Mexican President Seeks to Calm Farmer's Economic Protests

Broadcast: Feb 12 2003

 

In Mexico, President Vicente Fox is making an effort to calm protests in the farming sector¹ through a dialogue with the government. But, the talk, so far, is mostly one-sided.

The dialogue between Fox government officials and farm group leaders held on Tuesday here in Mexico City included two cabinet officials and a number of governors and legislators, but very few campesinos, as the farmers are called in Spanish.

The leaders of the nation's largest ¹⁾campesino organizations, the Congreso Agrario Permanente, or Permanent Agrarian² Congress, and the Confederacion Nacional Campesina, or National Farmers Confederation, boycotted³ the session. They complained that the government's decision to change the venue⁴, from the National Archives building to a sports complex, violated an agreement to consult with them on such arrangements.

President Fox is calling on all such groups to attend another meeting later this week so that they can contribute to the effort to improve the lot of Mexico's farmers.

He says he wants to move forward quickly to develop a national accord for the agricultural sector by March 15. He says this accord should include details about how to provide more financing and credit to farmers as well as how to help farmers commercialize their products.

President Fox is encouraging poor farmers to develop more skills in both production and in marketing⁵. He says that some farm operations in Mexico are prospering⁶ under the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA. Mr. Fox notes that the Mexican farm sector produces 157 products for sale in the United States and that Mexico leads the world in production of several types of products, including watermelons, tomatoes, broccoli⁷ and cauliflower.

Mexican tomato producers are among the most enthusiastic supporters of the trade agreement. In the past ten years, Mexico has nearly doubled its tomato exports and today, one out of every three tomatoes sold in the United States comes from Mexico.

But campesino leaders say NAFTA has favored such large-scale operations and left behind the millions of poor, small-scale farmers who cannot compete with the United States and Canada. Two weeks ago, some 20,000 campesinos marched in Mexico City demanding that the government renegotiate NAFTA, something President Fox has said he would not favor.

Under the terms of the treaty, tariffs⁸ on several commodities were reduced to zero on January 1. By 2008, ²⁾tariffs are set to fall on a number of other products including corn, sugar and beans.

The United States has remained out of the fray⁹ over NAFTA here in Mexico other than issuing statements highlighting the benefits of the agreement. However, Canada's ambassador to Mexico, Keith Christie, in an interview published in the Reforma newspaper Tuesday, said his country is against any change in the treaty. He said NAFTA is a complete package and it is not possible to change one part without reopening the entire agreement. That, he said, would not be good for any of the countries involved and he noted¹⁰ that both Canada and Mexico have gained more than the United States in terms of increased exports as a result of NAFTA.

Greg Flakus VOA news, Mexico City.

 

 

1)    campesino[kB:mpe5si:nE]n. 农夫, 农场工作人员

2)    tariff[5tArif]n.关税, 关税表, 税则, (旅馆, 饭店等的)价目表、价格表

 

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

3 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

4 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

5 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

6 prospering   

成功，兴旺( prosper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Our country is thriving and prospering day by day. 祖国日益繁荣昌盛。
• His business is prospering. 他生意兴隆。

7 broccoli   

n.绿菜花，花椰菜

参考例句：

• She grew all the broccoli plants from seed.这些花椰菜都是她用种子培育出来的。
• They think broccoli is only green and cauliflower is only white.他们认为西兰花只有绿色的，而菜花都是白色的。

8 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

9 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。