When Diego Casares was

Transcription

1 When Diego Casares was 15, he started his own business renting out karaoke equipment for parties. Now 18 and a high school student in Monterrey, in north- WORDS TO KNOW entrepreneur [n]: one who starts his or her own business undocumented (adj): lacking the official papers required for legal immigration or residence cartel (n): a group that controls a product's price and limits competition eastern Mexico, he recently sold the business and made $8,500 in profit. "I think there are a lot of people in my generation who have ambition, who want to start a business," Diego says. "My father always says, 'If you don't find a job, create one.'" Welcome to the new Mexico, where recent economic progress is encouraging young entrepreneurs like Diego to make their own success. Americans often think of Mexico as a land of drug wars and terrible poverty and the primary source of illegal immigrants entering the United States in recent decades. But another aspect of the country has begun to emerge. In today's Mexico, industrial plants churn out increasingly sophisticated products for its growing middle class. The progress has not gone unnoticed across the border in the U.S. "It's time to recognize new realities, including the impressive progress in today's Mexico," President Barack Obama said during a recent visit to Mexico City. Mexico 8c the U.S. A country of 118 million people, Mexico shares a 2,000-mile-long border with the U.S. For decades. POPULATION CELL PHONE USERS SOURCES; The World Factbook (C.I.A.], Population Reference Bureau 4 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / OCTOBER 28, 2013

2 "We are a nation that is growing at two speeds; some live behind and in poverty, and others live in the developing part." -PRESIDENT ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO Diego Casares and a friend (left) surf the Web. Wori(ers build a car at a Volkswagen plant in Puebla (above] and assemble a plane's electronics in Ouerétaro (rightj. a huge number of Mexicans have crossed into the U.S. illegally in search of better opportunities. About 6.5 million of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. are from Mexico more than from any other country. Obama and Congress have been unable to agree on how to address the issue. Immigration is just one way the U.S. and Mexico are intertwined. Mexico is the third-largest trading partner of the U.S., after Canada and China. Since the 1994 adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which opened up trade among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada Mexico's exports have soared, with 80 percent going to the U.S. Business Is Booming While the U.S. has struggled to recover from the recession that began in 2008, in Mexico the economy has been a source of good news. Auto manufacturing. for example, is surging. Companies such as Nissan, Honda, and Volkswagen are opening new plants there. In 2012, Mexico became one of the largest exporters of information technology (IT) services in the world, along with India and China. All of this growth is beginning to transform life for many Mexicans. About 40 percent are now middle class, according to the Brookings Institution. They own cars, take vacations, and have cell phones. "We have cities, we have technology, we have Apple products, computers," says Juan Pablo Rivera, an 18-year-old high school student in Tampico. "A lot of Americans think that we don't. It's really shocking [for them] when they get here and see Office Depot and Dairy Queen and Sam's Club and Home Depot." As the economy has grown in Mexico, so have education opportunities. In the past 10 years, the number of public colleges has doubled, with many dedicated to science and technology. Mexico now graduates tens of thousands of engineers per year, and there are high-skilled jobs for them. Andrés Cobos Marín, 22, was recruited for Mexico's growing aerospace industry last year. "The companies are looking for us," says Cobos Marín, who started work in January in Ouerétaro. "We don't have to go looking for them." continued on p. 6-> YEARS IN SCHOOL LITERACY RATE PER CAPITA GDP EXPORTS OCTOBER 28, 2013/JUNIOR SCHOUSTIC 5

3 "Growing at Two Speeds" Greater opportunity in Mexico along with high unemployment in the U.S. has sharply reduced illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. to the lowest levels in years. A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that at least as many Mexicans are returning to Mexico from the U.S. as were leaving. This is the Mexico that the country's new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, wants the world to see. At the same time, he acknowledges that life for many Mexicans remains hard. Half of the country's population is poor. In rural areas, some farmers still live without electricity and other basic services. "We are a nation that is growing at two speeds; some live behind and in poverty, and others live in the developing part," he said during his inauguration last December. Then there are the powerful drug cartels, which control huge territories and routinely pay off pohce to look the other way. Most of Mexico's $30 billion illegal drug trade is aimed at U.S. customers. With help from the U.S., Felipe Calderón, Mexico's former president, declared war on the cartels in 2006, but the cartels fought back. From 2006 to 2012, 60,000 Mexicans died in the violence that resuhed. That effort seems to have done little damage to the cartels, and Peña Niefo appears to be rethinking his approach and Washington's role. "A Lot of Potential" Although violence is still a huge issue in Mexico, Diego remembers when it was much worse. "The drag war... has affected my family, my friends, our community," he says. "Two years ago, [we] didn't go out of the house at night or on weekends. We preferred to stay home because at any time [there could] be a shooting." "Fortunately," he adds, "now we see a better society. People are starting to go out. Students are... coming back." That kind of transformation is what has people like Diego dreaming big. Having sold one business, he plans to start another. He says he'd consider going to college in the U.S., but unlike previous generations of Mexicans who headed north in search of better lives, he knows he'll return to Mexico. "I feel like I owe something to the country," he says. "I want to come back and create jobs. There's a lot of potential in Mexico's young people." Patricia Smith, with reporting by Randal C. Archibold, Elisabeth Malkin, and Michael D. Shear of The New York Times IMMIGRATION Many Mexican immigrants are in the U.S. iegaliy, but about haifofthel2miiiion immigrants from Mexico in the U.S. are undocumented. THE AZTECS Spanish conquistadors defeated the Aztec Empire in They founded Mexico City on the ruins of the ancient Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán. 6 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC/OCTOBER 28, 2013

4 UNITED STATES 100 OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS Juárez NEW MEXICO Chihuahua MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR Mexico used to include a huge part of what is now the United States. The U.S. won ail or part of several present-day states, including California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona, in the Mexican-American War ( ). v MISSISSIPPI ALABAMA GEORGIA National capital City international border State border Ml KM MEXIC PLATEAU OF MEXICO Monterrey Brownsville h -Matamoros THE MAYA Chichén Itzá was the most powerful Mayan city from about 900 A.O. to about 1200 A.D. Today the city's ruins are a major tourist attraction. Mazatián San Luis Potosí ^ Tampico Puerto Vallarta«Guadalajara QUESTIONS 1. What is the capital of Mexico? 2. What lands did the U.S. win in the Mexican- American War? 3. Puebla is northeast of which city shown? 4. Which Mexican cities on the map are located along the Texas border? 5. The Rio Grande empties into which body of water? 6. Which city lies closest to 29 N, lop'w? EL SALVADOR O ^ San Salvador/ Tegucigalpa 7. Which country shares its border with Mexico and Guatemala? 8. In what year did Spanish conquistadors defeat the Aztec Empire? 9. The region of eastern Mexico near Tampico is largely what kind of terrain? 10. About how many straight-line miles is it from the city where Diego Casares lives to Mexico's capital? OCTOBER 28, 2013/JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC 7

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