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 Editorials | Issues | April 2008 
Latin American Migrants in the New Promised Lands
 Frontra NorteSur
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| | A hot new global tourist destination, the Middle Eastern nation of Dubai is also on the prowl for Mexican workers. It's just one of the many destinations for migrants from Mexico and Latin America. | | |
In a rapidly changing world economic environment, many countries increasingly compete with the United States for the labor of Latin American immigrants. Lured by economic growth outside the global North, Latin American workers are heading for neighboring countries, Europe, Canada and even the Middle East.
Located in South America’s Southern Cone, the nation of Chile, which once expelled hundreds of thousands of people due to political and economic reasons, is now becoming a destination for other migrants. From 1999 to 2008, the number of foreign residents of Chile almost tripled to an estimated 290,000 people.
“This change merits attention,” said Andrea Cerda, a researcher with Chile’s Diego Portales University. “Since Chile could become a receptor county, it has to focus its social policies to see how to receive this new population group.”
Although Argentinians long accounted for most new immigrants, Bolivians and especially Peruvians are making up ever greater numbers of new residents. As many as 100,000 Peruvians now reside in Chile, according to the Peruvian Consulate. Bolivian and Peruvian workers are currently in demand by Chilean agriculture, and Peruvian restaurants are the rave among Chilean diners. Other nationalities represented in Chile’s new social landscape include Colombians, Ecuadorans, Cubans and Mexicans.Granted by the administration of President Michele Bachelet, an amnesty benefited 50,000 undocumented immigrants.
Besides Chile, Brazil and Costa Rica are also magnets for immigrants of Latin American and other descent. A small Central American nation that has registered growth in the high technology and tourism sectors in recent years, Costa Rica is contracting Nicaraguans for jobs such as bus drivers. In Brazil, professional workers are being sought for the entertainment and oil industries, while unskilled workers, including many Bolivians who reportedly labor under adverse conditions, are forming a new, low-paid urban working-class. The Ministry of Labor of Brazil authorized almost 30,000 temporary and permanent work permits for foreigners in 2007. Last year’s number of legal permits was a 46.2 percent increase over the total given in 2004.
Outside Latin America, Canada, a country whose dollar has gained strength vis-a-vis the U.S. currency, continues to draw many different nationalities; an estimated 200,000 undocumented immigrants could be living in the country. In late 2007, the Canadian and Mexican governments decided to expand a guestworker program to encompass the tourism, construction and financial services sectors.
Under the accord, a three-year pilot program will be launched to grant 6-10 month contracts to 100 Mexican workers in each of the new categories.
The expanded guestworker program builds on an existing system of temporary agricultural labor that provides Canada with 18,000 Mexican farmworkers every year, mainly for farms in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.
A hot new global tourist destination, the Middle Eastern nation of Dubai is also on the prowl for Mexican workers. In early April, Emirates Airlines and Group announced it would interview candidates in Mexico for new job openings in the tourism sector.
“Mexicans are nice, friendly, work as a team, speak fluent English, work well, and know how to treat tourists from all over the world,” said Rick Helliwell, vice-president of recruitment and human resources for Emirates Airlines. At least 23 Mexicans currently work as pilots and three others as cargo handlers for the airline company. The annual number of tourist visits to Dubai by air is expected to grow from 40 millon in 2008 to 75 million by 2015.
In a familiar pattern, many Latin American migrants plan on working abroad for a relatively short period of time before returning home to purchase properties and open new businesses. This was the story of Natalia Vigneri and Eduardo Collins. Finding their long hours and hard work in the Uruguayan tourism industry wasn’t paying off, the couple decided to try their luck in Europe. Six years later, the one-time Uruguayan emigrants returned home with savings. The money was enough to buy a ranch in the trendy resort of Punta de Diablo.
“We were able to do this with the savings that we brought here,” said Vigneri. “The idea is to remain living in our country and educate our son Maximo, who is two years old. He can return to Europe if he want to, but to have a good time and to get to know it.” Meanwhile, many other Uruguayans are following in the footsteps of Vigneri and Collins.
Confirming an increasing trend since 2004, statistics from the country’s National Migration Department reported 16,603 Uruguayans left the country in 2007.
Sources:
-- Tribuna de la Bahia/Agencia Reforma, April 4, 2008. Article by Lilian Cruz.
-- El Universal, December 29, 2007; March 23, 2008. Articles by Natalia Gomez Quintero, Cesar Bianchi and the El Pais (Uruguay) newspaper.
-- El Diario de Juarez, January 20, 2008.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico. For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews(at)nmsu.edu |
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