The issues of migration and immigration within Central and North America are complex and

diverse. The decline of coffee prices have driven Mexico and parts of Central America into a

poverty so deep that many are driven to leave their homes and migrate to countries where

work—even poor jobs, are available. David Newman and other demographers – sociologists who

studies trends in population characteristics - agree that the decline of coffee price was the main

reason that driven Mexico and some other Central America countries to Migration – “movement

of population from one geographic area to another” (420) (many of them coming to the US), and

in some cases Urbanization – “the process by which people leave rural areas and begin to

concentrate in large cities” (428).

Coffee used to be a source of wealth for many in the climates of Mexico and Central America.

Migration due to coffee was once a positive story throughout the history of the Latin American

countries. People would migrate (urbanization) to work in the coffee fields during the harvest

and there was money to be made. However, with the international coffee price drop that initiated

in 1982, most native coffee farmers have been unable to survive and profit on the production of

the coffee bean. This decline has promoted a whole other type of migration—unauthorized

immigration of workers from Latin America to the United States.

Globalization can be detrimental to a society when the economy of a country is not only decided

by its assets, but when the price of a product is determined by outside countries with greater

economic power. The study of the effect of globalization and the price of coffee in Mexico and

Latino Countries is explained at the macro level demonstrating that powerful countries such as

the United States, decide the price of coffee in other countries. This reality can sometimes cause

the depreciation of a product in such a way that a product will be sold not at its real price, but at

a created one. And if the producers of the product are not able to make as much money as they
should be able to, then people are not able to earn a fair wage. This is a good example of Marx’s

theoretical analysis of conflict showing that institutions promote instability, inequality and

competition. Instability is occurring because we see the situation where a worker is producing

coffee but not being paid as he knows he should be paid; inequality as Marx argued regarding the

division of labor and the exploitation of the general workers due to the capitalists; and

competition because we observe the situations in which people are fighting for the few jobs that

pay better wages than their current ones.

Because many countries like El Salvador and Nicaragua are experiencing great poverty due to

the lack of profits in the coffee business, people are forced to look elsewhere for income. In

impoverished countries the only hope most families have is the chance that someone can migrate

to another country (namely the U.S.) for the opportunity to earn enough money to support the

family unit. As Newman states, the migration journey is risky and very dangerous (421). And

many leave home knowing that they may not make it to their destination. However many feel

that they have no choice in the matter, the difficulties of life outweigh the risks of the trip to

another country—they either risk their lives to migrate without authorization or watch their

children die of starvation and illness that impoverished countries are facing. One doctor working

in Guatemala commented, “What is happening in a catastrophe. There has always been poverty

and temporary unemployment, but I have never seen hunger as real as now. People literally have

nothing to each except tortillas.” (332) The fact that people are willing to take on this suffering

to get to a place where they feel they will be able to provide better for themselves and their

family shows that migration is inevitable when institutions such as government, economy,

healthcare, education fail to provide basic conditions for sustainable living in one society.

Navarro points out that “Civil society in Mexico and Latin America has shown a notable lack of
interest in the migrants’ situation. Migrant services are provided by voluntary organizations with

scarce resources, mostly of a religious nature …for those left in the Americas, support for

migrants is nonexistent”(337).

Navarro points out, “coffee is one of the products where Mexican and Central American farmers

should be profitable according to the theory of comparative advantages…” (337) Instead, the

coffee farmers are forced into poverty and desolation while “transnational traders and

international investment funds accumulate huge fortunes.” Powerful wealthy nations have

pressured the Mexican and Latin American governments to change their policies regarding

coffee so that the wealthy nations are prosperous and the developing nations remain dependent

on the wealthy for their survival. Globalization of the coffee industry is one example of the

creation of dependence and poverty for Mexico and Latin America while its proponents say that

it should be creating efficiency and a competitive market.