NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #26/NN_1992_26.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/8146

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Mexico: Labor Abuses Continue as NAFTA is Initialled
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NAFTATHOUGHTS provides information and perspectives on developments
in Canada, the United States and Mexico related to the proposed
North American Free Trade Agreement.  Views expressed in
NAFTATHOUGHTS are those of the writers and do not necessarily
represent those of the affiliated organizations.  Contributions are
welcomed.

Editorial Offices:
The Development GAP, 1400 I Street, NW - Suite 520
Washington, DC 20005 USA
Phone: [phone]  Fax: [phone]  Peacenet: dgap

If you would like to receive information packets that include the
articles and papers listed in NAFTATHOUGHTS, please contact The
Development GAP.  There is a fee of $15.00/year to cover copying
and mailing costs.

/** carnet.mexnews: 120.4 **/
** Written  2:18 pm  Oct 27, 1992 by dgap in cdp:carnet.mexnews **
  ABUSES CONTINUE UNCHECKED IN MEXICO AS NAFTA IS INITIALLED

   Political unrest resulting from the hotly contested 12 July
elections in the Mexican state of Michoacan continued into October.
Many opposition party members and independent election observers
had protested irregularities in the voting procedures, as well as
massive spending by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI) just prior to the elections.  Subsequently, thousands of
demonstrators protested at the state capital and refused to allow
the new governor to enter his office.

   As a result of this popular reaction, and despite the PRI's
insistence that it had obtained a clear victory in the election,
President Salinas ordered incoming governor Eduardo Villasenor to
take a one-year "leave of absence".  Salinas took this action just
one day before leaving for San Antonio, Texas to witness, along
with President Bush and Prime Minister Mulroney, the initialling of
the NAFTA by their trade ministers.

   While the opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD)
recognized the removal of Villasenor as a positive step, other
political and human rights concerns remain.  The PRD has charged
that, since 1990, 32 party members have been assassinated and many
others threatened by the PRI.  In addition, the Mexican National
Network of Civic Human Rights Organizations issued an urgent action
alert on 23 September in protest of the detention and torture of
election observer Morelos Marx Madrigal.  According to that alert,
Marx was detained on 13 September by two armed individuals in
police caps who refused his repeated requests that they identify
themselves.  He was taken to an unknown location where these men
were joined by two others who reportedly beat and interrogated him
for three days.  He was released on 16 September.

   The Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human
Rights lodged a formal protest of this violation of Morelos Marx
Madrigal's civil and human rights on 21 September.  The Convergence
of Civic Organizations for Democracy and the National Network
declared that, because of the nature of the questions  during  the
interrogation,  "we  believe that behind this process exists an
attempt to continue intimidating and pressuring persons who
participate in social organizations, so that they desist in their
struggle for the respect of civil, political, social, economic and
cultural rights.  Therefore, we consider the government responsible
for any act of intimidation or repression against any member of the
organizations that participated in the electoral observations,
especially those who were mentioned during the interrogation."

   In an earlier incident, U.S. citizen and Peace Corps employee
William Yost was found dead in a Mexico City jail on 15 August, a
day after being detained for failure to register his vehicle with
Mexican Customs.  Mr. Yost, who left Washington, DC on 8 August to
meet a friend at the Mexican border with Guatemala, paid a $1,400
fine and had been detained overnight in Oaxaca.  He was then
transferred to Mexico City pending deportation and was found dead
shortly thereafter.

   Mexican officials claim that Mr. Yost died of a self-inflicted
gunshot wound, but his family is unconvinced.  They were persuaded
initially by U.S. embassy officials to refrain from reporting the
incident to the press. "We were told to direct everything to the
Peace Corps press agency," said Susan Yost, William Yost's sister.
"They said there was a recent trade agreement and they didn't want
any adverse publicity, and because there was a Republican
convention going on...I'm at the point where I figure we have
nothing left to lose," she told the Washington Post on 28 August.
The Yost family decided to go public with their concerns after many
of their questions remained unanswered by the Mexican and U.S.
governments.

Sources: "Mexican Steps Aside in Election Row," by Tod Robberson,
Washington Post, 7 October 1992.  Urgent Action letter from the Red
Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos "Todos los
Derechos para Todos", 23 September 1992; "D.C. Man's Family
Disputes His Alleged Suicide in Mexican Custody," by Tod Robberson,
Washington Post, 29 August 1992.

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         "NAFTA TAPES" EMBARRASS CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

   The Canadian government's plans to list and track opponents of
the NAFTA and squelch their objections through quick rebuttals were
revealed in transcripts of a taped conference call on 26 August
among top Canadian government officials.  According to the
transcripts, published by Macleans magazine, James Ramsey, chief of
staff to Canadian Trade Minister Michael Wilson, referred to NAFTA
opponents as "that old left-wing, cryptocommunist, anti-free trade,
NDP liberal con group."  His remarks related to the New Democratic
Party, which has opposed both the NAFTA and the 1989 U.S.-Canada
FTA, and the Liberal Party, which might favor renegotiating NAFTA.

   Opposition leaders expressed outrage at Ramsey's comments and at
the trade officials' repeated references to the public as "empty
heads to fill" with the government's pro-NAFTA message, and they
called for his removal from office.  Wilson refused and called the
transcript a "stolen document."  Philip Resnick, a political
scientist at the University of British Columbia, commented, "I
don't think the tapes are going to make or break the deal, but they
will weaken the government's ability to sell the deal between
October and next spring."

Source: "Canada's 'NAFTA Tapes' Bolster Critics of Trade Pact," by
Mark Clayton, Christian Science Monitor, 18 September 1992.

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                       MEXICO: FOR SALE

This video presents a non-official Mexican perspective on the
NAFTA.  Shot in Mexico, the film documents the viewpoints of
Mexican intellectuals and political leaders, including Jorge
Castaneda, Ifigenia Martinez and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas.

Available in Spanish and English for $39.95 plus $2.50 postage and
handling from Mexico Libre Productions, P.O. Box 20018, Altadena,
CA 91001, [phone].  The producers, Dermot Begley and Carla
Fountain, would also like to communicate with anyone interested in
helping to arrange a broadcast of the film.

** End of text from cdp:carnet.mexnews **