[NYTr] Mexican Farmers to Protest NAFTA

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Mexican Farmers to Protest NAFTA

Mexico, Dec 31 (Prensa Latina) Starting from today, Mexican unions and
farmer organizations have scheduled a number of demonstrations against
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), including a mass farm
gathering in the capital.

The call was made on Sunday by the National Council of Rural, Fishing
Organizations and the Cardenista Peasant Confederation, already
committed to block five international bridges in Ciudad Juarez,
bordering the United States, on January 1st in order to impede the
entry of tax-free, US-subsidized food and other products, which Mexican
farmers consider a coup de grace to national agriculture.

According to organizers, the protests today are just the beginning of
other demonstrations to urge government to renegotiate the farm chapter
of NAFTA.

In a joint declaration, the Council and the Confederation said that
though January 1st (the date for the said chapter to come into force)
has become a symbol, the NAFTA-triggered disaster in Mexican
agriculture exists since its signing 14 years ago.

Anti-NAFTA mobilizations also include on-off blockings of traffic of
containers coming from the US in several roads and the blocking of
delegations of the Secretariat of Agriculture.

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