In Pictures: The Indigenous town in Mexico living on remittances [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Money sent home by migrant workers in the United States has allowed their families to remain in Comachuen.



A community police officer stands guard at the main gate to the Purepecha Indigenous community of Comachuen, Michoacan, Mexico. [Fernando Llano/AP Photo]


27 Jan 2022

There are about 10,000 people living in Comachuen, a Purepecha Indigenous community nestled high in the pine-clad mountains of Mexico’s western state of Michoacan.

The town has largely been relying on the money sent home by migrants working in the neighbouring United States following the drop in local woodworking sales some 10 years ago when pine lumber started to become scarce.

These remittances have allowed their families to remain in Comachuen rather than moving to other parts of Mexico for work. That – and the fact children spend much of the year with their mothers and grandparents – has helped preserve the Purepecha language among almost everyone in town.

The traditional textiles, woodworking and construction live on, largely because such enterprises are funded by remittances sent home to build houses. Many things in the town – the church, the bull ring, the charity donations – are paid for with remittances.

More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/1/27/in-pictures-indigenous-town-in-mexico-survives-on-remittances