The Mexican town of Comachuen, a Puerpecha Inidgenous community of about 10,000 nestled high in the pine-clad mountains of the western state of Michoacan, survives because of the money sent home by migrants working in the United States.
The cold winter mornings in Comachuen are a throwback to another era. The men are back in town because of the seasonal lull in agricultural work in the United States.
Tranquilino Gabriel — it is a common last name here — is turning out decorative wood spindles on a primitive lathe. The 59-year-old does this only on his downtime from working in the U.S., to keep his decades-old family business alive. The 5 pesos he gets for each is just supplementary income. José González, 55, works at the corner shop that he remodeled, stocked and extended with money he has earned over a decade working in the United States.
“My goal is to work for five more years to get together enough capital to get the company going right” as a full-services construction firm, from blueprints to excavation to building, he says. The father has been going north to work since 2011 because, he says, in the furniture trade “sometimes there are customers, and sometimes there aren’t.” Reyes Julian spends much of the money he earns in New York to pay for his son’s education.
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