Article written by Simon Walker
Simon reflects on the effects that US global economic policy from up close.
I don't wish to objectify my experience of the past three months, or the people of Mexico and Central America as a whole; but traveling and living in this area for a time offers one an opportunity to view the effects that US global economic policy has from a different perspective. Indeed, 11 plus years after NAFTA took effect, I see consumer products all over San Cristóbal and the surrounding area: Coca Cola available at even the smallest roadside stand, women in traditional Mayan clothing chatting on cell phones, shiny new late-model cars rolling down the street. And while there is an affluent and growing middle class in San Cristóbal, Chiapas remains one of the poorest states in México. People from poor indigenous communities in the highlands have come to the city looking for jobs, but there simply aren't enough to go around. Workers look instead to the Yucatan Peninsula to the north, where they can find jobs in the service and construction industries in the resort areas that are rapidly spreading south from Cancún. Far more emigrate north to seek jobs in the US. It was recently announced that the number one source of income for all of México last year came from money sent back home by workers in the US. This troubling figure hints at the vast number on Mexicans who have immigrated to the US to find work, as they are unable to find jobs at home.
Looking at the state of tortillas in México can offer a peek at some of the causes behind this immigration. NAFTA opened México up to loads of cheap corn from US producers. Due to subsidies from the US government, corn from the US, often genetically modified, was significantly cheaper than corn produced by Mexican farmers. Mexican farmers could no longer find a market for their corn, and were left unable to support themselves. This no doubt forced many former farmers to travel elsewhere to find work. Corn tortillas are a staple in México, eaten with practically every meal. Corn, or maize is so crucial to life here that most Mayan indians consider themselves "people of corn." In their belief system, people come from corn. Tortillas here are now made almost exclusively with Maseca corn, grown in US fields and sold cheaply in México. The tortillas we buy at the house roll off a conveyor belt of the tortilla machine at the Tortilleria (tortilla shop) halfway down our block. Our neighborhood tortilleria looks much the same as the dozens of others throughout San Cris; it's walls are painted a crisp white and prominently features the green and yellow Maseca logo beside the door. Not wanting to miss on a prime advertising opportunity, the company will paint the outside of your store for free, so long as you sell their product. The tortillas that roll of the belt at these shops are thin, white, rubbery, don't stay fresh for long, and tend to break apart when folded. Sure, they make great quesadillas, but they always split open and dump beans and rice all over my lap.
A month ago I spent a week in the Guatemalan town of San Lucas Tolimán, located on the shores of Lake Atitlan. It was there I got to taste what I was missing in terms of tortillas. My companions and I stayed with a local teacher, Gabriel, and his family. His wife made tortillas by hand every morning. As her husband left for work shortly after six, Escolastica could be heard in the kitchen at 4:30 am patting balls of dough into flat circles by hand. Her tortillas were golden yellow, made from locally grown corn, thick and soft. The difference kinda blew my mind. Even tortillas I had at restaurants in Guate were superior to those in México. While I'm not naive enough to think that all tortillas in Guatemala are as good as Escolastica's, I feel her home cooking gave me a glimpse at what things might have looked like in México in the years before NAFTA.
The trouble is, Guatemala seems to be headed towards the same "free trade" (dare I say) trap as México. In March, during a sneaky late night session, the Guatemalan legislature approved the nation's participation in DR-CAFTA, the Dominican Republic - Central American Free Trade Agreement, known down here as the TLC, the spanish acronymn for free trade agreement. The passage sparked several days of protests by many sectors of the Guatemalan populace. Highways were blocked and several cities shut down as campesinos and students voiced their opposition to the agreement, and were met by violent reprisals from the police and military. Two protestors were killed by government forces, and several others beaten or disappeared. Many Guatemalans seem to know that the TLC will not benefit the vast majority of people in the country.
Guatemala is one of the poorer countries in Central America, and a large percentage of its population lives in rural areas outside of cities. We met a group of school girls one day in San Lucas Tolimán while walking on the shores of Lake Atitlan, who told us that many of their friends and relatives already migrate to the US to look for work. I can only imagine this trend increasing once DR-CAFTA takes effect, leaving rural, indigenous communities broken as NAFTA has in México.
It was in the aftermath of this protest turmoil that we visited Gabriel's school outside of San Lucas. The Centro Educativo Comunal Mixto Santa Cruz "Julajuj Aq'ab'al" is part of ACEM, the Association of Mayan Educational Centers in Guatemala, an organization that was formed over 15 years ago by indigenous communities to strengthen and carry on their cultural traditions. As it happened, a community activist was at the school to give a presentation on the TLC the day we visited. Gabriel thought it would be a great idea if myself and my two companions joined the activist for a panel discussion in front of the body of more than 200 students. This took us quite off guard, but luckily, we'd had a Peace House workshop just the week before on global trade organizations and free trade agreements. So I felt comfortable that I could blabber on sufficiently for 10 minutes, and share my meager knowledge.
DR-CAFTA, like NAFTA, is an undemocratic trade agreement between the US and the countries of Central America and the Dominican Republic. It is not an agreement between all of these nations together, but between the US and each country individually. The passage of DR-CAFTA is an important step towards the hemispheric Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. TLCs such as these are undemocratic for a number of reasons. Firstly, they are often passed by legislatures in secret late night sessions with "fast track" measures that limit the amount of debate and revision that can be done by legislatures. Secondly, provisions of the agreements allow governments, acting on behalf of the interests of corporations, to force other nations to accept goods that they have legislated against. A main goal of these TLCs is to eliminate any barrier to trade. So, for example, NAFTA can force a country to accept goods containing asbestos from a Canadian corporation, even though that country may have environmental legislation set up to protect its citizens from the carcinogen. There are many other examples such as this. It is obvios that Guatemalan legislators ignored a vocal portion of its populace when it approved DR-CAFTA. (For more information on DR-CAFTA and what you can do to stop it, check out http:www.stopcafta.org.)
In the question period that followed our little pannel discussion, many students asked what can be done to stop the TLC. Well, we can support communities in resistance, communities, such as Gabriel's, that are working to preserve and pass on their traditions. I also think speaking to one another and sharing our information is a small but powerful way to work against DR-CAFTA and other undemocratic trade institutions. I share my information with the students at the school, with my housemates in Chiapas, with friends and family; and with you, hoping you'll be inspired to learn more, and to share your information with others.
