Posted on 08/04/2007 8:15:20 AM PDT by truthkeeper
They are Mexico's boys of summer, their weathered faces liked the cracked brown leather of a cherished baseball glove. They are a part of modern history, forgotten not only in their native country but in their adopted one, as well.
They are braceros like Eliseo Gomez Guzman, 81, of Monterey Park, who came to California as a young man in the early 1940s, part of a bi-national program in which Mexico provided laborers to fill the manpower shortage in America caused by World War II.
Today, those braceros are waging a war of their own - a legal war to collect possibly as much as $1 billion that was withheld from an estimated 5 million Mexicans who worked in the bracero program from 1942 until it was disbanded in 1964.
The money was handed over by the U.S. to the Mexican government for safe-keeping until those Mexican workers returned home.
"Some safe-keeping," Guzman said Friday. "By the work we did, we helped the United States when it needed workers. We helped the United States win the war. But when we went back to Mexico and asked for our money, we didn't receive a cent."
Until now.
Guzman recently received $3,800 in reparation from the Mexican government, as have a handful of other former braceros who now live in Southern California, having returned to the U.S. and earned their citizenship in the past half-century...
(Excerpt) Read more at whittierdailynews.com ...
Good luck getting a nickel out of the corrupt, kleptocratic Mexican government.
My other thought with this story is that I don’t understand why the Mexican government isn’t getting sued by American hospitals who are losing billions providing free medical care for people whom the Mexican government tacitly encourages to come here. It’s not unreasonable that the Mexican government should be contributing $ for the health care of its citizens.
Try getting free care at a Mexican hospital.
Recall that it was the Mexican "government" which stole the money.
The American government of the time did hold up their part.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
I know...I was being sarcastic.
They did. Not much, but they got $3,800 each.
I suspect behind the scenes pressure from the US Government. But it's possible the Kleptocrats just thought they needed a little good press, and how many of these can there be left? A pittance to a few old geezers buys a bunch of "good ink".
You can , if you're a Mexican. If there's a hospital close enough to go to of course. Be prepared to wait. Pretty much like Canada and England, but even lower quality care.
Good or at least fair, care is available in Mexico, at least in some areas, but it's all private, in that way the system is not like Hillary's national health care, where you could be fined or go to jail for going to a private doctor or facility.
I seem to have read somewhere that the United States has “loaned” Mexico money every year, for years. Mexico has never re-paid one cent.
Can anyone verify this - and, if true, what amount?
I’ve read that American tourists are held hostage until they pay their bills.
‘Americans held hostage’.....
I have read that, too.
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.