Posted on 05/19/2006 12:56:27 PM PDT by coladirienzi
Its 5:00AM in Cancun, Quintana Roo province, Mexico. Not out on the glamorous barrier island, but back in the gritty barrios of the city. In the sultry, predawn darkness of the ‘El Yanqui’ barrio, a streetlamp casts a feeble glow on a group of men huddled by the edge of the vacant, corner lot. Although immaculately dressed in suits and ties, and perfectly groomed, they glance about the streets like hunted animals. The merest whisper of ‘federales”, and the entire group will scatter like a flock of pigeons sighting a cat.
Lincoln Navigators and Cadillac Escalades slowly cruise the street corner, their drivers observing the men, while the men preen and posture. One of the SUV’s stops and a swarthy Mexican emerges. “Su y su”, he says, pointing out two of the men. The two men quickly climb into the back of the SUV, hearts pounding, gratitude evident. The SUV drives off in the direction of the dawning horizon.
The men on the corner are known as the ‘manageros‘, American hotel managers thrown out of work by rising gas prices and declining occupancy rates in the U.S.A. Desperate for a job, they have illegally crossed the border, and made their way to Cancun. Picked up in the pre-dawn hours by the hotel owners, they will manage a hotel for a day, a week, a month, a season. We talked to one.
“Thank God for Mexico and Cancun.”, said Dave, age 50, a former hotel manager from Omaha who has managed the PanContinental Beach Hotel for the last six months. “Back in Omaha there’s nothing for an ex-hotel manager my age, unless you want to work in a fast food place for minimum wage, no benefits, and only 12 hours a week. How can you live on that? Here in Mexico I make three times what I would in the States, I’ve got full medical, dental, and life. I can stay in any room that’s not occupied, and I’ve got free run of the hotel’s restaurants and bars.”
Dave sends two-thirds of his pay back to his family in Nebraska. “I support my wife, two sons, a daughter, their spouses, and five grandchildren on what I send back.” Dave admits that his Mexican work visa is ‘iffy‘. “If the federales ever looked at it too closely, I could be sent back across the border in a heartbeat.” Dave is saving to help his sons sneak over the border. One is a new car salesman, and the other a television news producer. They too hope to achieve success in Mexico, and expect to bring over the entire extended family eventually.
The hotel’s owner, Enrique Gonzalez, defends his hiring of Dave. “A guest needs more towels, the American manager makes sure the towels are there pronto. A Mexican manager says, ‘manana‘. Reservations screwed up? The American manager gives the guest an upgrade, and sends up a bottle of champagne. The Mexican manager argues, and sends the guest to a room above the hotel dumpster. Hurricane coming? The American manager is battening down the hotel, evacuating the guests. The Mexican manager is doing a Clinton in his office with the housekeeping staff. Hotel management is work that Mexicans just won’t do!”
Across Mexico, the debate over the “illegalles” rages. “These people are changing the face of Mexico”, fumes Adolfo Alvarez of Michoacuan. “Just drive through their neighborhoods. No trash in the gutters! Houses painted! Yards trimmed! This isn’t the Mexico I know. This isn’t the Mexico I love.”
Jaime Lopez of Mexico D. F. agrees, “These ‘yanquis’ just don’t fit in here. They won’t join gangs. They don’t believe in siestas. If this keeps up, they’ll turn us into a first-world country, and I, for one, am not going to stand for it.”
Indeed, Mexican police authorities are extremely concerned over the illegal Americans’ attitude toward the law. “Its just sickening,” remarked officer Jorge Arbusto of the Durango policia. “There must be thousands of them right here in Durango, and not once, in all the time they’ve been here, have they offered me a single bribe! Not once! Can you imagine it?”
Despite the antipathy of the vast majority of the Mexican population to the Americans, Presidente Fox would like to see more come into the country.
“There is a serious problem with employment here in Mexico, with jobs that need to be done, and that aren’t being filled. We need bankers, accountants, teachers, engineers, chemists, systems analysts. The jobs Mexicans don’t want, and I can think of no better way to fill them than with gringos from the Estados Unidos. We must face the fact that Mexicans only want to do certain high prestige jobs such as futbol star, or narcotrafficante. I welcome all Americans to come as guest workers to our country, with the exception of lawyers, who will be shot on sight.”
On the other side of the border, President Bush assured reporters that he would do everything possible to assure that the maximum number of Americans could emigrate to Mexico. “My administration’s main, indeed its only goal, is to make certain that every American citizen has the opportunity to achieve a Mexican standard of living, and I will be tireless in that regard,” stated the President from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
I stayed at the PanContinental Beach Hotel before. Good place
Soon this may not be sarcasm.
I hope there is a Juan MeCainaldalgo in the Mexican government that will support Amnesty for the poor undocumented American workers, complete with retirement benefits & free Mexican medical care.
Comic relief bump....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.