A new study on migration suggests as many as 100,000 Hispanics left Arizona as the state debated its controversial immigration law, SB 1070. As the AP reports it, the BBVA Bancomer Research study says the decline was likely due to both SB 1070, which partly entered into effect in July, and Arizona's own struggling economy – particularly its fledgling construction industry. In addition, the study highlights Mexican government figures which indicate significant reverse migration flows. Between June and September of this year, Mexico says some 23,380 Mexican nationals are believed to have returned to Mexico from Arizona.
Meanwhile, remittances from the US to Mexico also fell significantly over the two years. The Inter-American Dialogue’s Manuel Orozco, quoted by Bloomberg, says cash transfers to Mexico from the US totaled just $21.1 billion in 2009, down 19 percent from 2008. The BBVA Bancomer study, meanwhile, estimates that remittances – the second-largest source of foreign income in Mexico, after oil – will not recover to their peak level of $26 billion until 2012 or 2013.
The release of the new study on migration came as part of this week’s Global Forum on Migration and Development in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, which also addressed a variety of issues more frequently commented upon at this blog. Receiving perhaps the most attention was the launch of a new four part film, The Invisibles, documenting the journey of Central American migrants through Mexico. The film, co-directed by Gael Garcia Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries, Amores Perros), was aided in its production by Amnesty International, the human rights group, who, more than any other, has brought to light the plight of Central American migrants heading north. Earlier this year the group launched the premier human rights report on the issue, Invisible Victims, and now, to accompany the new film, Amnesty has just published a terrific new brochure on migrant travels through Mexico, entitled Viajes de Esperanza y Temor. As Amnesty writes about the film:
“Our team spent hours interviewing migrants who told us what was happening to people on their way to the US: how they had been prayed on by criminal gangs and sometimes public officials and how the gangs were killing, raping and kidnapping migrants. The stories were horrifying but the people we spoke to were determined to reach the US. We decided we had to find a way to draw the world’s attention to this human rights crisis.”
According to Amnesty, the Global Forum was the “perfect opportunity…to bring the issue [of Central American migration] to the attention of governments from around the world” and, specifically, to “engage with the Mexican government directly.” On the latter, Sarah Shebbeare, Amnesty International’s Mexico campaigner and executive producer of the films, says:
“The Mexican government has promised to improve protection for migrants. It is time to turn that promise into action. As a first step, we are calling on the government to establish a clear action plan and to collect and publish nationwide data on abuses against migrants and on the action taken to hold those responsible to account.”
Currently nine out of ten irregular migrants come from Central America, and Amnesty says Mexico is today “one of the few countries in the world that is both destination and transit route for migrants.”
Continuing in Mexico:
· More on Mexican migration, directly related to the country’s drug wars. From the Wall Street Journal this morning, Mexico correspondent Nicolas Casey with more on the flight of hundreds from the Mexican border town of Ciudad Mier. In the town of just 6000, more than 60 individuals have been murdered in 2010. And while there has been little direct information about what is occurring in the Tamaulipas town presently, as many as 300 individuals abandoned Ciudad Mier earlier this week, moving to nearby Miguel Aleman after traffickers (apparently Los Zetas) threatened to go on a new killing spree. As the paper notes, violence and fears of violence have spiked in the state of Tamaulipas after last week’s killing of capo Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén of the Gulf Cartel, which continues its turf battles with its one-time allies, Los Zetas.
· According to Mexico’s ambassador to the US, Arturo Sarukhan, such drug-related violence along the US-Mexico border has received excessive attention in the US media. In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York this week, Sarukhan suggested Americans were being denied news about positive developments in his country by the press, namely Mexico’s growing economic ties with the US and the rise of a strong Mexican middle class. “If it bleeds it leads,” the ambassador said of the US press’s coverage of Mexico – an opinion echoed by the Mexican ambassador’s US counterpart, Ambassador Carlos Pascual, who also spoke at the CFR event on Wednesday. Ambassador Sarukhan: “You could infer (from the coverage) that the country is burning from the Rio Grande to the border with Guatemala.” As Reuters reports, Sarukhan also called on the NRA to help in the fight against illegal gun smuggling to Mexico.
· A decidedly different take from veteran Dallas Morning News correspondent Alfredo Corchado who spoke at the Wilson Center in Washington on Monday. The Committee to Protect Journalists’ Joel Simon comments on the talk at the CPJ blog, quoting Corchado’s description of the grave situation facing journalists in areas most affected by indiscriminate violence. Corchado:
“For too long we've tried telling ourselves that as foreign correspondents we're afforded a measure of protection. We're fooling ourselves. The killings are so indiscriminate these days that you can die not just because of the work you do, the words you write, the questions you're asking, or what you may know--but because you may be in the wrong place, or wrong time, or yet become another victim of mistaken identity because the guy pulling the trigger is likely a young punk who doesn't know the difference. They can kill for 250 pesos to 1,500 pesos and they know they can get away with it. There are no consequences when you live in a country with an impunity rate of more than 95 percent.”
· The Miami Herald’s Jim Wyss reports on the ongoing debate in Venezuela over Major General Henry Rangel Silva’s verbal foray into the realm of civilian affairs this week. In an interview with Ultimas Noticias, Rangel, currently the head of the country’s Strategic Operational Command, suggested neither the armed forces nor many chavistas would accept the election of the opposition in 2012 presidential elections. OAS Sec. General José Miguel Insulza rejected those comments in an interview with Andres Oppenheimer earlier in the week. According to the Herald today, PSUV party chief Calixto García says Insulza is being used as “a useful idiot” by the opposition. And as for Rangel Silva, he has just been promoted to armed forces’ “general-in-chief” by President Hugo Chavez, reports Reuters’ Frank Jack Daniel today. Chavez says the promotion could be made official as soon as tomorrow.
· Also in Venezuela, Venezuelanalysis on demands being made on the Chavez government from its political left as workers took to the streets of Caracas this week to demand greater participation in the Venezuelan economy. Venezuela’s National Workers’ Union (UNETE) led the demonstrations which called for the “resolution of pending collective labor contracts, and the empowerment of workers within their unions, especially at worksites that now belong to the network of recently nationalized industries.”
· Similarly, the Foreign Policy Association’s blog has more on something IPS reported on earlier in the week – the continued economic success of Argentina’s worker-run “recovered factories.”
· According to EFE, Spain has agreed to contribute an initial $1 million euros ($1.36 million US dollars) to Ecuador’s Yasuni-ITT environmental initiative, under which the country seeks international financial compensation to leave its oil in the ground. Spain’s foreign minister said Ecuador has Spain’s “political support” for carrying out what the foreign minister called an “intelligent and cutting-edge” project. However, prior to Spain’s commitment, only Chile had contributed to the fund ($100,000), suggesting Ecuador has a long way to go before reaching its goal of $100 million by the end of 2011.
· Also from the Puerta Vallarta Global Forum on Migration, AFP highlights a report presented by Chile, Ecuador, France, Germany Ghana, the Mauritius Islands, México, Switzerland, and the International Organization on Migration discussing expected increases in migration due to climate change.
· In the Guardian, an examination of Brazil’s potentially important role on international climate change issues, particularly as an intermediary between rich and poor countries.
· At the Guardian’s Poverty Matters blog a convincing case that political reform, not simply development aid, is necessary in Honduras if reductions in poverty are to be achieved. The Guardian: “What is really needed is an open debate drawing the poorest into a discussion about the future of the country. Predictably, this is not high on the present regimes to-do list. Instead, the elites fight over the spoils.”
· The Economist this week on the ongoing Nicaragua-Costa Rica border dispute – what the magazine seems to suggest is connected to President Ortega’s controversial bid for re-election.
· The AP says the first US reconstruction monies are finally being sent to Haiti, seven months after they were promised. According to the AP’s Haiti correspondent, Jonathan Katz, some $120 million – 1/10 of the total US pledge – will be transferred to the World Bank’s Haiti Reconstruction Fund in the coming days.
· And finally, on prisoner releases in Cuba, Reuters reports that one of the island’s principal dissident leaders, Laura Pollan of the “Ladies in White,” says she has information which suggests least one of the remaining 13 detainees from the group of 52 prisoners the Cuban government pledged to free will be going free in the next 2-4 weeks. Pollan also tells Reuters she thinks all the prisoners will be released in that time. The 13 detainees include Pollan’s husband, Hector Maseda.
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