Blog Entry - Week 7 - Feb 23

In Week 7, we discussed in great depth about NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement.  The agreement allows for free trade and ends tariffs barriers on goods and services between Canada, the United States and Mexico.  NAFTA promised prosperity and the world’s biggest economic block.  New jobs were to be created through increased exports to Mexico.  Mexico was to gain 1 million new jobs and this was supposed to slow down illegal immigration.  What NAFTA did not take into account was the millions of peasants impacted through farming.  Farm corporations took control of ejido land and the peasants were unable to be self-sufficient.  NAFTA did not promote prosperity but deeper economic misery through Latin America.

I am going to answer the Questions for Reflections. 

---Was this new information?

I was aware of the North American Free Trade Agreement but I never heard of the negatives of the agreement.  I was always under the impression that this was a win-win situation, but the only winners appear to be US corporations.

---Where else can this information be obtained?

This information can be obtained from primary sources – people who have experienced the effect of NAFTA and secondary sources – like books, magazines and the internet.

---How do policies in countries like the U.S. affect Latin American countries and their people?

U.S. policies support neoliberalism which shifts the transfer of the economy from government to privatization.   It supports the selling off of resources and the utilities of countries.  It gives corporation much freedom to outsource jobs to cheaper labor markets and increase profit margins. Puerto Rican government run Telephone Company is sold to US based GTE in 1998. Mexican ejido land was sold to US corporations from article 27 in 1992.  This affected the people of Mexico as they used the ejido land to become self-sufficient farmers.  Surplus items were sold and traded at the market.  When the ejido land is no longer owned by the government and sold to corporations, the people are no longer able to support themselves.  The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

---What is being done to remedy the effects of 60 years of neo-liberal policies?

Social movements have been occurring like the Zapatistas in Chiapas.  Even close to home we have Occupy Wall Street in the United States.  In Latin America we are seeing a shift to political left-wing leaders like Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez. They are using their resources to gain influence in the region and supporting social movements.  Morales is the first elected indigenous Bolivian president who supports the cocalera movement. The US opposes coca as its attempt of its War on Drugs.  Chavez is the president of Venezuela and their main resource is oil. The Latin American leaders created foreign and domestic policy that could no longer be dictated by the United States.  There are some in the US that would call these leaders as dictators.  Could they be called dictators because they do not agree with these neo-liberal policies?

---What can we do as individuals?

We can have a better understanding of why the immigrants chose to come to the United States. Some believe US policies are being forcing them from their homeland to the United States to be able to provide for a better way of life for their family.  In the US we support local movements of buying local to support local farmers by shopping at the farmers market.  We can also support the people and businesses from Latin America.  Instead of buying a bag of Tostitos from Cub foods perhaps it would be better to buy homemade tortilla chips from Burrito Mercado.  One student in class said he would be willing to pay a little more after he found the people of Mexico being exploited.  Actions like this would enable to put the money back to the people and not corporations.