By Tessie Borden
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Jan. 14, 2003
MEXICO CITY - Organized farmers here are using every tactic they can think of
- violent protests, hunger strikes and catcalls - to show Mexican President
Vicente Fox that NAFTA is killing their way of life and driving many of them
across the U.S.-Mexican border to earn a living.
Their complaints center on the Jan. 1 lifting of tariffs on almost 80 farm products
under the 10-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, part of a gradual
phaseout of all taxes.
Nogales is an important port of entry and exit for that trade, primarily winter vegetables and grain. More than 60 percent of winter vegetables imported from Mexico enter the United States there, about $1.4 billion worth of business last year. About $16.8 million worth of grain, meat and dairy products crossed into Mexico from U.S. farms in 2001 through Nogales, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The Arizona border also is a prime point of entry for illegal immigrants, with between 1 million and 2 million crossings each year. More than 25,000 people were arrested last year, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Mexican farmers, who make up 18 percent of the population but 30 percent of those in dire poverty, have been protesting since last month. They defied police and broke into congressional chambers Dec. 10,one of them on horseback and carrying a Mexican flag, breaking windows and causing lawmakers to run for cover. A threatened blockade of the border on Jan. 1 was averted only when Fox agreed to talks.
Last week, farmers began a hunger strike at the foot of the Angel of Independence, a Mexico City landmark, vowing not to eat until Fox promises to improve their lot.
At a forum in Veracruz state, farmers loudly dismissed Agriculture Minister Javier Usabiaga, whom they called "stubborn and closed-minded" after he told them they should be more effective producers.
The farmers say they can't compete with cheap pork, corn, milk and other products from government-subsidized and highly mechanized U.S. farmers. More and more are being forced to rent or sell their land to corporations, then head to the United States, illegally crossing into Arizona, California and Texas in search of jobs, said Jaime Castillo Ulloa, one of the hunger strikers and a member of the National Union of Regional Autonomous Peasant Organizations.
"This is a process of struggle that we have carried from years back," Castillo Ulloa said. "But it has gained strength because of the recent opening (lifting of the tariffs)."
The farmers want Fox to renegotiate the agriculture portion of NAFTA and craft a new farm policy. Otherwise, they say, they will fight at the border and in the streets to keep their way of life.
"Farmers are worn down," Castillo Ulloa said. "Sooner or later, this fight is going to explode and tear this country apart."
Fox has been cordial. On Jan. 6, he began negotiations with a coalition of 12 farmers groups under the banner "The Countryside Can Bear No More." They hope to reach an agreement by early next month to end the rural crisis.
Fox and Luis Ernesto Derbez, the economic minister who last week became Fox's new foreign minister, indicated NAFTA will not be renegotiated. U.S. officials have echoed the sentiment. But Fox said he is open to discussion and to a new farm policy.
"We have to achieve, through a joint effort, that (agriculture) should give these thousands of farm families the standard of living they deserve," Fox said during the opening of talks. "We also have to have a more rational use of our agricultural resources, specializing in crops in which we have comparative advantages, so we can obtain as much benefit as possible from the free trade agreements."
Even with no revision, the farmers and their legislative backers say both countries can reach side deals for when commodities such as grains can be exported to Mexico.
"What we're calling for is not necessarily a revision, but a nearing of interests," said Jesus Dueñas Llerenas, a congressman from Fox's National Action Party who is a member of the legislative Agriculture Commission. "We should have temporality. When our farmers are harvesting corn and beans, we stop imports until their grain is sold."
Parr Rosson III, a professor at the University of Texas and member of the Phoenix-based pro-NAFTA Border Trade Alliance, said some of that is happening, through rules that allow Mexico to charge extra-high tariffs if the price of commodities like corn drops below a certain point. However, Mexico has chosen not to enforce those duties because it is a net importer of corn, and the corresponding price increase would hurt Mexicans.
Rosson said it was understood all along that the Mexican government would sacrifice small grain farmers, pork producers and poultry growers for the sake of its competitive edge in vegetables, fruits and tropical products.
"When corn and wheat and rice producers talk about being in trouble, they're probably right," he said. "That's part of the tradeoff that happened."
NAFTA renegotiation could upset Mexican farmers, too, Rosson said. He said U.S. farmers would love to renegotiate the part governing tomato, avocado and sugar imports from Mexico, labor-intensive crops where Mexico has advantage.
"In this country we've lost a lot of tomato growers," he said.
U.S. farmers also face the same competition and subsidy problems Mexican farmers complain about, but from China and the European Union, said Matt McInerney, executive vice president of the Western Growers Association, a trade group for 3,500 farmers in Arizona and California.
"We can respect their apprehension," McInerney said. "We find ourselves needing to adapt to the marketplace by finding efficiencies through technologies."
Reach the reporter at tessie .borden@arizonarepublic.com.
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