After a massacre, silence shrouds Mexican town

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sun, Jun. 01, 2008
NAFTA hurts Mexico, too
By ANNE VIGNAAgence Global
MCT/Janet Schwartz

At midnight Jan. 1, thousands of Mexican farmers formed a human chain at the Ciudad Juárez border crossing into the United States, under an enormous banner with the slogan Sin maiz no hay pais ("Without corn there is no country"). It was the 14th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement linking Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

The farmers were protesting the introduction of complete trade liberalization at the beginning of this year, which means that corn, beans, sugar and powdered milk -- the basic foods of Mexico -- are no longer subject to import duty.

In some towns, there have been calls for NAFTA to be renegotiated. Farmers' organizations insist that the consequences of the agreement are beyond dispute.

The U.S. academic Laura Carlson cited statistics: "Every hour, Mexico imports $1.5 million worth of food. In that same one-hour period, 30 farmers emigrate to the U.S." Opening borders could hurt almost 1.5 million small Mexican farmers.

The only result of competition in agricultural products has been to aggravate already dramatic inequalities among the three countries.

Legally, NAFTA's agricultural provisions could be renegotiated, but that isn't on the agenda. In January 2007, Mexico refused to support a Canadian complaint to the World Trade Organization about subsidies to U.S. corn producers.

It is just over a year since the tortilla crisis revived controversy about Mexican dependence on U.S. corn.

The use of corn in the United States to produce ethanol has driven up its price and reduced supplies for food. Since NAFTA came into force, Mexico has become dependent upon subsidized (and therefore cheaper) U.S. corn, and huge imports have ruined Mexican farmers.

Meanwhile, every hike in the price of tortillas threatens millions of Mexicans with hunger. This is why mass protests by women beating saucepans in Mexico City at the beginning of last year forced the government to bring in an extra 600,000 tonnes of white corn from the United States to create an emergency fund and set a price cap.

Mexico has tripled its imports of grain since 1994 and now depends on them for 40 percent of its food needs. "Today Mexico has to rely on imports for basic foodstuffs, whatever the market price," said Armando Nartra, director of the Institute for Rural Development Studies.

An unexpected consequence of the invasion of Mexico by basic and processed U.S. foods is a dramatic increase in obesity. Almost 33 percent of adults are obese; another 40 percent are overweight. The side effects absorb 21 percent of the public health budget.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón tried to deny this in his last New Year's address: "NAFTA has benefited you and me, the consumer, by offering us greater choice and quality at a better price." Even the World Bank recognizes that there is an agricultural crisis.

A criminal failure

Mexico has effectively admitted to having sacrificed its agricultural sector during negotiations -- a criminal failure, given that a third of the population lived from the land in 1994.

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