Mexico's Ex-Braceros Tour US to Demand Pensions World War 4 Report
go to original September 18, 2013

This photo by the Associated Press shows former bracero workers in Mexico City who worked in the United States between 1942 and 1964. They are fighting the Mexican government for partially compensating them for payroll deductions for pension plans they never received.

Some 50 Mexicans and local supporters protested in front of the Mexican consulate in New York City on Sept. 13 to demand money that they say the Mexican government owes them from a 1942-1964 program that brought Mexicans into the US as farmworkers. The guest workers, known as "braceros" ("laborers" or "farmhands"), had 10% deducted from their wages by the US government; the money was supposed to go to Mexico's Campesino Savings Fund for their pensions. The US says it sent the deducted funds to the Mexican government, but the braceros and their survivors say the workers never got their pensions.

The protesters included 17 Mexicans - ex-braceros, activists and relatives of deceased braceros - who came to the US in late August to publicize the case. After visiting Los Angeles and Kansas City, the tour, organized by the Ex-Bracero Binational Coordinating Committee, arrived in New York on Sept. 10 to ask the United Nations to support their claims. They were to leave on Sept. 15 for Washington, DC, where they would ask the US government to provide copies of the paperwork showing their money was sent on to Mexico.

Read the rest at World War 4 Report

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