EQUIPO PUEBLO/RMALC MEXICAN NEWS SUMMARY Thursday, OCTOBER 28, 1993 (TRADE.NEWS Volume 2 Number 193) ________________________________________________________ Headlines: MEETING OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE CONGRESS OPERATION BLOCKADE SHOULD END OR BE APPLIED TO ALL BORDERS THE REAL ECONOMIC SITUATION IN MEXICO OPPOSITION PARTY MEMBER CRITICIZES NAFTA EDUCATIONAL REFORM, OUTSIDE OF TRADE AGREEMENT DEMONSTRATION AGAINST NAFTA IN MEXICO VIRTUAL RENEGOTIATION OF NAFTA NEED TO CONTROL INFORMAL ECONOMY ________________________________________________________ NAFTA/Mexican Economic News Summary ________________________________________________________ MEETING OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE CONGRESS The 31st meeting of the International Trade Congress (CIC) began last week in Cancun, Mexico. What was expected to be a forum for announcing world support of NAFTA turned into a discussion of the resurgence of protectionism among industrialized nations and the importance of the GATT. It was made clear that the political times and the upcoming elections have replaced NAFTA as Mexico's main priorities. President Salinas' opening speech focused on recounting the gains of the economic strategy initiated by his administration. He spoke of the success of his "solidarity" program in bringing water to 14 million Mexicans, electricity to 15 million, and in improving schools. He stressed the importance of free trade and Mexico's strategic position as a go between the Atlantic and the Pacific and as a border between North and South, but he did not make a pronouncement in favor of NAFTA as had been expected. Source: LA JORNADA, October 21, 1993. ________________________________________________________ OPERATION BLOCKADE SHOULD END OR BE APPLIED TO ALL BORDERS Jose Velez, President of the Hispanic Citizen's League, said that Operation Blockade should be suspended or applied to all borders, including Canada and U.S. ports-of-entry for European citizens. He said that there exists a marked racism against the Mexican population which has resulted in the mistreatment of Mexicans, both legal and undocumented. Luis Wybo Alfaro, Director of Borders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, believes that the operation is an attempt by the U.S. Congress to gain the votes of racist and anti-Mexican Groups in favor of NAFTA. Cathy Tactaquin of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in California said that the present crack-down on immigration along the border is an attempt to convince certain NAFTA opponents that the ratification of NAFTA will not mean the increase of Mexican immigration to the U.S. Source: LA JORNADA, October 21 and 22, 1993. ________________________________________________________ THE REAL ECONOMIC SITUATION IN MEXICO According to Hector de la Cueva, of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade, 60 percent of small and medium-sized companies are in technical bankruptcy, 65 percent of micro-businesses existing up to 1992 have closed due to lack of funds and nearly four million small farmers owe on overdue loans. Approximately 40 million Mexicans are living in conditions of poverty (17 million of whom are living in extreme poverty), while Mexico's foreign debt has reached almost $130 billion (this means that each Mexican citizen owes about $8,600). To confront this situation, de la Cueva held a rally October 23 called the "Continental Day of Action Against Free Trade and the Payment of the Foreign Debt" during which marches and meetings in Mexico City, Puebla, Tlaxca, Tabasco, Oaxaca, Michoacan, Jalisco, Tijuana, San Diego, Juarez, Matamoros, and various cities in the U.S., Central America, and Canada took place. De la Cueva said that Mexico had negotiated NAFTA poorly, promoting a neoliberal policy which favored large companies and disregarded the real economic situation of the majority of the Mexican population. Source: LA JORNADA, October 22, 1993. ________________________________________________________ OPPOSITION PARTY MEMBER CRITICIZES NAFTA National Action Party (PAN) pre-presidential candidate Adalberto Rosas Lopez said that 60 percent of agricultural producers in Mexico will be forced to give up their livelihood following the implementation of President Salinas' proposed agricultural support program (Procampo). Rosas believes that Procampo is meant to put an end to small farmers and to hand agricultural production over to large companies and transnationals, a process which will be facilitated by the ratification of NAFTA. Rosas said that Procampo is being used by the PRI to secure votes. With regard to NAFTA, Rosas said it is a political agreement and pointed to the fact that trade has been going on for many years between the two countries. He criticized Salinas, saying that Mexico has reached such a high level of dependence on the U.S. that the PRI is waiting to name its presidential candidate until they know the outcome of NAFTA debates in the U.S. Congress. Source: LA JORNADA, October 22, 1993. ________________________________________________________ EDUCATIONAL REFORM, OUTSIDE OF TRADE AGREEMENT The Mexican Secretary of Public Education, Ernesto Zedillo, said while visiting the United States that it is extremely important for Mexico and the United States to collaborate in the area of human resources but insisted that recent Mexican educational reforms remain independent of any trade agreement. Zedillo met with Joseph Di Laura, U.S Department of Education's director of International Affairs, Kenneth Gladish, President of the Humanities Council of Indiana, the state in which they are planning a 14-month academic and cultural program on Mexico, and Oliver Farres, the Mexican Consul for Chicago and the Mid-west. On behalf of the Mexican Ministry of Public Education (SEP) Zedillo donated 28,000 books to 50 schools in the mid-west with large numbers of Mexican students to give students there an opportunity to learn about the history and culture of their country and as a gesture to promote bilingual education. Source: LA JORNADA, October 22 and 23, 1993. ________________________________________________________ DEMONSTRATION AGAINST NAFTA IN MEXICO Members from over 30 organizations representing workers, peasants, farmers, representatives from opposition political parties, and students marched to Mexico City's center last week demanding the cancellation of foreign debt and the suspension of NAFTA ratification. Marchers arrived at the city center alternating shouts of "No to NAFTA" with demands for housing, the right to social security and recuperation of the minimum wage. The march began at the metro stop, Young Heroes (Ninos Heroes), and continued to the central plaza, making three stops along the way. The first stop was at the Angel of Independence where protesters made an offering of flowers as a gesture to reclaim national sovereignty taken away by the Salinas administration. Next, protesters stopped in front of the American Embassy where a speaker urged U.S. President Bill Clinton to respect the labor rights of undocumented workers and to put a stop to the embargo on Cuba. The third symbolic act was a stop in front of the Mexican Stock Exchange Building where demonstrators pasted a huge sign on the door which said, " Closed by (stock) Jobbers." Marchers halted in the Plaza of the Constitution where they knocked on the door of the National Palace hoping to hand in a document addressed to President Salinas clearly stating their demands. The door never opened, but protesters planned to present the statement and a petition to the National Palace during a press conference. The statement urged Salinas to adopt a "decisive and energetic attitude against the arbitrary, unilateral and discriminatory measures adopted by the United States at the border." Sources: LA JORNADA, October 24, 1993; "Marcha Contra el TLC y el Pago de la Deuda Externa," LA JORNADA, October 17, 1993. ________________________________________________________ VIRTUAL RENEGOTIATION OF NAFTA According to Professor Duncan Cameron, director of the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, what is happening right now with Clinton and NAFTA is exactly what happened with the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement during 1987-1988. Cameron said that if the U.S. government makes many changes to the NAFTA text they will essentially be renegotiating it. The question is whether or not the U.S. government will publicly recognize that they are unilaterally renegotiating NAFTA or whether they will pretend that nothing has happened. Nearly five years ago when the same thing happened in Canada, the U.S. government pretended that nothing had changed. Cameron believes that Clinton will negotiate any or all changes to the text needed to secure Congressional votes. Cameron added that when this process is finished, President Salinas will have no choice but to accept NAFTA in its new form. Source: LA JORNADA, October 25, 1993. ________________________________________________________ NEED TO CONTROL INFORMAL ECONOMY According to the National Confederation of Industrial Congresses (Concamin), "it would not be congruent for Mexico to enter NAFTA when it has not been able to control the economic and extra- economic activities which remain in the informal sector." Concamin came out for the first time against NAFTA saying the accord would not solve unemployment problems or other domestic economic troubles. Concamin indicated that the number of jobs has decreased despite increased profits in the industrial sector over the past few years. Source: LA JORNADA, October 26, 1993. ________________________________________________________ GATT News Summary ________________________________________________________ SUTHERLAND URGES ASEAN TO TAKE LEAD IN GATT GATT Director-General Peter Sutherland earlier this month urged members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take the lead in global trade talks. "I've been asking that further conditional offers be made by the ASEAN countries and that they should not wait until after others have moved," Sutherland said. But ASEAN officials said they "have already made their best efforts to offer tariff reductions and (tariff) bindings in agricultural and industrial products." Members of the ASEAN include: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Sources: G. P. Goad, "GATT Chief Presses ASEAN to Take Lead," ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 11, 1993. ________________________________________________________ Event: "Farm/Labor Anti-NAFTA Rally," Saturday, October 30, 7:00pm, Lincoln Center, Pittsburgh, Kansas. This is the first in a series of rallies sponsored by the Kansas Farmers Union, Kansas National Farmers Organization, and the Kansas AFL-CIO. For more information contact: Ivan W. Wyatt, KFU, (316) 241-6630 or LeRoy Bower, Kansas NFO, (316) 643- 5391 or Wayne Maichel, AFL-CIO, (913) 357-0396. ________________________________________________________ The Thursday edition of TRADE NEWS is co-produced by: Equipo PUEBLO and RMALC. Equipo PUEBLO, Francisco Field Jurado 51, Col. Independencia 03630, Mexico DF, MEXICO Tel: 011-525-539-0015 Fax: 011-525-672-7453 E- mail: pueblo@laneta.igc.apc.org Red Mexicana de Accion Frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC) Address: RMALC, Godard 20, 07790 Mexico DF, MEXICO Tel: 011-525-556-0642 Fax: 011-525-556-9316 E-mail: pueblo@laneta.igc.apc.org Edited and distributed by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), 1313 5th Street, SE, #303, Minneapolis, MN, 55414- 1546. Tel: 612-379-5980 Fax: 612-379- 5982 E-mail: iatp@igc.apc.org