New Wave of Expats in Mexico Need to ‘Face the Truth’ Lee Steele - Yucatan Magazine
go to original August 10, 2022

Hostile signs were posted on the streets of a Mexico City neighborhood popular with remote workers from the US. (Facebook)

The expat backlash is here. It hit a crescendo in late July, and for wanderlust types who have found their home-from-home abroad, it’s time to take stock of what happened, and why.

In contrast with retirees moving south of the border for a relaxed lifestyle and cultural immersion, a new breed of arrivals appears frankly oblivious.

The headline for Gustavo Arellano’s Los Angeles Times column said it all. “The New Generation of Smug American Expats in Mexico Needs to Face the Truth.”

The pandemic accelerated the trend. Employees told they can “work from home” weren’t told which home. Certainly, it could be in Mexico, where earning dollars and spending pesos proved economically favorable.

In Mexico City, an insensitive Instagram post from a remote worker caused a huge backlash that seemed to trigger the current round of complaints about gentrification, touristification, and displacement.

It led to where we are today, where flyers are popping up around Mexico’s capital reading: “New to the city? Working remotely? You’re a f—ing plague and the locals f—ing hate you. Leave.”

For a video on TikTok, saying that the influx of Americans “stinks of modern colonialism,” 2,000 people responded in agreement.

Read the rest at Yucatan Magazine

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