[NYTr] Mexican Farmers to Protest NAFTA Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:47:21 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * 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. hr ef rma jrr PL-2 * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================