MEXICO : Progress and Promise : Viewpoints: Comment on the Emerging Mexico : Sewing a New Life

Benito Juarez Rosas, 62, gave up a failing, 22-acre sesame seed farm in Michoacan state in 1986 after local officials reneged on years of promises to irrigate his land. He moved his wife and seven children to a fly-infested, unpaved barrio in Nezahualcoyotl, on the outskirts of Mexico City.

With meager savings, he bought four sewing machines and set up an apron-manufacturing business at home. Aided by his wife, a daughter and a niece, the venture made money at first but has slumped in the last two years.

“The poor are always being deceived. The government promises one thing, but the local caciques (bosses) do another. I loved the countryside, but life there became impossible. . . . The only thing I have left from the country are those (eight) chickens on my roof. . . .

“Here (in the city) we work at home to be close to our children. If I worked for wages, I would get the minimum ($4 per day). Some weeks we earn just above that, some weeks just below. A couple of years ago, when we sold our aprons in the city, we could bring home fruit, or some toys for the kids. I’m afraid those days are gone. Our work is a battle. . . . Too much competition from other families selling the same things. And people are getting poorer and cannot buy as much.

“My biggest complaint is that teachers make too little money. They’re always on strike instead of teaching my children. . . . I think Salinas (President Carlos Salinas de Gortari) will bring more investment (to Mexico). The more money, the more jobs; the more jobs, the more sales. This has been a terrible crisis, but we’re going to survive.”

* ABOUT THIS SECTION

The principal writers for this special report on Mexico were Marjorie Miller and Juanita Darling of The Times’ Mexico City Bureau, and Richard Boudreaux of The Times’ Managua Bureau. Don Bartletti, of The Times’ San Diego Edition, took the photographs.