I think that many people would find it difficult to live on $8000 MXP a month if they were supporting a family, wanted to put their kids in private school, wanted to drive a fancy car. But you are right, if you live modestly you can survive reasonably on that money.

The restrictions to Cuba (not only in traveling matters, of course) have been declared illegan by several international organisms, the UN, for instance.

It can´t make me but happy to hear that Obama is aware of that and is taking steps to change such an unfair situation.

There is one point in your discourse I disagree with, though… 8000 pesos a month is not a great salary, right, but is is kind of enough to make a living out of it, at least for a single person, here in México.

I don’t earn much more than that (specially these days…) and I can afford living in a nice house (not very fancy, that’s right) and a tsuru. Again, not an expensive car, but one that takes me to my work and back. If things weren’t as they are now, I would have taken a credit from a bank to buy a house of my own, and I was going to pay it in about 10 years.

I also eat delicious, cheap tacos, of course, but I often spend money on recreational activities, too, at least once or twice a week (let’s say bowling in Paseos Cancún or an occasional beer on the Yaxchilan avenue).

I planify my economy very well (sadly, much better than most poeple i know), but I think that in general terms, 8000 pesos is good money for a single person.

Sorry for my English! I’m still learning after about 8 years of having started… I know it hears odd sometimes.

However when a situation gets created that makes it easy, expedient and profitable to take a bribe you have to expect someone who is already underpaid might be very tempted to take that bribe. There is motivation on both sides, the agent is underpaid and the Cuban needs to go back to the US without penalty for having been to Cuba without permission. Both sides may feel that they win if that bribe changes hands.

I’m not saying the agents SHOULD take bribes, I’m saying that if you are practical about it you will see that many WILL take bribes.

In my mind this isn’t a question of what’s right or wrong (even though you want it to be), it’s a question of creating a situation that makes it impractical and difficult to disobey the law. When that happens the law will be respected.

In a country where so many people live just above subsistence level you can’t expect people to respect the law if they can easily benefit from breaking it without recourse.

I think the first way that vacationers and ex-pats can help the hard working Mexican people earn a living would be to quit haggling the prices down in the Mexican markets. Pay asking price if you can afford it. It is still probably 1/2 what you would pay in the US or abroad. It ALWAYS ticks me off to hear Americans bargaining with Mexicans selling their homemade goods.

I don’t consider the Cuban travel ban to have been a law that was not practical enough to have been followed. It was quite clear, and was deliberately disobeyed. Shame on those who broke the law, and shame on those who accepted bribes and allowed it.

Removing laws which encourage corruption is not backwards thinking, it’s being pragmatic.

Mexico is a largely lawless country. Expecting people in Mexico to just obey the law when there’s a century-long history of corruption here, and when agents can’t feed their families on what they are paid is simply WISHFUL thinking. If we are to expect them to follow the law it has to be practical for them to do so.

This law should have been obeyed by both lawless US citizens and corrupt Mexican immigration agents. Period.

Removing laws so that they are not broken is backward logic. How about obeying the laws in the first place? Period.