Some 2.5 million Salvadorans, 2.7 million Guatemalans and one million Hondurans live in the United States and send remittances to their families every month.
Millions of Mexicans pay for everything from food to medicine with cash from relatives working in the U.S. Now, the money may allow them to get car loans in a country where a large swath of the population has no access to credit.
JUTIAPA, Guatemala – The small village of Horcones sits at the end of a pothole-filled road in Jutiapa, in southeastern Guatemala. Here, about 40 percent of the population is dedicated to raising livestock, earning an income that isn’t reflected in the wealth of the whitewashed, Grecian-columned houses that are found in this farming community.