TEXT C In Mexico, President
Vicente Fox is making an effort to calm protests in the farming sector through a
dialogue with the government. But, the talk, so far, is mostly
one-sided. The dialogue between Fox government officials and
farm group leaders held on Tuesday here in Mexico City included two cabinet
officials and a number of governors and legislators, but very few campesinos, as
the farmers are called in Spanish. The leaders of the nation’s
largest campesino organizations, the Congreso Agrario Permanente, or Permanent
Agrarian Congress, and the Confederation National Campesino, or National Farmers
Confederation, boycotted the session. They complained that the government’s
decision to change the venue, from the National Archives building to a sports
complex, violated an agreement to consult with them on such
arrangements. President Fox is calling on all such groups to
attend another meeting later this week so that they can contribute to the effort
to improve the lot of Mexico’s farmers. He says he wants to move
forward quickly to develop a national accord for the agricultural sector by
March 15. He says this accord should include details about how to provide more
financing and credit to farmers as well as how to help farmers commercialize
their products. President Fox is encouraging poor farmers to
develop more skills in both production and in marketing. He says that some farm
operations in Mexico are prospering under the North American Free Trade
Agreement, known as NAFTA. Mr. Fox notes that the Mexican farm sector produces
157 products for sale in the United States and that Mexico leads the world in
production of several types of products, including watermelons, tomatoes,
broccoli and cauliflower. Mexican tomato producers are among the
most enthusiastic supporters of the trade agreement. In the past ten years,
Mexico has nearly doubled its tomato exports and today, one out of every three
tomatoes sold in the United States comes from Mexico. But
campesino leaders say NAFTA has favored such large-scale operations and left
behind the millions of poor, small-scale farmers who cannot compete with the
United States and Canada. Two weeks ago, some 20, 000 campesinos marched in
Mexico City demanding that the government renegotiate NAFTA, something President
Fox has said he would not favor. Under the terms of the treaty,
tariffs on several commodities were reduced to zero on January 1. By 2008,
tariffs are set to fall on a number of other products including corn, sugar and
beans. The United States has remained out of the fray over NAFTA
here in Mexico other than issuing statements highlighting the benefits of the
agreement. However, Canada’s ambassador to Mexico, Keith Christie, in an
interview published in the Reforma newspaper Tuesday, said his country is
against any change in the treaty. He said NAFTA is a complete package and it is
not possible to change one part without reopening the entire agreement. That, he
said, would not be good for any of the countries involved and he noted that both
Canada and Mexico have gained more than the United States in terms of increased
exports as a result of NAFTA. What do campesino leaders think is the disadvantage of NAFTA
A.They think it unfair to Mexican farmers. B.They think it hinders the development of Mexican agriculture. C.They think it affects the benefits of the campesino organizations. D.They think it hurts the interests of poor Mexican farmers.