VZCZCXRO6743
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 
 
GUADALAJAR 00000150  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶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. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
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. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
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