Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08GUADALAJARA150
2008-04-08 19:29:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Guadalajara
Cable title:  

PROMISE AND PROBLEMS IN RURAL GUANAJUATO

Tags:  SMIG SOCI ECON KPAO MX 
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RR RUEHCD RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHGD #0150/01 0991929
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081929Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0686
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 1890
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHGD/AMCONSUL GUADALAJARA 4736
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUADALAJARA 000150 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SMIG SOCI ECON KPAO MX
SUBJECT: PROMISE AND PROBLEMS IN RURAL GUANAJUATO

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUADALAJARA 000150

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SMIG SOCI ECON KPAO MX
SUBJECT: PROMISE AND PROBLEMS IN RURAL GUANAJUATO

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1. Summary. A visit to rural Guanajuato to see the Bajio
Community Foundation's projects provided a good view of what
works and what doesn't to spur local economic development. Most
of these communities survive and grow on remittances, but some
organizations and individuals are trying to create economic
incentives for Mexicans to stay. Hurdles in the form of
cultural and social traditions along with local politics make it
a rocky road. End summary.

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The Village Remittances Built
-------------- -


2. Beyond the bustling and colorful streets of Guanajuato city
and other colonial jewels like San Miguel de Allende, the
Guanajuato countryside is peppered with tiny gray towns, home to
the families of Mexican migrants in the U.S. The contrasts are
striking. Leaving the asphalt highway, we traveled mostly on a
dirt road that is graded twice a year with contributions local
residents receive from family working abroad. Remittances are
building the houses, putting in the plumbing, buying the
refrigerators and other appliances, and fixing up the churches.
They pay for the big U.S. pick-up trucks in the carports. But
there's no one around. In one town we visited in the Cuenca del
Gusano (Worm's Basin) about one-quarter of the 100 houses were
empty, and the rest housed partial families - parents and
grandparents or wives and children.


3. We visited these villages at the invitation of the Bajio
Community Foundation, named for this region of Mexico. Since
1998 the Foundation has coordinated a network of smaller NGOs
and civic agencies, providing the glue for funding, know-how and
other resources for development projects. Its mantra is to spur
economic growth to keep Mexicans from migrating and keep
families together here. Adriana Cortes, the Foundation's
director, struck up a relationship with North Carolina
communities that have recently experienced a jump in Hispanic
population and now several local governments and civic groups
help fund projects in Guanajuato. Students from the University
of North Carolina visit in the summer to provide extra hands for
projects while living with families and improving their Spanish

language skills. Ms. Cortes spoke at the 2007 White House
Conference on the Americas about the Foundation's progress.


4. This time of year, when the fields are dry and there's no
rain in sight for at least two more months, it's hard to be
optimistic about what could be done in these small towns to
encourage development, entrepreneurship and growth. U.S.
migration politics echo loudly along the hot dusty roads. In
one family, four of the six men working in the U.S. were
recently in jail. We met one of these deportees, just hanging
around. Another father of three girls returned and tried to
find work to stay with his family in the house his remittances
built. But most jobs with decent pay in the nearby city of
Dolores Hidalgo require a high-school certificate, which he
doesn't have since he went north before finishing school.
Programs to complete high-school degrees are available, but not
convenient to the villages, costing time and money. Another
man's plan to buy a tractor and rent it to other families fell
apart because he couldn't get a loan.

--------------
Focusing Locally
--------------


5. The Foundation nevertheless plugs away with focused,
concrete community-based initiatives. For one year it funded
supplies and training for a women's group to embroider products
to sell locally or in the U.S. The women made lovely shawls,
tablecloths and doilies, but found no market. The Foundation
rechanneled its funding to a local university's business
incubator counseling service to develop a plan for creating a
viable business out of this endeavor. In Tamaula the Foundation
put together funding for wells and an irrigation system,
coordinating with a U.S. university. Tec de Monterrey's
Irapuato campus manages a distance learning program to keep
17-19 year-olds in school, which appears to have had some
success. But those kids won't go back to the jobless villages
once they finish their studies. Like the Foundation's
cheese-making project in Tamaula, it has created economic
activity for the women, but that's not enough to keep the men
from migrating to the U.S.


6. The Foundation combines private, government, civic and
educational resources to improve local conditions. For the most
part it avoids the Mexican Government's Three-for-One program,
which combines federal funds and remittances for public
infrastructure projects, because that money passes through many
hands before reaching its goal. But the Foundation does bring
in state officials to inform them about the communities'
progress and enlist their assistance for services that the state
can or should provide. Ms. Cortes recognizes that creating

GUADALAJAR 00000150 002.2 OF 002


economic development takes sophisticated market research and
deep cultural change, for example, when many families prefer to
stick to planting corn or tomatoes. Project follow-up, as with
the embroidery effort, is essential to make sure that plans
don't get off track along the way.

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Stumbling Blocks to Change
--------------


7. At a second village, Las Trancas, we visited a 450-year-old
hacienda purchased by an American couple. In less than five
years, but with enormous investment, they converted the building
and grounds into a luxury guest house. The couple employs
locals and has extensive plans to expand guest services to
employ even more, as well as to contribute to the local school
and other activities in Las Trancas. Now they've hit a
stumbling block in the form of a local official who wants to run
things-including their private property-his own way and who
stirred up some of the villagers against the Americans. Since
the Foundation is working with the hacienda on its community
development plans, Ms. Cortes brought in state authorities to
coordinate with the local mayor, and it looks like they may have
reached a solution. This is an example of how local politics or
a disgruntled individual can derail economic development,
especially when it's perceived as coming from the outside or
infringing on personal ambitions.

--------------
Comment: A Long Road
--------------


8. Neither economic development nor a reversal of the
out-migration from rural Guanajuato will come quickly or easily.
Moving remote communities from subsistence farming (actually
less than subsistence since most actually survive on
remittances) to more sustainable economic activities is a long,
slow process. Organizations like the Bajio Foundation that
attempt this transformation probably will not succeed alone.
They need investment from the outside, funds and infrastructure
from the Mexican government, and political support to overcome
daunting obstacles. Some rural Mexicans will stay home because
it is more difficult to get to the U.S. these days. But others
will continue to head north because it's a social tradition, a
rite of passage, and the only way they can take care of their
parents and children back home. Hopefully the Foundation and
other projects like the hacienda investment will make a
difference by spurring local growth.
RAMOTOWSKI