Creating Opportunities, Helping Families, and Preserving Culture: CAFAMI

by James Hutter

james.hutter@gmail.com

Creating Opportunities, Helping Families, and Preserving Culture:
Centro de Atencion a la Familia Migrante Indigena

After hearing about the situation in San Francisco Tetlanohcan, one may think that nothing is being done to reverse the trend of migration and its effects on that small town. Thankfully, that sentiment could not be any further from the truth. One remarkable group, based in Tetlanohcan, recognizes all of the difficult challenges that the town is facing and is working to meet them head on. CAFAMI – Centro de Atencion a la Familia Migrante Indigena – is an organization that is taking a multifaceted approach to tackling the many issues that they witness every day. They understand that migration is affecting villages and towns all over Mexico, and that much can be done to prevent it. The CAFAMI project has spawned several successful initiatives and they are working tirelessly to spread their message and methods to other parts of Mexico.

members of CAFAMI

 CAFAMI is upfront and honest when talking about the issues facing communities that have been severely impacted by migration. The centerpiece of their effort is a performance entitled “La Casa Rosa.” This play, written and performed entirely by members of CAFAMI, takes an unfiltered look at how migration can put severe strain on families and cause them to bend to the point of breaking. One of the strongest aspects of the story focuses on the role that women play in Mexican families. This presents rare insight into an issue that is often dominated by a male perspective. The play shows how difficult it can be for a woman to hold a family together after her husband has migrated to another region in search of opportunity. A woman is left behind to raise children and take care of extended family living under the same roof – there are almost too many responsibilities left behind for her to juggle. The stress and frustration of her situation were perfectly transmitted to the viewer.

When not working on their performances, another project of CAFAMI is the development of natural medicines that are packaged and sold under the name Herba Lintzi. It sounds like a strange tangent for the CAFAMI project until you hear the reasoning behind this endeavor. The medicines utilize plants which grow easily in the region and the recipes are based on native traditions and knowledge. They use all natural ingredients, and even substitute components like petroleum jelly (often found in medicinal creams), with honey. Homeopathy and natural medicines are still not widely recognized in Mexico, but their use has grown in the United States.

 The ultimate plan for the project is to continue growing the business and to export more products to the United States. CAFAMI had thought that the NAFTA trade agreement would make commerce between the member countries more streamlined and help them establish a new business. The reality, however, was much further from the truth as they had frustratingly encountered many regulatory problems when trying to export their goods to the U.S.

             With that being said, CAFAMI did not seem discouraged. The goal of the project was to create a new, easily sustainable business in Tetlanohcan that would generate both jobs and revenue in the town. The business would, hopefully, be successful in retaining the younger members of the community while generating additional income for others.

This was one of the best sounding strategies that I had heard thus far. It seemed like an excellent way to combat negative migration in the area and to generate income. The implementation of sustainable, organic farming to create the product sounded like the perfect mix of traditionalism and modern marketing to make it unique. What was very disheartening to hear was the difficulties they had been facing in sending the product to the United States' market. I had heard many stories of how easy it was for United States or Canadian companies to establish a foothold in Mexico. To hear that doing the opposite was nearly impossible seemed quite unfair.

 Another project of the CAFAMI group is the preservation and dissemination of Nahuatl – the indigenous language spoken in Central Mexico. The group has worked hard to prevent the loss of this important language. One method they use for preservation is the creation of audio books that contain stories and recipes. These works are then translated into both Spanish and English to assist students of the language. It was extremely impressive to hear that they are going through these lengths to ensure that the Nahuatl language can be shared with others throughout Mexico and the rest of the world. There are too many stories of languages and other important cultural artifacts being lost to history. It is clear that CAFAMI is doing all they can to prevent that.

Meeting with CAFAMI was an energizing experience. This group is intelligently tackling so many challenges facing their community and they are doing this on so many different fronts. It was discouraging to hear of their problems selling their medicinal products. But hopefully, by the time this has been written, those hurdles will have been overcome. Also, one should not understate the power of “La Casa Rosa.” CAFAMI had found a way to share one painful aspect of migration through art. By doing so, they found an impressive way to connect with an audience and spread their message.

Thankfully, CAFAMI would not be the last group that the Roots of Migration Delegation would meet attempting to achieve the same goals through similar methods...

The Impact of the TPP, Part One / El Impacto del TPP, Primera Parte

Español abajo

Josh Wise, Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition

For nearly five years now, government bureaucrats and lobbyists on both sides of the Pacific Ocean have been negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in secret. Despite claims from the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Michael Froman, that this is going to be a “high-level” agreement that will create lots of jobs, everything we've learned through leaks to the public (which essentially amount to negotiators committing treason just to tell us what our government is proposing) shows that the TPP is poised to become yet another extension of the same failed trade policy and negotiating process that gave us NAFTA, CAFTA and a whole host of other agreements that have accelerated the race to the bottom for labor, environmental and human rights standards. Only this time, it's on a much larger scale.

Free trade advocates point to David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage as the basis for eliminating trade restrictions. The idea is that if we eliminate government protections for industries, then countries will have to focus on producing what they are most efficient at and everyone pays a lower price for goods while profits are higher because of the efficiency. The reality is that the agreements that have been negotiated so far have been far from free, or even specifically about trade. Instead, what they have amounted to is a host of deregulation, and protections for investors (otherwise known as multinational corporations), which have limited the ability of governments to act in their public interest, whether in terms of labor standards, the environment or public health. This has boosted corporate profits immensely, but has resulted in a race to the bottom for the rest of us in terms of global living standards.

Why is it this way?
Well, it's really inevitable given the way we do trade negotiations. USTR is technically a diplomat, and as such, can keep trade negotiations classified. However, if you lobby the executive branch, you can get appointed as a “cleared adviser” to the negotiations, meaning you can see and influence the proposals. The TPP has more than 600 cleared advisers, many of whom represent major corporations. International treaties, of course, override all conflicting federal and local laws. So what we're left with is a system of lawmaking in which the lobbyists write the laws behind closed doors. It's no surprise then, that the final agreements disproportionately benefit the very same multinational corporations who wrote them.

What are the results?
The North American Free Trade Agreement has been in effect for 20 years as of 2014, and therefore provides the most data to analyze. Since NAFTA was enacted, the US has lost more than 1 million jobs to low-wage labor. And it’s not just low-skilled work that’s going abroad. The auto industry, medical device and chemical manufacturing and even research and development jobs are crossing the border to maquiladoras, where the average manufacturing wage is $2.50 an hour, and labor and environmental regulations are either non-existent or not enforced. Many “low-skilled” jobs, such as those in the textile industry, have long since left, as subsequent World Trade Organization and bi-lateral agreements have sent that work where the wages are even lower, such as Central America and Southeast Asia. The TPP includes Vietnam, where independent unions are illegal, and $2.50 is the average daily wage. The job loss, however, hasn’t just affected the US. Subsidized grain exports have displaced more than 2 million Mexican farm workers (fueling immigration and the drug trade) and millions of acres of land have been expropriated for mining and extractive industries.

Part Two, to be published tomorrow, will delve more into the impact of the TPP and talk about what we as citizens can do to stop it.

El Impacto del TPP

Josh Wise, Coalición por el Comercio Justo de Minnesota

Las negociaciones secretas del Acuerdo Estrategico Trans-Pacifico de la Asociacion Economica o, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) han seguido efectuándose por más de cuatro años. Según las afirmaciones dadas por el Representante Comercial de Estados Unidos (USTR), Michael Froman, el TPP sería un acuerdo “de alto nivel” dando pie a la creación de nuevos trabajos y por ende oportunidades laborales. Sin embargo, toda la información que hemos recibido mediante información que se ha filtrado al público (significando un acto de traición por parte de algunos participantes con el propósito de informarnos lo que propone nuestro propio gobierno) indica que el TPP está a punto de convertirse en otra extensión más del mismo proceso fallido de negociaciones de la política del comercio; los cuales han resultado en muchos otros acuerdos que han acelerado la “carrera hacia el abismo” en cuanto de las normas laborales, ambientales y de derechos humanos. Pero esta vez, en una escala mayor.

Los defensores del comercio libre utilizan la teoría de ventaja comparativa del economista David Ricardo como base teórica para la eliminación de las restricciones del comercio. La idea es que, si eliminamos la protección del estado para ciertas industrias, los países tendrían que enfocarse en la producción de artículos que resulten más eficaces, por consiguiente, todo el mundo pagaría precios más bajos para productos y las ganancias resultarían más grandes por la eficiencia. Sin embargo, la realidad es que los acuerdos actuales se alejan del ideal de “libertad comercial”, perdiendo los hilos conductores y yendo más allá del manejo del comercio. Al contrario, se ha introducido una gran cantidad de desregulación y protecciones para los inversionistas (la mayoría de éstos son corporaciones multinacionales), las cuales han limitado la capacidad de los gobiernos para actuar en favor de los intereses públicos en temas como normas laborales, medioambientales y de salud pública. Es cierto que han resultado en grandes ganancias corporativas, pero a la vez se ha venido generando ésta carrera hacia el abismo para los demás, sobretodo teniendo un impacto en el nivel de vida global.

Por qué es así?
En realidad, estos resultados son inevitables considerando como hacemos las negociaciones sobre el comercio. Según la definición oficial de su cargo, el USTR Froman es un diplomático, y, por esta razón puede mantener en secreto el contenido de las negociaciones sobre el comercio. Sin embargo, si alguien pide a la sección ejecutiva del gobierno, puede conseguir el título de “consejero autorizado” para las negociaciones, lo que significa que se puede ver y ejercer influencia sobre las propuestas. El TPP tiene más de 600 de estos “consejeros autorizados” y muchos de ellos representan corporaciones grandes. Además, los tratados internacionales se anteponen a todas las leyes nacionales y locales – dejándonos con un sistema de creación de leyes en el cual los grupos de presión (lobbyists) escriben las leyes detrás de puertas, por tanto, no deberían sorprender. Entonces, los acuerdos finales benefician desproporcionalmente a las mismas corporaciones multinacionales que los escriben.

Cuáles son los resultados?
El Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) cumplió 20 años de vigencia este año, y por ser el acuerdo con mayor longevidad, tiene la mayor cantidad de datos para analizar. Desde que se estableció el TLCAN, los EEUU han perdido más de 1 millón de puestos de trabajo a sitios extranjeros de salario bajo. Y el trabajo no especializado no es el único que va para el exterior. Trabajo de la industria automóvil, de fabricación medica y química, y hasta investigación y desarrollo sigue cruzando la frontera a las maquiladoras, donde el salario promedio es $2,50 por una hora, y las normas laborales y ambientales o no existen o no se aplican. Mucho más trabajo no especializado, como el de la industria textil, desapareció hace mucho tiempo, porque los acuerdos bilaterales y los de la Organización Mundial del Comercio han controlado éste trabajo hasta donde el salario es aún más bajo, en regiones como Centroamérica y el Sudeste de Asia. El TPP incluye a Vietnam, donde los sindicatos independientes son ilegales y, $2,50 es el salario promedio diario. Entonces, la pérdida del trabajo no es solamente un tema de EEUU; las exportaciones subvencionadas de granos han causado el desplazamiento a más de 2 millones de campesinos y trabajadores mexicanos (contribuyendo a la inmigración y el tráfico de drogas) y millones de acres de tierra han sido expropiados para usos y explotación minera y de industrias extractivas.

La segunda parte de este post se publicará mañana, éste explorará más a fondo el impacto del TPP y discutirá que podremos hacer nosotros como ciudadanos para detenerlo.

The Reality of Free Trade in Mexico

by Sophie Nikitas

The Mayans had a myth to explain the creation of humans: the gods tried three times to make the first human. The first time, they tried to make it out of clay; the next time, out of wood, but neither was satisfactory to them. So they tried one more time; this time, they used corn. Finally they succeeded in creating a human who could work the land and worship the gods. This story is just one example of the importance of corn—not just as food, but as an integral part of Mexican culture and identity. 

Mexico is home to around 60 varieties of native corn,
which are under threat from GMO's. Transnational
companies like Monsanto are favored under NAFTA.

I witnessed this importance first-hand when I traveled to Mexico in January with Witness for Peace. I went as part of a program that examined how free trade between Canada, the US and Mexico affected the region of Oaxaca in particular. My colleagues and I learned about the effects of NAFTA, particularly via trade between US and Mexico, and how different those effects were from what the US government portrays them to be. In particular, I saw how free trade is affecting the production of, and access to corn. 

The US government largely focuses on the benefits stemming from the free trade agreement. For example, one of NAFTA's main goals was originally to improve the Mexican economy by giving farmers, a large portion of the workforce, the opportunity to sell their goods on a larger, international market. Tied in with that was the aim to encourage Mexico's "development", particularly by giving agricultural workers access to affordable crops and allowing them to work in more lucrative and less labor-intensive sectors of the economy. In 1994, with those goals in mind, the US, Canadian and Mexican governments lifted tariffs on non-domestic products sourced from the other countries, and free trade between the three began. 

This year marks the 20th anniversary of NAFTA. Mexico is certainly different from before the agreement, but not in the way that was anticipated. In reality, NAFTA's policies have made Mexico more dependent on the economy and resources of the US, and the result is that many of the Mexicans who were predicted to benefit have become less self-sufficient than before. Corn farmers have been particularly hard-hit. Despite being considered "poor" by the Mexican and US governments, mostly due to the lack of expendable capital, Mexican corn farmers were actually fairly self-sufficient before the agreement. Their ability to grow their own food provided a certain degree of food security and control over the local markets. However, policies aimed at promoting "development" have made it more challenging for many farmers to grow corn and other essential crops, in favor of promoting other sectors of work. 

In order to encourage the "development" (and I keep putting this word in quotes because US standards for development are not synonymous with improvement in food security and general quality of life), the Mexican government began importing cheap corn from the US in order to push corn farmers to seek work in other sectors. It's important to note that, although NAFTA includes provisions against government subsidies of crops, which would disrupt the price competition between producers across the countries involved, the US continues to subsidize the production of corn. This allows US farmers to export their corn to Mexico at such low prices that Mexican farmers cannot compete, and, as a result, must find a different source of immediate income. 

The option that the Mexican government presented was encouraging farmers to move to cities for work, particularly in "maquiladoras". Maquiladoras are factories within "Free Trade Zones" that provide cheap labor for companies operating transnationally. Despite the supposed benefits of this type of work, maquiladoras provide neither the financial or bodily security that many Mexican farmers had when they produced their own crops.

Maquiladoras multiplied in Mexico with NAFTA. They are criticized for serious environmental pollution, dangerous working conditions, low pay, and discriminatory practices like only hiring young women, forcing them to take pregnancy tests (and then firing them if they're positive), and preventing union organizing.

In order to get contracts with large companies, maquiladoras must offer the lowest production prices. This is called "race to the bottom", when factories try to offer prices low enough that companies will use them instead of sourcing their manufacturing to factories in India, for example. Because of this desire to cut costs, maquiladoras are well-known for their dangerous conditions. Employees often work long hours  without proper training, equipment or protection from chemicals or machines that they use. On top of that, they receive a fraction of an equivalent US salary for their work. 

NAFTA's defenders argue that maquiladoras have created 800,000 new jobs for "poor" Mexicans, but in reality maquiladoras are a much worse option than typical corn farming. The lack of safe conditions, financial security and the autonomy to grow and access one's own food are not part of public statements, nor the two million agricultural jobs that were lost in order to encourage work in maquiladoras. As a result, there are many people in Oaxaca, as well as throughout Mexico, fighting against these policies.

One of several fair trade certifications.

Our group met with several Oaxacan cooperatives: one that I learned the most from was called Michizá. This cooperative works with indigenous coffee farmers in order to sell their products on the fair trade market, both in Mexico and the US. One of their main barriers, they told us, was the cost of obtaining a free trade certificate. When the goal is to get the profit to the producers, the cost of obtaining fair trade certification for US markets can impede that process. As a result, it is much more expensive to sell that coffee in the US, where there is more demand for coffee than in Mexico, where it is often less expensive.

The most striking thing about the presentation was the recurring theme of how difficult it was for farmers to get compensated for their work when they sold on the international market, even though that route is so encouraged and supposedly easier under NAFTA. This seems to be the biggest challenge in free trade: expanding opportunities and new markets for producers while ensuring that they reap those benefits. I think that working within larger systems, like corporations and larger fair trade certification agencies, makes it easier to forget who produced the product we are consuming. On the other hand, working on a smaller scale—maybe local, maybe a smaller company—can ensure that consumers like me know where our products are coming from, and that, just as I am getting something from the producers, they are receiving back from me. 

The Human Face (and Price) of Trade

The Witness blog series is back!

This month, Witness for Peace, in close collaboration with coalition partners in the United States and partners on the ground in Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico, is hosting our second annual blog series – this one focused on the changing system of international trade and its effects on communities both small and large.

When most people hear the word “trade,” their eyes already start to glaze over, visions of tariffs and collective bargaining agreements dancing in their hands. This is understandable – at first, trade doesn’t exactly seem like the most exciting topic, tied up as it is with broader issues of economics, national sovereignty, imports/exports and labor rights. However, trade has implications that reach far beyond the entrances to ports and meeting halls – really, if you’ve ever bought anything or had a job, trade has affected you in some way. Over the course of the next month, we’ll be using this space on the Witness blog to explore the many ways trade changes lives, livelihoods and environments, from small-scale farmers in the U.S. Midwest to port workers in the Colombian city of Buenaventura.

The topics of free trade, unions, workers’ rights and economic policy have become increasingly important throughout the Americas since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect in 1994, creating a trade bloc between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and opening the door for subsequent economic policies and practices that prioritized corporations and multinational companies over unions and workers themselves. Since then, such agreements have spread across the region, with the U.S. signing free trade accords with countries including Chile, Peru, Colombia and the majority of Central America.

Though supporters in governments and the business world insist that such agreements help boost competition and encourage sales, the truth is that the few individuals and corporations at the top are those that truly profit, while laborers, farmers and small businesses see few of the benefits and are often left worse off than they were before the agreement took effect. Such agreements lead to lower prices on imported goods that  leave local businesses unable to compete without incurring significant losses; allow much greater influence for multinational corporations; facilitate widespread third-party contracting; and encourage extensive outsourcing in a "race to the bottom." These effects are well-documented, and some communities are refusing to simply accept them as inevitable. Last August, Colombia’s farmers began a national strike that quickly spread across the country and reached the largest cities, primarily as a response to the negative effects the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, signed in 2011, had on their communities and their livelihoods.

Well-researched critiques and comprehensive analyses of such agreements are now more important than ever, with the U.S. on the verge of signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would become the most far-reaching trade agreement in the hemisphere and grant a staggering amount of rights and privileges to corporations and business interests, potentially even overriding national sovereignty and laws in some cases. Through this blog series, we will examine the effects and lessons learned from current trade agreements and labor practices throughout the Americas, and hope to shed some light on the potential regional and global impact of the TPP as well as bring more attention to what’s happening in our own backyards and in thousands of other cities and towns across the continents.

Check back here every weekday for bilingual posts highlighting some of the effects free trade agreements and changes in trade and labor policy have had on individuals and communities throughout the Americas, and how some of our writers have seen those changes reflected in their own lives and the lives of others. Feel free to take a look at our 2013 Drug War blog series as well.

General Motors in Colombia: the Free Trade Agreement, the Abuses, the Corruption and the Resistance

by Carlos Cruz, WFP Colombia

The Association of Sick and Fired Workers of General Motors Colombia (ASOTRECOL)

Jorge Parra, the President of the Association of Sick and Fired Workers Of General Motors Colombia (ASOTRECOL in Spanish), started his makeshift tent city with fellow fired General Motors workers right across the street from the United Sates Embassy on August 1, 2011. Their reasoning was very clear: Since the U.S. government bailed out General Motors in 2008, the government and U.S. taxpayers became major stakeholders of this multinational corporation and assumed responsibility for its behavior in other countries, including Colombia.

From their tent city, they have launched a strong grassroots campaign that has attracted the attention of U.S. Congresspeople, Colombian trade union federations, nongovernmental organizations, opposition senators and hopefully the GM CEO.

These fired workers have shown incredible endurance, sleeping out in the cold and rainy Bogotá weather with metal rods in their spinal columns as a result of the surgeries they’ve undergone due to injuries acquired at the GM plant. Their endurance shows their determination to attain labor practices and standards that are fair and comply with the law.

Colombian Workers and the Free Trade Agreement

What they ask is for the U.S. government and General Motors in Colombia to comply with safety and labor standards supposedly guaranteed by Colombian laws and the 2011 Labor Action Plan between the Colombian and the U.S. governments.

The Labor Action Plan was geared to address the grave human rights abuses in Colombia in order to ratify the notoriously debated Free Trade Agreement proposed in 2006. There was fierce opposition from many sectors of Colombian society, including indigenous and afro-Colombian communities and U.S. trade unions and confederations, which stalled the FTA’s ratification for 5 years, and with good reason.

Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world to exercise labor organizing and unionizing rights. According to the AFL-CIO, 2,850 Colombian trade unionists have been killed in the last 25 years with almost complete impunity.

Colombian labor leaders face life and death situations and find abuse in almost all aspect of labor. Approximately three million Colombian workers are employed by subcontracting mechanisms that give a type of temporary worker status in order to break up unions, limit medical care, deny extra pay for over-time, weekends and holidays, and limit the right to a fixed contract. An estimated 300 to 400 workers in the GM plant in Colombia are hired under these exploitative schemes.

These and many more abuses resulting from subcontracting schemes are specifically addressed in the Labor Action Plan, but remain intact in Colombia when they shouldn’t.

In an environment of impunity, corruption and weak institutions, the newly-created Ministry of Labor and its labor inspectors, which have received $2 million U.S. taxpayer dollars in order to implement the Labor Action Plan, are working against the rights of workers.

The Abuses

Jorge and many more workers in Colombia, specifically in this case, endure precarious safety standards, long working hours, and don’t have adequate access to mechanisms to address these issues. Instead, workers are simply fired once they get injured or start working to address these labor violations. This is what happened to about 164 workers at the GM plant.

The fast pace, the heavy equipment and the lack of proper medical attention led to several injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, spinal injuries and hernias. Instead of taking care of its workers, GM management obtained their medical records and fired them, listing false claims so the firing wouldn’t be related to their injuries.

What is even more troubling is that these fired GM workers have been targets of persecution and harassment by private security firms contracted in secrecy. Members of the association have reported being fallowed and photographed outside their homes and their children’s schools. Even more alarming is that the Labor Action Plan’s protective measures for labor leaders are not being fulfilled; 51 trade unionists were murdered in 2011 alone, and 5 have been killed to date in 2012.

The Corruption

The far reach of multinationals and their deep political and economic ties more often than not sabotage, stall and hinder judicial processes in their favor.

Labor inspectors, called for by the Labor Action Plan, signed off on these illegal firings, protecting the companies instead of the workers. In a legal motion and investigation filed by ASOTRECOL, one corrupt labor inspector was actually sanctioned. The remaining concern is that the Labor Action Plan calls for roughly 400 of these officials.

The Resistance

The GM case is one of several in Colombia relating to labor abuses, exploitation, persecution and anti-union organizing. To highlight these issues, in early May, Jorge and other Colombian workers from the most exploited sectors of the Colombian workforce, who are specifically mentioned in the Labor Action Plan, will be going to Washington, DC, to express the ground-level reality of the Labor Action Plan. Their objective is to renegotiate the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement until the plan becomes a reality and not just an unenforced document signed over to the U.S. in order to implement the FTA.

Who's Behind your Morning Cup of Coffee?

by Amy Shelton

Nicaraguan coffee farmer and cooperative leader Eddy Gutierrez just visited Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky on a very successful speaker tour. Mr. Gutierrez and International Team member Galen Cohee Baynes shared the realities that Nicaraguan farmers face in the global marketplace, challenging U.S. consumers to reflect on the people behind their morning cup of coffee. Throughout the tour they exchanged experiences with small U.S. farmers who are facing many of the same challenges and are working to build a fair and local food economy. The tour helped us connect the dots between our food, our farmers and our planet.

While in Louisville, Kentucky, Eddy Gutierrez was interviewed by the Presbyterian Hunger Program, which produced this short video presentation.