Farmers demand NAFTA suspension
Farmers Demand NAFTA Suspension
Mexico, Dec 12 2007 (Prensa Latina) — Mexican national and regional rural organizations demanded on Tuesday that the government suspend the trade agreement with North America.
Dozens of Mexicans demonstrated in front of the US Embassy in the Federal District to protest against the imposition of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), whose model "tears society, destroys peoples and predates nature."
The protest was called by farmers incorporated into the National Campaign in Defense of Food Sovereignty and the Reactivation of Mexican Countryside.
The demonstrators urged the people to strengthen the fight against the NAFTA before January 1, 2008, when tariffs on imports of corn, beans, powder milk and sugar from the United States and Canada will be lifted.
"More than before, farmers will have to defend themselves alone against US-subsidized products whose tariffs are 30 times higher than the average granted by the Mexican government," according to the organizing committee for the Campaign.
Farmers demand that corn and beans be excluded from the NAFTA, that a permanent mechanism to administer imports and exports of grains and byproducts be installed and that the genetic heritage be protected.
They also demanded that Mexican corn and its cultural expressions be promoted on the List of Humankind’s Oral and Intangible Heritage, and if their demands are not met, they will call a national movement of civil and peaceful resistance to defend Mexico’s sovereignty and security.
