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 News from Around the Americas | July 2006 
"El Norte" Tallies Few Votes in Mexico Election
 Mary Milliken - Reuters
| | Many Mexicans harbor reservations about the country they left in search of a better life. |
Blame it on a bureaucratic voting process, disillusionment with politics back home or lack of time while juggling jobs, but only a fraction of the Mexicans living in the United States took advantage of their first opportunity to vote from abroad.
Of the estimated 6 million to 7 million Mexicans of voting age in the United States, only 40,000 registered to vote by mail in Mexico's presidential election on Sunday -- a lower number than expected after years of calls for a foreign vote.
At a time when Mexicans are raising their voices on the north side of the border to fight for immigrant rights and amnesty for the undocumented, the low turnout underscores the lack of say they have at home.
"I think the process was just too tedious and they weren't given enough time to do it," said Maite Salazar, who runs a Las Vegas-based Hispanic marketing firm. "And then you tie that to the apathy and the indifference and the feeling that they can't make a difference."
Mexico's fear of fraud in its first foreign voting initiative might have played a part in the laborious registration.
"The high number of Mexican nationals who are living abroad -- estimated at 5 to 10 percent of the population -- has the potential for being a swing vote," said Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California.
"I think they were concerned about electoral due process not being followed."
The 40,000 votes could, however, be crucial in a tight race between leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Felipe Calderon from the incumbent conservative party.
Still, some immigrants feel frustrated by their lack of political punch back home, especially given their economic importance.
"We defuse the social tensions in Mexico by sending some $24 billion to our families each year for food, education, transport, utilities and taxes," said Baldomero Capiz, who represents the immigrant farm workers known as braceros.
The braceros planned a symbolic vote at La Placita Church -- the Mexican heart of Los Angeles -- on Saturday to protest the difficulties of registering. Activists also were chartering buses to the border city of Tijuana to vote on Sunday.
'TIRED OF STEALING'
Teresa Velez, who sells souvenirs near La Placita, registered and voted along with three of the four other people in her family that came to the United States.
"It is one of the few things we can do for Mexico living abroad," said Velez, 43, who emigrated seven years ago.
"We received a video cassette with the proposals of each candidate and were able to choose. Although there is a lot of garbage in politics, the proposals were sound."
At a nearby stall, craft importer Jesus Beltran, 54, said he had no intention of voting because of his disgust for political corruption in Mexico.
"We don't believe in the government and we are tired of so much stealing and looting," Beltran said. "Go to the streets of Tijuana and other parts of Mexico. Where is the money?"
Indeed, many Mexicans harbor reservations about the country they left in search of a better life.
In California, Mexicans keep the farm and service sectors running by doing the low-paying, back-breaking jobs most Americans won't do. They work several jobs, while fighting for legal residence and trying to integrate by learning English.
Even if they have dreams of returning, Mexico and its election may seem far away.
"While you may have a romantic attachment to one country, you have a practical attachment to where you live," Pachon said. |
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