Remittances Felt by Mexican Families
Remittances to Mexico are down and people like Rosalinda Ortiz, who depend on money sent from the United States, are feeling the impact on their wallets. Ortiz’s husband, an undocumented immigrant who worked as a bricklayer in Wisconsin, stopped sending her money six months ago when he lost his job. Since then, he has traveled to various states in search of work: Illinois, Nevada, and even Texas, where he considered crossing the border back to Mexico.
To support herself and her three children, Ortiz opened a traveling quesadilla shop in her community north of the state of Guerrero, and earns 400 pesos a week — the equivalent of $40 — just enough to cover her family's basic expenses.
Most families that depend on remittances spend the money on food, medicine and their children's education. They can’t afford to put money into savings toward building their own homes or other expenses.
"Mexico is addicted to and very dependent on remittances," asserted Rodolfo Garcia Zamora, developmental studies researcher at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ). [Read More]
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