When the wind blows in off the ocean, the metal roofs strain and rattle. It's like being inside a tin can. Open sewers flow down the dirt streets, which are deeply rutted by erosion. When it rains the sewage overflows into people's homes. There are no bathrooms, no running water.
Thousands depend upon a public faucet, or a broken water main where the people scoop up water.
Children can be seen playing and washing in the open sewers. The government doesn't collect garbage. It piles up everywhere in great mounds that the people burn to keep down and to check the spread of disease. Electricity doesn't come with these slum dwellings, but the people tap into power lines for some light at night. The information we have unearthed and the story it tells bears little resemblance to the idyllic image presented by the Clinton Administration on the eve of the Nafta vote.