Immigrants living in Monterey County contribute to the infrastructure development of their rural community in Guanajuato, Mexico

SALINAS, Calif., (KION-TV) — Through a program of mutual collaboration, a small community in Guanajuato, Mexico has founded its own public works program, which has seen the formation of new infrastructure, paving, and future projects for the rural community of Santiaguillo, municipality of Acámbaro. All of this with the support of donations from their townspeople, who migrated to California and mostly live in Monterey County.

According to the Census of the State of Guanajuato, the population in Santiaguillo is less than 1000 inhabitants, however, natives of this municipality assure that more than 50% of the population lives in California, mainly in the southern region of Monterey County. They live in cities such as Chualar, King City, Gonzales, and the vast majority live in Salinas.

In the last three years, Santiaguillo residents in Salinas have cooperated financially to a common cause, the construction of their town's public works and infrastructure development.

So far, since 2009 they have carried out several actions. The most recent work was to complete the paving of 400 feet (0.12 km) in a needy area, and they say they want to continue with the works, and making more streets, at the same time, they fix the drainage and drinking water.

In 2018, the Secretary of Human Rights in Guanajuato, announced the new guidelines for the program Apoyo sin Fronteras. This program establishes that the development of the communities could be financed with the mutual support of the municipalities, federal and state entities, as well as the financial contribution of migrants living in the United States.

In 2009, the municipality of Santiaguillo in Guanajuato was able to create public works in its main park. The costs were then divided evenly at 25% among these four entities.

However, some measures of the program changed, and by the year 2023, the contribution of these groups changed to 33% when federal aid was withdrawn. Finalcial contributinos then only depended on the municipalities, the state, and the contribution of migrants, by 33% each.

Juan Navarro, president of the organization Santiaguillo Hacia el Desarrollo Colectivo, has been working closely to raise those necessary funds to cover the 33% that corresponds to the Santiaguillo migrants. Miguel Angel Camacho, who is a representative of Club Espejo, goes back and forth from Mexico to California to make the connection between Salinas and Santiguillo.

— Objective of the Migrant Support.

“The general objective of the Program is to support the execution of works and actions aimed at improving the quality of life of Guanajuato migrants and their families, as well as to provide support for productive patrimonial activities to benefit the family economy of migrants”.

Overall as a nation, in addition to the economic contributions and goodwill donations, the economic contribution to the Mexican country is received through the remittances that the immigrants send to their communities.

According to the BBVA, Bank of Mexico report, in 2023 alone, remittance income will reach a total of $63,313 million dollars, an increase of 7.6% over the previous year.

Juan Navarro and Miguel Camacho hope that this movement can inspire more municipalities to improve their infrastructure and image, and raise funds like the community of Santiaguillo to do something positive for the improvement of their towns.