■"Latin migrants gain political clout in U.S.," by Ginger Thompson, International Herald Tribune, 24 February 2005, p. 5.

Fascinating article about politicians in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas, who politic and campaign as much inside the stateís expatriate population living in the US as back home. Why? In some of the bigger cities, like Valparaiso, they have half their population living in the U.S. on a regular basis, sending back $100,000 a day! Or roughly what the city of Valparaiso spends all year in its public-sector budget:

The remittances sent home by migrant workers, both legal and illegal, are translating into political clout. Their communities in the United States, better organized and more vocal than before, have become social and political forces too important to ignore.

It is a phenomenon that has made Washington a principal battleground to lobby support among Salvadorans for the Central American Free Trade Agreement; New York a crucial state in elections in the Dominican Republic; and Chicago a mandatory campaign stop for Mexican politicians.

Next presidential election, 10 million Mexicans living in the U.S. will be able to vote in the context south of the border, if legislation just approved in their legislature passes as predicted. So itís not just the rising role of Hispanics in the U.S. political system that brings us together, but the role of those same Hispanics in the domestic politics of their home countries.

Latino migrants send back $45 billion to the Caribbean and Latin America every year, outdistancing both foreign direct investment and official developmental aid (three years in a row now). Those voices, connected to that money, are getting organized politically in the U.S., and back in their home countries. Their power is getting impossible for any American politician to ignore.

As for Zacatecas the state, over half its population live in the U.S., primarily in California, Illinois and Texasóthree huge electorial states in our national elections.

Do you know what the governor of Zacatecas said? Amalia Garcia, who regularly travels to the U.S., says ìI consider Zacatecas as a binational state.î

The concept of growing America isnít a choice and it sure as hell isnít about military conquest. Itís an economic reality based on connectivity. Itís undeniableóand itís coming in leaps and bounds.