But by the 1980s, he recalls, the Mexico peso plunged, labor was once again abundant and sanctions against employers hiring illegal workers were minimal.
Look how Asia's turmoil has left Europe's currencies unscathed in contrast to the wobbles after Mexico's peso fiasco in 1994.
Recent events have shown that the defences the region put in place in response to Mexico's peso crisis do not work.
The heaviest burden of responsibility lies with Japan, whose government could do a great deal to make the world a safer place if at long last it took steps to repair its broken banks, and began to act as a stabiliser for Asia (as the United States was for Mexico after the peso crisis of 1995).
Last week, having had plastic 20-peso notes since 2002, Mexico decided to issue its 50-peso note in plastic too.
ECONOMIST: The rising popularity of plastic payment, in all its forms
GDP, New Zealand's deficit is as big as those in Thailand before last year's economic crisis and in Mexico just before the peso crashed in December 1994.
Geographic diversity helped Cemex survive Mexico's 1995 peso crisis.
As Americans have learned in seeking cross-border trade with individuals in Mexico, its notoriously debased peso makes our southern neighbors less attractive trading partners than if the peso were strong and stable.
It took years for Mexico to recover from the accompanying peso devaluation.
Analysts noted that easier money in major economies was effectively tightening monetary conditions in Mexico and feeding gains in the peso that should help cool inflation by making imports cheaper.
The peso has stood firm as Mexico's, Venezuela's and Colombia's currencies have slumped.
What the U.S. should have done was to let the Bank of Mexico use the money to keep the peso stable against the dollar.
Thus, for instance, El Financiero's main headline often tells its readers that Mexico's banks are weak, the peso is strong, or an economic crisis is unlikely.
This has become and has stayed, even as the peso has slid to fresh lows Mexico's big political issue.
In the 2008 financial crisis, foreign investors cut their position in Mexico local currency bonds by 20%, measured in peso terms.
Mexico is back from its financial crisis, the collapse of the peso and the recession of 1995-96.
According to Riedel, Modelo proved its staying power during Mexico's last big recession in 1995, just after the peso crisis.
Look for ETFs that own stocks traded in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Mexico City, since the yuan, the HK dollar and the peso have been relatively steady against the dollar.
That's because so far the U.S. recession (if that's what we've got) is mainly tied to housing, a sector that doesn't affect Mexico much, he says, except as a drag on remittances sent by Mexicans working in the U.S. The Mexican peso's weakness against the euro has also helped drive up Mexico's exports to Europe.
Mexico had 24 billionaires in 1994 but only 10 the following year, after the peso was devalued.
Despite the reforms of the past three presidents, and despite Mr Zedillo's success in restoring economic growth after the peso's collapse in 1994-95, average real incomes in Mexico are still below their 1982 level, and inequality, corruption and crime have flourished.
In reality, the peso collapse impoverished millions who still haven't recovered from the blow, even though Mexico's exports have risen smartly.
In Mexico, a poll three months ago found that nine out of ten people preferred dollarisation to a floating peso.
Still, the majority of policymakers at Mexico's central bank said that they could not rule out that renewed global market volatility could hit the peso again.
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