Boon or threat? Mexico City wrestles with influx of remote U.S. workers

People work at the coffee shop Don Porfirio in front of the Bellas Artes Palace in the downtown of Mexico City, Mexico, September 9, 2022. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - In a trendy part of Mexico City, in a park surrounded by hipster coffeeshops and restaurants, stands a figure dressed in white with hands in prayer like a Catholic statuette: the so-called patron saint against gentrification.

Sandra Valenzuela, a Mexican activist, created the statue to rally neighbors against what she regards as a rising threat to her community and others in the Mexican capital.