Bracero migrant workers demand payment outside by U.S consulate

MONTERREY, Mexico - About 500 elderly former farmworkers protested Tuesday outside the U.S. consulate in this northern city to demand the restitution of payments withheld when they worked in the United States during and after World War II.

The protesters, who came from several states in northern Mexico, marched through downtown Monterrey and gathered outside the U.S. consulate for a few minutes before traveling by bus to the city hall where they met with local officials.

"We came to the U.S. consulate to remind the Mexican government the money was sent to Mexico by the United States," said Ventura Gutierrez, who represents 150,000 ex-farmworkers and their heirs in Mexico and in the United States claiming payment.

Confusion surrounds the money, and how money former workers have a claim to it.

About 2.5 million Mexicans toiled in the United States between 1942 and the mid-1960s under a guest worker plan known as the "bracero" program.

Between 1942 and 1949, about 10 percent of the workers' paychecks were withheld for savings and pension funds that were supposed to be paid to them once they returned to Mexico.

They never got the money, and it had previously been thought to have disappeared at a government bank in Mexico.

Braceros have been lobbying for years to recover the withholdings, intended as an incentive for migrants to return home.

The money, estimated to range from $500 million to $1 billion, disappeared somewhere between U.S. and Mexican banks.

Frustration among ex-braceros is surging a year after the Mexican government put together a registry of former guest workers, increasing expectations for payment.

Officials of Wells Fargo Bank, which was in charge of transferring some of the funds, have said they have few documents, but believe the bank complied with its obligations under the old arrangement.

Mexican officials have said there is no evidence Mexico ever received the money. But the Mexican government bank where it was allegedly deposited suffered for years from deficient record keeping, mergers, a name change and closure.