SOUNDING OFF:

A few days ago, Mexico beat Bolivia in a forgettable friendly soccer match. Despite his team’s defeat, Juan Pablo Mamani, a sports commentator for a national television network in Bolivia, isn’t so unhappy. On the contrary, there is joy in his eyes. After all, the game allowed him to join his mother after 20 long years.

A soccer game, like a motion picture or a play at a nearby amphitheater, can work as a stress reliever during tough economic times. Latinos are no different than the rest of the U.S. population. We pack entertainment buildings any time we feel our jobs are in jeopardy, even when it becomes an ordeal to come up with a few bucks to make up for the house mortgage or rent. We are all in the same recessionary boat.

For Juan Pablo’s mother, Julia, a Costa Mesa resident, living through an economic recession isn’t so unusual. Many years ago, while staying in her native country, Bolivia, economic downturns in her family did not come in cycles — they showed up almost on a daily basis.

Right before and after the early 1980s, the economic crisis turned into a perennial hurdle virtually impossible to cross through for people like Julia. In spite of working hard, she could never leave the underworld of poverty.

A family tragedy further darkened Julia’s life. Her husband, Cristobal Mamani, a merchant and truck driver, died in the Andes while helping pullout out of a trailer that had run over a cliff.

Julia took the double role of father and mother to raise her two children. She worked long hours to make the ends meet, but her efforts weren’t enough to provide a healthy economic environment for her family.

Like most parents, she dreamed about her children having a professional career. Because the chance of getting a job with a decent income was unlikely in Bolivia, Julia decided to use her savings and move to the United States, leaving her children behind.

Juan Pablo, her older son, was just a little boy when she boarded a plane in La Paz. Today he is a grown man, has a professional degree and a lucrative job.

After the soccer game in Denver, Juan Pablo hurried to his hotel room to pack: He had been preparing to see his mother since for 20 years. When he landed in LAX, they hugged, kissed and cried.

Julia is just one of millions — perhaps billions — who immigrated here for one reason: to have a better life. English, Irish, Poles, Italians, Jews, Asians, Latinos and other people worldwide thought about coming to America when their countries crumbled under economic recession.

However, like Julia, me and many new immigrants, it is quite difficult to move back to where we came from, even during economic crisis. I tried it once, but the United States pulled back in.

HUMBERTO CASPA is a Costa Mesa resident and contributing editorial columnist for La Opinión and more than 20 newspapers across the country.