Immigrants React, Debate Homeland’s Future

Depending on their political leanings, Southern California’s Mexican immigrants rejoiced, scowled or held their breath Monday as they learned of the change sweeping their homeland.

They argued in bars, beauty salons and offices about whether President-elect Vicente Fox can successfully steer Mexico into the 21st century. Many said they don’t believe that Fox can eliminate the poverty that draws immigrants to the United States. Others said the former Coca-Cola executive has a strong chance of improving the Mexican economy.

All sides agreed, however, that Sunday’s election was dramatic, ending as it did the 71-year rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, with the victory of Fox and his National Action Party, the PAN.

“It was like we won the World Cup,” said Alcides Caparroso Colin, owner of a cellular telephone retail business in Santa Ana. “I think the country needed a change. We just didn’t expect the change to be that drastic. . . . We had called it ‘Mission: Impossible.’ ”

But like others in this immigrant-heavy region, Colin said the election was significant not only because of who came out on top but because of who was toppled.

“I don’t think the opposition won. The power in place lost,” said Colin, 35. He drove to Mexico early Sunday to vote but returned unsuccessful because of a shortage of ballots.

Colin and others said they are hoping for a more stable Mexican economy so that Mexican residents no longer feel compelled to venture north for jobs.

“A lot of people who came here blame the PRI for ruining the country,” said Larry Luera, a community activist and former state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “This election was a very clean election, and the people felt assured that their votes were going to count. Hopefully, this means the beginning of a new era of stability for Mexico.”

Some immigrant workers said the change in the ruling party of Mexico will mean little to them unless they are granted broader rights, including permission to vote in Mexican elections with absentee ballots and better representation by Mexican diplomats in the U.S.

Mexican workers living in the United States send home about $3 million a day. They believe that they are entitled to a stronger voice in political decisions made in Mexico, including the choice of representatives in the Mexican Congress.

Several people called on Fox to champion efforts to allow the millions of Mexican nationals living in the United States to vote by absentee ballot before the country’s next congressional election, in 2003.

That challenge came on the heels of election-day confusion Sunday in Baja California. Many Mexicans who had made the trip from as far away as San Francisco were not allowed to vote because of the limited number of ballots.

“It was obvious that the PRI did not want us to vote,” David Silva Villalobos said during a news conference Monday in Bell Gardens. It was staged by supporters of Fox and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, the Democratic Revolution Party presidential candidate, who finished third.

“For the country to run better, Mexico has to allow itself to be influenced by the community on the outside,” Silva said. “We in the U.S. have experience in business and different ideas of how a government should run” that Mexico can benefit from.

Armando Moreno, a Los Angeles textile exporter who helped with Fox’s campaign, said the president-elect “has already issued an invitation for U.S. banks and other businesses to invest more in Mexico. This is a new day for us.”

But Pedro Arias, a Cardenas supporter who lives in Boyle Heights, worried about statements by Fox against raising workers’ salaries in Mexico.

“He said international companies would want to invest in other countries instead of Mexico” if the minimum wage in Mexico climbed too high, Arias said. “That’s not promising.”

Others wondered whether Fox will be able to alleviate human rights abuses in Mexico, or what he might do about illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Manuel Gutierrez, who supported PRI candidate Francisco Labastida, caught on quickly to the rough and tumble of multi-party politics.

“This time, we are the bunch of losers,” he said. “But we are still ready to fight for changes.”