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Mexico offers
US companies opportunities
Cabinet Minister, Consulate promote development
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S eam C ruz
Mexico is experiencing its second largest
flow o f foreign investment in national history
as companies from around the world move to
take advantage of its econom ic recovery from
the peso crash o f December 1994, and the
new legal and financial frameworks the Mex­
ican government has instituted to promote
infrastructure and natural resources develop­
ment as well as international trade.
MAQUILADORAS ARE TIP OF ICEBERG
While maquiladoras—foreign assembly or
manufacturing plants—have been the enter­
prises receiving the most notice in the US
press, it is investments in infrastructure and
sustainable natural resources development
that are o f paramount concern to the Mexican
nation
M exico’s Secretary o f the Environment,
N atural R esources and Fisheries, Julia
Carabias Lillo, was in Portland recently to
provide information about natural resourc­
es development policy at the highest level.
Speaking at the Northwest-Mexico Environ­
mental Conference in October 17, Secretary
Carabias and two key Mexican experts dis­
cussed a variety o f issues pertaining to devel­
opment opportunities.
Apart from M exico’s strategic location-
on the Pacific Rim to the West, facing Europe
on the East, the political and logistical key to
trade between North and South A m erica-
there are a host o f reasons why Mexico is an
increasingly attractive target for US invest­
ment.
MEXICO OPEN TO
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Perhaps chief among them is the fact that
Mexico has recognized that a key component
o f improving the country’s environmental
infrastructure lies in the participation o f the
private sector in providing natural resources
development and environmental technolo­
gies, equipment and services. To facilitate
this end, the government has made funda­
mental changes to constitutional and regula­
tory law and created a Cabinet-level post to
promote and oversee development.
Secretary Lillo, a long-time environmen­
talist and former President o f the National
Institute o f Ecology, was appointed to lead
the newly-formed Ministry o f the Environ­
ment, Natural Resources and Fisheries in
1994. Her organization will also coordinate
irrigation and drinking water, solid waste, air
quality, and forest projects. Each o f these
development activities will involve partner­
ships with the Mexican government. "We
want to be partners, not clients,” the Secre­
tary stated.
PROJECTS ARE OPEN TO US BIDDING
The Ministry is specifically encouraging
US firms to bid on a wide variety o f projects,
among them: sustainable aquaculture, with
current projects in softshell crabs, frog legs,
scallops, seed scallops, and mollusks (oyster
and clams); potable water delivery and stor­
age systems: and sewer and solid waste infra­
structure. Current investment requirements
in irrigation projects alone is estimated at
$2.5 billion dollars.
In addition to construction contracts, Mex­
ico is structuring bidding to offer long-term
management opportunities to US firms that
specialize in operating and maintaining in­
frastructure.
Secretary Lillo noted that since 1994, the
largest 100 foreign-owned companies oper­
ating in Mexico have increased their invest­
ments by 50%.
COMMERCIAL PLANTATIONS
ARE HOT
She stated that commercial plantations
offer some o f the most important develop­
ment opportunities in Mexico, where soil
compositions and climate combine to make a
substantially shorter growing cycle than in
the United S tates-8 to 15 years for forestry
cuts as opposed to 25 to 30 years—and where
the biological diversity is among the richest
on the planet.
Mexico also offers substantial potential in
fisheries, where a need to convert to deeper
water fishing and to modernize processing
and packing facilities is recognized. O f the
73,000 commercial fishing boats currently
operating from Mexican ports, only 3,000
are capable o f deep sea operations.
MEXICAN ECONOMY MOVING UP
Speaking on the state o f the Mexican econ­
omy, Dr. Juan Carlos Belausteguigoita, an
expert in environmental economics for the
Ministry ofthe Environment, staled that chief
among the economic indicators which have
contributed to the enthusiasm o f foreign in­
vestors have been: the inflation rate is com­
ing down; unemployment is down; the GNP
is growing; the stock market has been on an
upward trend since the crash; the exchange
rates are stable, and the trade account is
healthy.
MEXICO US DEBT
AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
Mexico is also repaying its emergency
loan from the US—extended by President
Clinton at the peak o fthe 1994 peso c risis-
ahead o f schedule. The controversial $20
billion dollars that the US made available to
Mexico to avert a social catastrophe has been
paid down to only $ 3.5 billion and M exico's
international credit rating has moved up­
ward, a direct benefit to both countries.
MEXICAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
"M exican and environmental and natural
resource policy aims at promoting the use of
resources and environmental protection in a
way that encourages the improvement ofthe
quality o f life o f present and future genera­
tions,” the M inistry’s policy paper stated.
"A chieving econom ic growth, the tight
against poverty and protecting the environ­
ment are the pillars o f sustainable develop­
ment.”
MEXICAN CONSUL
AIDS OREGON BUSINESS
t he Secretary's visit was coordinated by
the Mexican Consdlate, the US—Mexico
Chamber o f Commerce, and the World Af­
fairs Council o f Oregon. The C o n su ls pres­
ence in Portland provides a means for Ore­
gon companies to discuss opportunities di­
rectly with officials o f the United States
o f Mexico (Los I stados Unidos de Mexico
is the official name o f our southern neigh­
bor).
This visit was the first o f many high-level
officials who will come to offer trade and
cultural exchange opportunities to Orego­
nians as the Consulate begins operations
here.
Strengthening America’s Families
“Hispanics are making huge strides in
ways we could not have even imagined just
a generation ago. / don't want any Hispanic
child in America to fe el that his or her race
is an impediment to fu ll achievement. Every
child has a right to the American Dream,
and all o f us have a responsibility to nourish
that dream, ’’-President Clinton.
President Clinton is committed to ensur­
ing that Latinos have the same opportunities
as all Americans. The President’s policies
strengthen families, create more jobs and
business opportunities, and ensure a quality
education for all o f our children. President
Clinton has addressed the concerns o f the
Hispanic-American community by:
♦ Helping to create over 220,000 new
hundreds o f positions in our government.
From Henry Cisneros, U S. Secretary of
Housing, Urban, and Development, and
Frederico Pena, U S. Secretary ofTranspor-
tation, to the hundreds o f other Latinos who
help run our government, there are now more
Hispanics in senior-level positions than at
any time in our nation's history. I he Presi­
dent has also appointed a record number (16)
o f Latinos to the federal, district, and circuit
courts;
♦ Signing the I lealth Insurance Reform Act
(Kassebaum-Kennedy Bill) which expands and
protects access to health insurance by limiting
exclusions for pre-existing conditions and al­
lowing individuals to take their insurance with
them when they change or lose their jobs.
businesses owned by Hispanic Americans.
The Clinton Administration has made new
tax cuts available to over 90 percent o f all
small businesses;
♦ Expandingthe Earned Income Tax Credit
(EITC) to provide tax relief for 15 million
working families so parents do not have to
raise their children poverty;
♦ Standing up for the governm ent’s affir­
mative action programs an concluding that
they are still effective and important tools to
expand education and economic opportunity
forall Americans. President Clinton wants to
"mend, not end” affirmative action;
♦ Appointing the most diverse Cabinet
and Administration in history. The President
■reached out to the Latino community to fill
was punctuated by well-rehearsed cheers
sort o f a pep rally with long hair, black jeans
and nose rings.
“Their blood (ofthe 1968 victims) was not
in vain,” Luis Jorge Pena, a veteran the 1968
movement, told Reuters during the march
“The government can’t do today what they
did then. They shot students just for painting
insignias on the walls.”
“The PR I doesn't stand a chance with the
young people o f today,” added Federico
Emery, another o f the 1968 student leaders
who marched at the front o f the line.
Several students spoke o f “class aware­
ness” and the desire to see an abrupt end to the
reign o f the PRI, while others praised the
Maya Indian-based Zapatista guerrillas in
southern Chiapas state or the Popular Revo­
lutionary Army (EPR) operating in several
central-south Mexican states.
“The government is murdering peasants,”
said one young man with a can o f spray paint
and a T-shirt on which Zapatista leader
Subcommander Marcos was pictured. “The
issues o f 1968 are the same today.”
November 2 is Dia de los Muertos. or the Day o f the Dead. Each year,
Mexicans honor the memory of our ancestors on November 2 with fiestas
(parties), ofrendas (gifts) and calaveras (skeletons). The holiday is called el Dia
de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.
Artwork courtesy of the Miracle Theater Group.
United Farm Workers persevere
Tlatelolco remembered
On Oct. 2, 1968, just days before Mexico
City was to host the Olympic Games, a grow­
ing student protest movement to free political
prisoners and demand more democracy was
crushed when police opened fire, killing an
estimated 300 people.
The 1968 crackdown silenced the protests,
but also brought international scorn on Mex­
ico It is widely seen to have led to guerrilla
movements o f the 1970s, and today is a prick­
ly annual reminder for the government that
discontent is endemic.
The protesters sought to recall the tragedy
but also to unload ire and sarcasm on Presi­
dent Ernesto Zedillo, denounce the army and,
in some cases, show support for current guer­
rilla forces in the Mexican countryside
The new generation o f protesters, mostly
students but also includ ing a wide array o f left-
wing groups, clearly revelled in calling for the
ouster o f the ruling Institutional Revolution­
ary Party (PR I) that has governed for 67 years.
At least 10,000 converged on the Zocalo,
Mexico City’s main plaza, to hear a series ot
political speeches. The air ot heady idealism
El dia de los Muertos
When Cesar Chavez died in 1993, people
thought it was the end o f the United Farm
Workers. But they were wrong, says Dolores
I
w h » rn - fn im d e d tht* u n io n w ith C h a v C 7
In the past three years, the union has added
5,000 members, and organizers are working
with mushroom pickers in Florida and more
than I 5.000 strawberry Dickers in California,
S U B S C
and that owners have plowed under the straw­
berry crop and fired workers rather than
recognize the union.
And most states still do not have w orkers’
P T I 0
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