Bolivians fleeing poverty at home find little relief in Brazil

[judaspriestess]

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Lino Quispelaura left his impoverished neighborhood in Bolivia's capital two years ago, hoping to earn enough money in neighboring Brazil to come back a rich man.

After crossing the width of South America and settling in sprawling Sao Paulo , however, such hopes seem far away for Quispelaura, even farther than his mountainous homeland.

Like tens of thousands of other Bolivians here, Quispelaura has sunk into a grinding routine of nonstop, low-paid labor. He wakes before 7 a.m. every day to sew in a cramped garment factory until late at night, then sleeps on a mattress near his sewing machine. He earns barely enough to survive, and if he complains his bosses threaten to have him deported.

"No matter what people say, it's hard to get used to this life," Quispelaura, 20, said on one of his rare days off. "Coming here would have been worth the trouble if life were a little better than before. But I'm not sure it was worth the trouble."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20071227/wl_mcclatchy/2797456

DAMN THOSE MEXICANS DON'T THEY KNOW TO STAY WHERE THEY BELONG??

:sarcasm:

[Lost-in-FL]

1. Going from Guatemala to land in Guatapeor??

That's sad... Why would they go to Brazil? You are either stinking rich or dirt poor.

[judaspriestess]

2. they are so poor down there

Migration of people looking for work is just not a "problem" in the US. This is what so many stupid Americans don't understand. Its a world wide phenomena that is going on. Europe also has its concerns. Its just a sad situation everywhere and harbors so much hate towards people just trying to survive.

Of course we know if the immigrants all looked the the Swedish bikini team, we wouldn't be having this discussion.