At times Jomulquillo, a tidy village in the semi-arid countryside that surrounds the city of Zacatecas, feels like a ghost town. Money sent back by a club formed by migrants from the village has helped pave the roads, instal running water and bridge a stream that once divided the village.

But most residents have long since decamped to the United States, two-thirds of the houses are empty and those people who still remain at home are largely dependent for their survival on the monthly sum they receive at the branch of Western Union in the neighbouring town of Jérez.