Feed them or buy them. Guatemalan seasonal agricultural work in Guatemala-Mexico border

Abstract

Even in modern economies, half-salaried remuneration of temporary workers outside their country of origin, analytical raises analytical concerns about the appropriateness of “buy or feed” as the situation makes pro­fitable use of their workforce. In full modern economy, there is prevalence of old practices defined as illegal or abusive practices against migrants and recognized as holding, inter alia, the contrived offerings to take up emplo­yment, the danger at work, the unworthy treatment, discounted wages and retention of documents that can only be recovered when returned to their country of origin. The temporary work is becoming one of the pillars of the agricultural activities in the border regions, to which migration on the one hand exposes vulnerability at work and the other becomes the opportunity to get paid they can not obtain in a context of extreme poverty in their home countries. Thus, the product of cross-border labor migration, wage becomes metaphorically in the possibility of dreaming.