On The Border - Connie's Perspective
December 2006

I promised myself my gift to you this season would be not getting a newsletter over the holiday. Well promises are made to be broken and after reading this mornings paper, we need to talk.

Headline "Calderon visits the paisanos, Nogales"

Felipe Calderon took time out of his busy schedule to go to Nogales Sonora to meet and greet the paisanos coming back into Mexico and to get a first hand view of a program called "Programma Paisano", aimed at easing restrictions and providing secure travel for Mexicans in their homeland. A paisano is an ex-patriot who travels home for the holidays. The migration south begins at Thanksgiving (an American holiday) and ends the middle of January when they all travel back to the U. S. and resume doing those jobs Americans won't do.

It's been awhile since I have been gainfully employed, but I remember my employer wouldn't give me six to eight weeks off to see my family or for any other reason. I was expected to show up for work.

Calderon told the paisanos he was committed to working with banks and financial institutions to reduce the cost of wiring money transfers from the U. S. to Mexico. He said he would allocate all necessary resources budgeted for Mexican consulates in the United States to protect and secure the rights of migrants that live and work here.

Calderon told the travelors, "For the president of the republic, Mexico does not end at the border. For me, wherever there is one Mexican there is our country."

Likewise the president said " bilateral social and governmental efforts with Mexico's norther neighbor (that would be us) is essential to regulating and finding the only real long term solution that is "creating well-paid employment in our national territory". There is no other alternative."

YIKES -- we better be letting our representatives know President Calderon has called the United States his territory.

Lots of food for thought in this article. It most likely can be found on the internet via the Wick News Service.

God bless you all,

Connie