| What is happening in Mexico today is a foretaste of what will happen in the countries of the South if they do not obtain the “Farming Exemption” at the World Trade Organisation: Mexican agricultural products are already very cheap, but they can not compete with the American products that are massively subsidised. Eighty thousand farmers representing the professional associations and the unions of country people held a demonstration in the Zocalo, the central square of Mexico City. They wanted to protest against the agricultural policy of the government of Vincent Fox. These same small farmers had already protested in 1993, at the time of the signing of the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA): without a structural reform of the whole of agriculture, such a signature would be a disaster which would lead to the collapse of the sector in which 25% of the population earn their living. Ten years have passed since then. On the 1st of January all the customs barriers were raised: products from Mexico, Canada and the United States can now circulate freely. But North American agriculture is so heavily subsidised that no Mexican product can compete. For example, the American farmer exports corn 20% cheaper than its production costs and receives and average of 21 000 dollars in subsidies a year, against hardly 700 dollars for the Mexican farmer. Access to credit is limited. Bank interest rates, between 50 and 60%, are at a scandalous level, while inflation is only 5%. The price of electricity (in an oil producing country) is four times higher than the USA. On top of that there is the problem of a lack of standards in the country, which allow the powerful neighbours to the North to sell off at very low prices their unsellable stocks of frozen meats or low quality products. The difference in the levels of the economies means that the farmers of Mexico can not compete. From a situation of self-sufficiency, the country is slipping into dependence. Since the signing of NAFTA, prices have risen by 200%, but the black bean has lost 46% in value because of imports. In the 1980s, before the introduction of liberal policies, Mexico was self-sufficient in food. However, today it is dependent on its neighbour for 40% and the experts predict that in five years it will have to import 70% of its farm products. In fact, between 1994 and 2000, Mexico spent 75 billion dollars on North American food products: a sum that could have been better spent. The angry farmers reminded the Mexican president that he did not fulfil his electoral promises and that there that the country people had no intention of taking on the cost of his ultra-liberal policies. Without a national agreement they are ready to close the borders and to go on general strike, supported by all the large national workers’ unions who were present at their demonstration. Patrice Gouy, la Croix (www.la-Croix.com) Friday 7 February 2003 | 
