Left behind in post-NAFTA Mexico
By Holly Yasui, Aug 25, 2006

Letters from the Other Side by Heather Courtney, benefit screening

Tuesday, August 29, 5pm, Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25, Donations requested

"He said he would be gone only for a year. The morning he left, he hugged and kissed me and the children ... I never heard from him again. We found out through the television."

In May 2003, Carmela Rico and Laura Almanza Cruz, of Pozos, Guanajuato, watched with horror the news story about the worst smuggling accident in US history: their husbands, along with 17 other undocumented immigrants, suffocated in the back of a semi-trailer truck in Victoria, Texas. 

In her film Letters from the Other Side, director Heather Courtney sensitively interweaves the personal stories of four women left behind in post-NAFTA Mexico by husbands and sons working in the US. 

"After a few months of filming several families, I was about to drive back to the US for a visit," says Courtney, "when one of the women asked if I would show the videos I filmed of her to her sons, undocumented immigrants working in the US. When I offered to shoot and bring back videos of them, I realized how messed up it was-I could visit the sons she couldn't, and shepherd messages over a border she wasn't allowed to cross."

In addition to Carmela and Laura, two other Guanajuato women, Eugenia González and María Yañez, send and receive video "letters" via Courtney.

The result is a complex portrait of families torn apart by economics; hopes and dreams fulfilled, then broken or found empty; communities and traditions dying at the hands of globalization; and governments incapable or unwilling to do anything about it. Thus Letters raises questions and explores aspects of the immigration issue rarely touched upon by the media or in national debates.

Carmela and Laura: The young widows send a video "letter" to the US Department of Homeland Security, asking: "How many more deaths does it take for the US government to do something? Let it be on your conscience that since our tragedy many more have died and many more will die." The bureaucrat who replies to their anguished cry delivers the usual political rhetoric. One of the most poignant scenes in the film is when Carmela flies to Houston for the trial of the smuggler, gliding through the clouds in an airplane across the border that cost her husband his life. 

In an attempt to make ends meet, the two single mothers struggle to start a bakery, but they are shell-shocked from their tragedy and frustrated with government band-aid approaches on both sides of the border. 

Immediately after the accident, the Mexican government donated a large oven and other heavy equipment, but the women have no money to invest in the supplies needed, and no training on the use of the machines. In the end, they bake cakes in their family kitchen "the old-fashioned way," stepping around the hulks of unused equipment that simply take up space.

Eugenia: Her husband left for the US eight years ago and has never returned; one by one, her sons have left "for the other side," seeking work and their father. Her oldest son reports back that his father is living with another woman. At home near Apaseo el Alto, Guanajuato, with her two daughters, Eugenia has tried to make a new life for herself, making soap and jam from nopal cactus, which she sells at local fairs.

In her video letter, Eugenia tells her youngest son, Enrique: "If you invite your father to watch this video, please tell him that I'm very happy to have accomplished everything I've accomplished without having to rely on him at all." When she receives a video reply in which her husband promises to return, she has mixed feelings.

She wonders who will "wear the pants," and how seven-year-old Jessica will react to the father she has never known. Yet she also knows how much it would mean to teen-aged Maricruz, who hopes against hope that her father will return in time for her quinceañera (15th birthday) celebration.

María: Like many campesinos, she and her husband eke out a living from their small parcel of land while their sons leave for the US each year. Hers is a relentlessly hard life, made even more precarious by the decreasing prices for farm products due to the influx of cheap imports from the US since NAFTA. As María and her husband grow older, the back-breaking physical labor of planting and harvesting becomes more and more difficult for them, and they hope to leave their land to their youngest son, Julio, who is in his last year of school. But, like so many young men in the campo, he too is drawn by the promise of well-paying work in the US.

In order to make a little extra cash, María makes embroidered cushions that are sold at the Mujeres Productoras cooperative store in San Miguel (in the Center for Global Justice office, Calzada de la Luz 42, between Animas and Loreto). As Yolanda Millán, legal representative of Mujeres Productoras, puts it, "We hope to create sources of income within communities through productive projects, so that there is no need to seek work on 'the other side.'" María's video letter begins by following one of her cushions over the border into the US with the American retiree who purchased it. 

Yolanda Millán will be present to answer questions after the screening of Letters from the Other Side. The proceeds will go to the women in the film, which will also be shown at the Border Social Forum in Ciudad Juárez, October 13-15. If sufficient funds are collected, the Center for Global Justice will sponsor their trip to accompany the film. Donations will be accepted at the screening and at the Center, Calzada de la Luz 42, phone 150-0025, between 9am and 1pm.







Bodega sale to benefit ALMA

ALMA Bodega Sale, Saturday, August 26, 10am-1pm
ALMA, Jacaranda 148, Col. La Lejona, contact: Rosalie Gower, 154-0186

ALMA (Spanish for "soul") provides a home for seniors (both Mexican and non-Mexican) regardless of their ability to pay. ALMA currently gives loving care, clothing and meals to over 30 people, most of whom are poor Mexicans, although there are several American residents whose monthly payments for private rooms help subsidize the other residents. ALMA provides a wonderful service to the community and depends almost entirely on donations.

On the last Saturday of each month, volunteers hold a sale of donated goods at the ALMA bodega in La Lejona. Typically, the proceeds of a sale cover the utilities for a month, meaning that a little bit more can be spent on comfort and care for the residents. It's nice to know that attending the sale and buying an item or two makes a difference.

At the sale you will find an eclectic mix of clothing, shoes and household and electrical items as well as books, posters and LPs-all at great prices! Free tours of the facility with an English-speaking guide will be available during the bodega sale hours.

If you have not previously visited ALMA, it is worth going out just to see the facilities, and the residents always appreciate seeing a new face, even if it's only to say "Buenos días." 

During sale hours, the ALMA van (a two-tone, metallic blue/silver Chevy) will provide a shuttle service, departing approximately every half hour from opposite Espino's grocery (near the "Y" formed by Ancha de San Antonio and calles Zacateros and Codo).

If you have saleable items to donate, please call Rosalie Gower at 154-0186.







Volunteer teachers needed for Biblioteca's English program

If you're an open-hearted, open-minded individual who wants to give back to the community you've grown to love, we want you. We are the Biblioteca Pública, and we need people who are willing to volunteer just three hours a week to teach English to children or adults.

Teaching English not only opens your heart and mind to the people of this community, but it will serve to open doors for those who study with you. Speaking English increases job and career opportunities as well as confidence and self-esteem. 

And what does it give you? A way to give back to the community of San Miguel de Allende in a meaningful and rewarding way. A way to get to know Mexicans from all walks of life. Plus an opportunity to learn about yourself.

The best part is that you do not need previous teaching experience. Our materials lead you through fail-safe daily lesson plans. And you do not need to speak Spanish or buy materials. Just bring your generous spirit and enthusiasm and we'll furnish the rest. Classes meeting twice a week begin September 4. Times may be arranged to fit your schedule.

Open your heart to the idea of helping others here in San Miguel.

To volunteer or to get more information, call Jane Casa at 154-8066.