Many Have Given Up in Acuna

Several recent news articles about the impact of the cartels on local businesses included two that mentioned the tourist area of Acuna. While I am glad that someone is writing about the impact on Acuna business owners, I remain disappointed that nobody writes a word about the impact on the average worker.

Many of the waiters, waitresses, busboys, dishwashers and many of the sales-people have been without work for so long that they've abandoned Acuna and returned to their former homes. "We can grow some vegetables and get some help from our family." explained one man as he packed the family belongings. He continued, "The saddest thing is that our children will not receive the kind of education that they can receive in Acuna. Our town is very small and the school does not have very much. We saw a better life for our children in Acuna. Now we must go home. I have to feed my family and I can no longer feed them in Acuna."

As I walk the dirt streets I see another abandoned home. This was the home of Javier, a little boy with an eye disease. I speak with the neighbors and learn that his mother, sister and extended family all returned to their former home 'on the other side of Monterrey'. The ophthalmologist was preparing to operate on Javier in the hope of restoring some sight in his right eye. I don't know what will become of him now.

So many of these people traveled hundreds of miles to reach Acuna in search of work. They were not crossing into the United States illegally. They were working hard to succeed in Mexico. Hundreds of these people began their lives in Acuna by building a cardboard shack. They worked hard and many built or began to build cinder-block houses. Families with a weekly income of $60 sacrificed to purchase $70 of school supplies and another $70 of school uniforms for each child - so the children would have a good education. Many of these children ran to show me their report cards! They were so proud! Many received 'straight 10's and 9's' on their report cards. (The highest grade on a report card is a 10. The lowest is a zero. Nothing is curved and the children receive what they earn. None seem stigmatized and would never expect a teacher to 'only put a '4' on the report card to save someone's feelings).

After all of the sacrifice and hard work they return home with nothing.

The drug cartels destroyed the tourist economy in Acuna. The U.S. news media helped the cartels by exaggerating the violence and by often calling murders hundreds of miles from the border - "Border Violence".