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Migration Tears Apart Ecuadorian Families, But Brings Economic Rewards

Posted August 9, 2010 by Ted Hesson

If you’ve followed the story of slain Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, you’ve probably heard of Gualaceo, his hometown in Ecuador.

Lucero migrated to the US and settled in Patchogue, where he was stabbed and killed in a 2008 hate attack by a group of teens who were out “beaner hopping.”

Here at Long Island Wins, we often speak about the economic benefits of immigration for our communities, but we spend far less time addressing the effects of migration on the home countries of immigrants.

In an August 1 article, the Miami Herald’s Mirta Ojito (who was also my advisor in graduate school), visited Gualaceo, and she reports on how migration has led to an influx of money in the town, but has also left scores of children without parents to raise them.

...Just about everyone here, including the mayor whose education was and continues to be paid by a brother in New York and who lives in a house built by a migrant, has benefited from migration.

Yet, the town’s priest, Father Julio Castillo echoes the mayor’s concerns and describes the massive migration of his people as a ``grave problem.’‘

``You can buy a house, but you can’t buy love,’’ he said, referring to the countless children who have been left behind by one or two parents who have migrated precisely to give their children a better life at home. He said that at least 60 percent of the 3,000 children, ages 8 to 14, who attend catechism classes in his parish have no parents at home. They are being raised by relatives, family friends, or older siblings.

To help combat the social problems that can arise in towns decimated by migration, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has instituted a project called plan retorno, which offers tax breaks to migrants who return to Ecuador to start businesses.

In Gualaceo, no one seems to know how many have returned, but the mayor said he knew of at least 20 who had come home.

One of them is Jose Grijalva, 38, who lived in Medford, the town next to Patchogue, in Long Island for 10 years and returned home four months ago. He and his wife, Diana, have set up a coffee shop, La Panera, that artfully combines typical Ecuadorean baked products like suspiros and empanadas with cappuccinos and lattes and, as soon as he can set up the sandwich press, Cuban sandwiches, which Grijalva said he learned to make in an Irish-owned deli in New York.

He came back, he said, because his work hours were cut and his wife lost her well-paying job as a factory supervisor. Equally important, he said, he saw no future for his 17-year-old son who, like him, was undocumented and couldn’t work legally, even if he were able to attend college.

In the end, Ojito posits, the fact that not many gualaceños are accepting the offer to return home is probably a good thing. In Patchogue, where there are roughly 6,000 Gualaceo transplants, the migrants bolster the local economy by filling low-paying jobs, and in Ecuador, remittances are the second largest source of income.

Back in January, I traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, and saw firsthand some of the effects of forced migration. During that trip, we studied the impact of global trade pacts on Mexico, and how trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have led to a spike in migration from Mexico.

After seeing the harm caused by NAFTA in Oaxaca, I’m curious to know more about the Ecuadorian economy, and whether certain trade agreements or economic policies are hampering economic growth there.

In 1998-1999, the country suffered a major banking crisis, with 70 percent of their financial institutions closing. In 2008, 35 percent of the population was living below the poverty line, a rate that was nearly double that of 1995.

Tags : ecuador, gualaceo, marcelo lucero, miami herald, mirta ojito, patchogue, remittances

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