Who are Mexican president's humble but elusive kin ?

MORELIA, MEXICO 鈥?As many as half the citizens of the home state of Mexican President Felipe Calderon are believed to be working in the United States. So it was no great surprise when Calderon revealed recently that among Michoacan's migrants were some of his own kin.

What's odd is that apparently no one here in Calderon's hometown, not even his family, seems to know who they are.

"I don't know of any relative that is or has been in the United States," said Luis Gabriel Calderon Hinojosa, a physician and the president's eldest brother. "There are more than 100 cousins and we're all over the place. Maybe, by chance, there's someone on the other side."

At an international news conference with President Bush last week, Calderon said that he had relatives working in the fields, "probably handling the vegetables you eat." He cited them, as he had during last year's presidential campaign, to urge a new U.S. immigration accord and more investment in the Mexican economy to slow the expatriate flow.

"I hope one day I can see them, greet them, hug them," Calderon told Bush and reporters.

Calderon's poignant revelation that he had family working the lowest rungs of the U.S. labor market triggered a brief media stampede to find out who they were. Later, his office said it would not reveal any names, to protect the relatives' privacy.

Many in this state capital, including Calderon's former high school teacher, were puzzled by the news.