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Friday, 15 October, 1999, 12:30 GMT 13:30 UK
Mexico's welfare revolution
![]() John Egan enjoys a meal with analysts - and beneficiaries - of the new cash welfare system
By John Egan
According to Agustin Escobar, a professor of anthropology from Guadalajara, Progresa is different from other forms of social welfare. "The government conducted a special poverty census and is now making cash payments directly to women. The level of benefit, between £20-£35 pounds a month, depends on the number and age of the children in a household" says Escobar.
In communities where the average weekly spend on food is £6, this extra cash is very significant. Previously, these poor people got no direct welfare benefits from the State.
But there are strings attached. Women are obliged to have regular medical check-ups and their children have to go to school rather than work in the fields. An estimated 2.65 million rural households like Emma's receive money from Progresa. And there are signs that the program is working.
But while Progresa is a financial boon for poorer families in the countryside, it does nothing for Mexico's nine million urban poor. And critics argue that while it's clearly good for children to attend school for longer, Progresa doesn't create jobs for them to go to after leaving. Julio Boltvinik, a sociologist at the Colegio De Mexico, says that poverty has been getting steadily worse in Mexico for the past two decades. "Undoubtedly the younger generation is better educated," says Boltvinik, "but nowadays they're still doing the same jobs as their parents did but for even less money. The spiritual father of Progresa is Mexico's Deputy Finance Minister, Santiago Levy. He rejects suggestions that Progresa patronises poor people. "Compared to giving a kilo of tortillas or a litre of milk as we used to do in the past, Progresa delivers purchasing power," says Levy, "But even poor parents must invest in their children's' futures, that's why the strings are attached." Mexico has a bad record when it comes to welfare programmes. In the past they've been manipulated for political gain by the ruling party. Surprisingly, Progresa has so far escaped political interference. But President Zedillo is seen as the programme's patron, and the temptation for him to hijack it for electoral gain in advance of next year's general elections will be intense. That's the potentially fatal flaw. If Zedillo loses power, it's likely that Progresa will be sacrificed. Then we'll never know whether it could have broken the vicious circle of poverty that blights the lives of so many millions of people in rural Mexico.
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