Annotations for Subject-headings: Commercial Treaties

This is news from Latino USA. I'm María Martin. Hearings have begun on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. While concurrently in Washington, Latino leaders held a national Latino seminar on NAFTA. Andres Jimenez of the University of California at Berkeley says this is the first time Latino organizations attempt to formulate a common strategy on a major national question because of NAFTA's far-reaching impact on US Latinos.

The impact of job displacement, environmental concerns, and not just protection of spotted owls, but protection of water in the air where people live along the border.

Latino organizations, including the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Puerto Rican Institute for Policy Studies have signed on to a Latino consensus position on NAFTA, which calls for parallel agreements on immigration, job retraining, the environment, and for a North American Development Bank. Other organizations, including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, accept NAFTA as negotiated.

I'm María Hinojosa. Trade talks are now underway regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. NAFTA perhaps, as no other US economic initiative, will have a significant impact on US Latinos. With us to speak about the future of the controversial free trade agreement are three journalists who cover Washington DC politics: Sandra Marquez of the Hispanic Link News Service; freelance journalist, Zita Arocha; and José Carreño, DC Bureau chief for the Mexican daily, El Universal.

The biggest misperception in this whole thing is that even if NAFTA is a new document, in a way, it is something that is already happening at the border, as well, the people who's in Texas and California can say. Now what is going to happen? I think that there will be a lot of pressures on Mexico and the United States mostly in the environment and labor problems. Congressman Gephardt and a number of other Democratic freshmen went to Tijuana to take a look at the ecological situation there. They came out saying, "No way that way. At least the actual treaty has to be upgraded." We'll see a lot of the arguments in the next few months about it.

In fact, we've seen a lot of arguments already. Sandra, how much has the debate over NAFTA divided the Latino community in particular?

I think there's tremendous division among US Latinos on the issue of NAFTA because primarily, the jobs that are expected to be lost as a result of this agreement are the low-skilled, low-paying jobs that so many Latinos in this country hold. So, there is concern that the jobs that Latinos have are going to be exported to Mexico, but at the same time, Latinos realize that they have this intrinsic link with their Mexican kin across the border. And so, they realize there's tremendous potential that because of Latinos' bicultural skills that they can really tap into this and benefit more so than other Americans in this country.

The Latino population is also divided in terms of convenience. For instance, in Texas, there is a lot of people who's in favor of NAFTA because most of the import-export businesses are going through Texas and of course, they're getting a boost out of it. But in California, for instance, where there is a lot of Latinos in this low end of the industry, they're having a lot of problems, a lot of hesitations about it. So, I think that it is also related a lot with where are the jobs.

I think the Mexican government has realized that US Latinos can be very good promoters of this plan. And they have started a NAFIN fund, a $20 million fund for US Latino business leaders to create joint ventures with business partners in Mexico. And US Hispanic chambers of commerce here in this country have also been leading in terms of creating these trade partnerships and expose and taking people from the United States to Mexico and really helping to create these links.

There's another benefit to Latinos and I think Latinos are beginning to see this, that if the agreement leads in less immigration from Mexico to the United States…from Latin America in general to the United States, then those low-end jobs will not be taken away as easily as they would be if we continue to see hundreds of thousands of people coming across the border every year. There is some resistance on the part of some Latinos for fear that a lot of the low-end jobs will go to Mexico, but at the same time, there is also a realization that there will be benefits long term that will come from fewer immigrants coming over and you know, taking US jobs at the low end.

Thank you very much, Sandra Marquez, Zita Arocha, and José Carreño for joining us here on Latino USA.

Even now, before NAFTA's implementation, business people in Texas are actively trading with their colleagues south of the border, and if the trade agreement is going to work, it will be up to individual entrepreneurs to lead the way. It's a trail already being blazed by many Hispanic-owned businesses, such as John Montoya's. He's the president of World Dallas International, a trading services company, and for him, the rewards of the agreement are quite clear.

My own feeling, my own personal feeling is that if we work at it, that we'll be able to get a treaty that's good for the country and good for Mexico.

That's Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, commenting on the present status of the North American Free Trade Agreement. At this point, congressional approval of NAFTA is still in question. Mexico and Mexico's president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, have a lot at stake in NAFTA's becoming a reality, as do many Hispanic entrepreneurs in this country. In Dallas, Latino business and civic leaders recently met with the Mexican president trying to counter the arguments from a certain Texas politician that NAFTA will mean major job losses. Brian Shields prepared this report.

Dallas billionaire, Ross Perot is spending millions of dollars to go on national television to stir up opposition to NAFTA, but members of the Dallas Hispanic Chamber believe the treaty will be beneficial for their businesses. During a recent visit to Dallas, Mexican president, Carlos Salinas, asserted there's no time to waste.

I have been asked, "Why NAFTA?" Because this is the only way how we will be able to compete in the world in which we live. "Why now?" Because we are late, late when other regions in the world are getting together to increase the efficiency and competitive capacity.

To my business, it would probably help it tremendously. I've been in business now for 12 years, doing business back and forth through Mexico, and we have had quite a bit of product going back and forth. The prices generally will then be lowered on some of the items that we now are paying some duties in.

Opposition to NAFTA in the United States centers on concerns that higher paying jobs north of the border will disappear to be replaced by very low wage employment in Mexico. Such arguments are coming not only from supporters of Ross Perot, but also from grassroots Hispanic groups such as San Antonio's Fuerza Unida, if you're a loss of American manufacturing jobs that now employ Latinos here. However, President Salinas insists the treaty will have the opposite effect.

NAFTA is also a wage increase agreement, because with increases in productivity, we will be able to increase wages in Mexico more than they have been growing in the past four years.

Between Ross Perot and opponents of free trade in and out of the Congress, right now, the agreement appears to be in trouble, but Jorge Haynes with Laredo's International Bank of Commerce insists the opportunity is too important to allow it to slip away.

If we should decide not to adopt NAFTA, which is something I don't want to think about, I think we will be going backwards in our relationship with Mexico rather than forwards.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. The future of the North American Free Trade Agreement remains in question. Since the US district judge ruled the Clinton administration may not present NAFTA for approval in Congress until its impact on the environment is determined.

It caught some people by surprise.

Judge Charles Richey's ruling was a victory for environmentalists opposed to NAFTA and a disappointing setback to its supporters like Abel Guerra of the National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

We feel NAFTA provides many environmental safeguards, which are now nonexistent. The defeat of NAFTA would actually harm the environment more than these environmental groups know.

Opponents of the present trade agreements say the court ruling validates their long-standing concerns about the treaty. Labor organizer Victor Munoz of the AFL-CIO says he's hopeful the recent court decision will lead to negotiating an entirely new trade agreement.

If it could be renegotiated completely, I think it would give us a very good opportunity to create a much better trade agreement than the one we have right now.

Mexican and U.S. commerce officials gathered in San Antonio, Texas, to discuss a North American Free Trade Agreement and infrastructure needs along the U.S.-Mexico border. Already without NAFTA, cross-border trade has quadrupled and the region's population nearly doubled in the last decade, taxing facilities on both sides of the border.

Domingo Gonzalez works with the Texas Center for Policy Studies in Brownsville.

If we increase industrial activity under NAFTA, all of the problems that we have now are going to increase. We hope at the very least that infrastructure is defined in a more beneficial way for us and that we don't get just bridges and more bridges and more bridges.

According to a recent poll, more than 40% of all Americans say they've never heard of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

I'm Maria Martin with news from "Latino USA."

As representatives from the US, Canada, and Mexico prepare to enter into the final round of negotiations regarding the final form of the North American Free Trade Agreement, in San Antonio, Texas, bankers from both countries met recently to discuss infrastructure needs along the 2000-mile stretch between the United States and Mexico. Latino USA's Maria Martin prepared this report.

There is always a lot of talk about what we're going to do and when we're going to do it, what the border does need and what the border does not need.

Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and his Mexican counterpart, Mexico Secretary of Social Development Luis Colosio, touted as a strong possibility to succeed President Salinas, convened the gathering of government officials and some 400 business executives. Represented were some of the largest corporations in the US and Mexico. They came to make deals and to discuss ways to bring badly-needed infrastructure to the border area. A region which, in the last 10 years has seen a dramatic increase in population along with rising environmental pollution and deteriorating roads, bridges and sewer and water systems.

It's a development problem is what it really is. We are dealing with a border that is unique in the world, that is a linkage between the most developed country in the world and relatively poor country of which gap you'll find nowhere else. In Europe, the largest gaps are about a four to one difference. In US/Mexico it's a 10 to 1 difference.

UCLA economist, Raul Hinojosa, says the current discussion regarding financing for border infrastructure in anticipation of NAFTA presents a major challenge, since neither the government of Mexico nor this country will be able to afford the steep price tag of cleaning up and building up the border.

The real issue is how do we get the economies of North America such that there's rising living standards and environmental standards on both sides of the border? That is a concrete problem that is not going to be solved by simply reducing tariffs. That's going to have to mobilize both government and the capitalists of the private sector to get involved jointly in solving the environmental problems and solving the infrastructure and social infrastructure, physical infrastructure, housing, all of these very serious problems

As a way of dealing with those problems, the coalition of Latino organizations calling itself the Latino Consensus on NAFTA has come up with a proposal to establish a North American development bank. According to its proponents, including the National Council of La Raza and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the so-called NAD Bank would be able to fund 20 billion dollars of infrastructure with 1 billion of startup investment. Antonio Gonzalez of the Southwest Voter Research Institute in Los Angeles was at the finance conference advocating for the development bank proposal.

This was the only viable proposal put on the table. People heard it. People saw it. The media grabbed onto it, and I think very soon the administration may indeed embrace the development bank as the kind of third pillar of his NAFTA package. First pillar being NAFTA. Second pillar being the supplementary negotiations on labor and environmental. Third pillar being the development bank or financing mechanism, and the still missing element would be the new package of current US laws to retrain and support displaced workers.

Legislation to establish a North American Development Bank has been introduced in Congress by California representative Esteban Torres. But others say the development bank may not be the best way to finance border infrastructure, that perhaps existing institutions such as the Inter-American Bank could do the job. Still another idea is to establish a border transaction fee. Economist Hinojosa, a proponent of the development bank believes this solution is not viable considering the present economic reality along the border.

These are already poor communities right now, and you're going to be taxing the trade that you're going to try to enhance, in fact, for the benefits on both sides of the border.

The next few weeks will be key for the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. As negotiations on the treaty and supplementary agreements on labor standards and the environment continue, and as proponents and opponents of the treaty gear up for the final vote in Congress. Meanwhile, polls show many Americans haven't even heard of NAFTA and in the Latino community there's been a steady erosion in support for the treaty as concern has grown about the possibility of job losses to Mexico. Latino organizations lobbying for NAFTA have their work cut out for them. Andy Hernandez of San Antonio Southwest Voter Research Institute spent the day following the finance conference in San Antonio, planning a strategy to advocate for the Latino consensus position on NAFTA.

So, I think the way we answer is this; you don't solve the job flight problem by taking down NAFTA. You can build a NAFTA with the side agreements to protect workers' rights on both sides of the border. And frankly, what the opponents of NAFTA have not been able to answer to us and where Chicano labor is not [unintelligible]. How do things get better if NAFTA's defeated? Are we going to have fewer jobs leaving or are we going to have more political will to clean up the environment? Are we going to have any focus at all upon our populations along the border?

If NAFTA becomes the reality, it would create the world's largest free-trade zone, removing virtually all barriers to trade and investment throughout North America. From the Yukon to the Yucatan, I'm Maria Martin reporting.

100 Democratic congressmen have asked President Clinton to delay any action on the North American free trade agreement until Congress can consider the administration's healthcare plan. The President's press secretary says Mr. Clinton has not yet made a final decision on the timing of the two initiatives, but that a vote on NAFTA is expected before the end of the year.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. The struggle over the North American free trade agreement continues to intensify. Even as treaty negotiations draw to a close, supporters and opponents of NAFTA heat up the lobbying effort for votes in Congress. Among vocal opponents of NAFTA coming to Capitol Hill recently were members of Mexico's opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

While Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari has staked his political reputation on passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Congressman Miguel Huerta of Mexico's Democratic Revolutionary Party said he had to come to Washington to tell his counterparts here that the North American Free Trade Agreement would hurt citizens of both countries.

It's not the problem that because we are opposed to Salinas, we are opposed to NAFTA. It's not... that's not the argument. We are opposed to some fundamental chapters of this NAFTA because it's bad for the citizen of the two countries. We are opposed to NAFTA because some chapters and some principles establishing the NAFTA are opposed to the interest of citizens of Mexico, of United States, and of Canada.

Since then, six Democratic senators have sent a letter to President Clinton, urging him to renegotiate the free-trade agreement. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe, in Washington.

This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture.

[Opening Theme]

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA, the race is on for approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

If you are a Chicano entrepreneur in the border states, you're likely to do very well by NAFTA. If you are an industrial worker in the Northeast or in the Midwest, your company might find it advantageous to move your job to Mexico.

From East LA, an Elvis for El Pueblo. El Vez, the Mexican Elvis.

One of my favorites is [singing] ‘you ain’t nothing but a chihuahua, yappin’ all the time’. We start the show with the lighter easy songs, the familiar ones and then we hit them with the one-two punch.

That's all coming up on Latino USA, but first las noticias.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin.

Today I'm pleased to announce that the governments of the United States, Mexico, and Canada-

Now that the governments of North America have agreed on labor and environmental accords to the North American Free Trade Agreement, President Clinton has named a NAFTA czar. He's William Daley, brother of current Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. It'll be his job as head of the administration's task force on NAFTA to push the free trade agreement through a still undecided Congress.

After months of protracted talks, negotiators for the United States, Canada, and Mexico have reached agreement on side accords to the North American Free Trade Agreement. But not everyone is happy with the final consensus, not labor, not environmental groups. Not even an organization called the Latino Consensus on NAFTA, a coalition of groups which generally support NAFTA. From Washington, Patricia Guadalupe has more.

The agreement reached includes oversight commissions that will monitor environmental and labor standards in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Sanctions and fines are established for failure to obey labor and environmental laws. US trade representative Mickey Kantor called it, "A momentous pact that raises the standard of living for the three countries."

For the first time a free trade agreement covers workers' rights and the environment. This will serve as a model in the future.

But the same groups the negotiators were trying to appease are still not convinced. Labor and environmental groups attacked the agreement saying it didn't go far enough. Ron Carey is president of the Teamsters Union.

President Clinton made it very clear the protections that he would be looking at and the kinds of things that were important to him were raising the wages, protecting the environment, and providing good jobs for Americans. Well, these side agreements simply don't do that. American corporations through this agreement are encouraged more than ever to move to Mexico. So, when you look at that from our perspective and from working people in this country, what you see is that corporations get NAFTA and working people in this country get shafta.

There are even those who want a trade agreement but don't like the accords reached. One of those groups is the Latino Consensus, an Association of National Hispanic Organizations that support NAFTA. They are not happy with what the negotiators agreed to regarding the financing of border projects. The Latino Consensus wanted a bank that would not just finance border activity or just concentrate on environmental projects. The financing mechanism agreed to only addresses conditions at the border. Trade policy analysts, Mary Jo Marion of the National Council of La Raza, which is part of the consensus, said that, "This agreement was hastily put together and she doesn't feel it does enough to convince those members of Congress who remain undecided."

We have now formed a block in Congress of people that are on the fence that are part of this bill, they're saying, "If we get the NADBank or most of it, then we can vote for the free trade agreement." I don't think that the administration can afford to ignore that. I mean, they haven't got enough votes. They need to work with us and the proposal that they now have, even with the side agreements are not going to be enough.

A tough fight awaits NAFTA when Congress returns in September, especially in the House of Representatives, even in President Clinton's own Democratic Party. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

With us to discuss the implications of the agreement and the future of NAFTA are three reporters who have been keeping their eyes and their ears on free trade. Richard Gonzalez of National Public Radio, Jose Carreño of the Mexican daily El Universal, and Latino USA's, Washington correspondent Patricia Guadalupe, who's also a reporter for the Hispanic Link News Service. Bienvenidos to all of you. Let's look at to what was actually agreed to in this final round. What about the side agreements and what protections do they offer for labor and the environment on all sides of the border? Richard?

I think what they offer is basically a very complicated, long, convoluted process by which a government entity, a private company, a public agency or an individual might file a complaint saying that one country is not enforcing its own labor and environmental laws. It does nothing about addressing the inadequacy of any laws, but just talks about enforcing laws that are now in the books. And so it sets up this process, if one believes that the process can work, then one thinks that these side agreements are good. If you don't think the process is going to work, then you don't think that the side agreements are any good.

Jose Carreño, from the Mexican perspective will this be good? Will this work or are these more faults in the treaty?

God, that is a great question because it is a completely untried territory, this kind of agreements that has never been done before. So as Richard say, if you believe in those, you think that they will, you hope that they will work. If you do not believe in them, you think that they won't work, but it's completely unchartered territory. There is nothing like this as far I know anywhere else.

Well, the conventional wisdom has it that US based Latinos have a lot to gain from this treaty. Is that still the case with the final version of NAFTA? Are Latinos in this country going to benefit more or less?

I think it depends on who you speak to. I mean, the Latino Consensus, a group of Latinos who want further participation in NAFTA want a treaty, but some of the final details, they don't agree with us. For instance, the financing of a development bank. They agree with the idea, but they don't like the final outcome.

I think that's a very hard question because you really don't know how much it'll benefit the population in general or not, or how much will it harm it. The truth though is that at this point there is this sort of political haggling going around and, "Okay, if you want my support, you will have to give me something."

If the question is, will Latinos in the US say benefit from NAFTA? The answer depends on who you are, where you live, and what you do. If you are a Chicano entrepreneur in the border states, you're likely to do very well by NAFTA. If you are an industrial worker in the Northeast or in the Midwest, you're probably in a situation where your company might find it advantageous to move your job to Mexico, in which case you become a loser. And because of these various circumstances, you see that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus here in Washington up on Capitol Hill is very divided on NAFTA. As one caucus member said to me, "Whenever you bring up NAFTA, you really have to watch your table manners," because people have very strong opinions pro and against inside the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

What kind of a timeline are we looking at and will it be passed or will it not be passed by Congress?

Well, if you had the vote right now, no. Absolutely not. And then there's also the discussions of what healthcare reform and all the other issues that are going up on Capitol Hill. Then the average person here wants that before the treaty. I mean, I don't think the average person has been following NAFTA as much as the press and business people are.

Look, up to now I might say, I think that has been basically inside the beltway issue.

Absolutely.

The population in general has heard only slogans both in favor or against and has sort of decided its position in base of slogans, but the population hasn't heard hard facts, not as well. The Congress itself is, I could bet that most of some of the people who are in favor and some of the people who are against doesn't even have an idea of what they're talking about.

I think what we're seeing is that we'll find the administration will be ready to send this up to the hill sometime in early October after they've sent the healthcare package up to Congress and we won't have a vote until November, maybe even as late as December. So once they send it up to The Hill in October, there's 90 days in which Congress has to act and they're really pushing to get this done by January 1st. Whether it will pass, like Patricia said, today it would not pass. But the vote is not going to be held today. It's going to be held after two or three months of a very nasty, ugly debate. And so I don't think you can place of bet either way.

Well, thank you very much, muchas gracias, for joining us on Latino USA's Reporters Roundtable. Richard Gonzalez of National Public Radio, Jose Carreño of the Mexican daily El Universal, and Latino USA's Washington correspondent Patricia Guadalupe. Muchas gracias.

Lawyers for the Clinton administration, and for a coalition of environmental groups, appeared before the US Court of Appeals in Washington, arguing the merits of a recent ruling, which prevents the administration from presenting the North American Free Trade Agreement to Congress until an environmental impact study is conducted. Patricia Guadalupe filed this report.

The Coalition of Consumer Groups maintains that the North American Free Trade Agreement is in violation of the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act. That law requires that any proposal significantly affecting the environment must be accompanied by an environmental impact study. Patti Goldman is the senior litigator from the consumer group Public Citizen.

We would like to see the environmental impact statement. There are serious environmental consequences of the recent vintage of trade agreements, including the NAFTA, and we'd also like to see a system developed under the National Environmental Policy Act for a full analysis of the environmental effects of future trade agreements.

The Clinton administration, represented by the Solicitor General Drew Days, contends that the environmental impact study applies only to federal agencies, and not to actions by the president, such as treaties. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

You're listening to Latino USA. Government officials from states along the US-Mexico border came together for a border summit in El Paso, Texas. On the agenda, how to pay for improving infrastructure projects. Luis Saenz of station KTEP reports.

Texas Congressman Ron Coleman, who convened the border summit, says, "It is unfair for border residents to pick up the tab in preparation of a North American free trade agreement." Coleman specifically opposes a proposal by house majority leader Richard Gephardt to levy a special tax on border businesses. Coleman says, "No one has asked people along the Mississippi to pay for flood damage, so why should the border be any different?"

It seems to me illogical, then, that something that benefits the entire United States, meaning international world trade and commerce, people of America would ask people along the border to pay for.

Coleman says, instead of taxing border communities, the government should use the money collected from duties at the various ports of entries to pay for infrastructure projects. For Latino USA, I'm Luis Saenz in El Paso, Texas,

There was another free trade-related summit in Tijuana, Mexico. This went to form a community-based agenda regarding NAFTA. Joseph Leon has this report.

Hundreds of people representing US and Mexican environmental labor groups met to discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement. The US, Mexican, and Canadian governments believe that NAFTA will tend to the economic and environmental needs of the communities throughout North America. But for the community groups, the agreement will accomplish quite a different goal. Mike Guerrero of the Southwest Organizing Project in New Mexico.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, as it's negotiated now, has nothing to do with free trade. For them to increase their profit margins means cutting our wages, cutting environmental regulations, cutting social services, and that's basically what it's all about.

Those who met in Tijuana hope to influence the public's opinion on NAFTA before the Congress issues their vote in the coming months. For Latino USA, I'm Joseph Leon.

From Austin, Texas, I'm Maria Martin for Latino USA.

Are we affirming Mexico as a dictatorship? That it's a dictatorship and it's the longest lasting dictatorship in this hemisphere, probably...

With increasing frequency opponents of the North American Free trade Agreement from labor to Ross Perot are attacking Mexico and the Mexican government. In Washington, Florida Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart joined other Cuban American representatives at a Capitol Hill press conference.

I don't see any change in the Mexican political system that leads me to believe that it's anything but the rotating dictatorship that it has been since the beginning of the pre-reign.

The Cuban American Congress members are concerned about what they feel is too cozy a relationship between the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and that of Fidel Castro. Since Premier Castro legalized the dollar and liberalized travel to Cuba in July, there have been indications some members of the Clinton administration favor negotiations with Cuba and that talks may actually have taken place, something the Cuban American delegation strongly opposes. Miami Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen.

We have asked repeatedly for specifics on these negotiations. Where have they taken place? Who has participated in them? Have any agreements been signed? We get back generalities about, well, it's an ongoing set of negotiations which have been taking place through various administrations and we demand specific...

But according to another Cuban American Congressman Republican Lincoln Diaz Balart, the administration is not yet ready to ease relations with Cuba. He added the president may call for an oil embargo on the island as he did with Haiti.

We heard him speak at the White House with the three former presidents reassuring people. Now the question, is it going to be enough? If it's enough to...

Both sides in the ever-escalating battle over the North American Free Trade Agreement are rolling out their big guns with President Clinton calling on three former presidents to declare their support for NAFTA while opponents from Labor to Ross Perot garner more votes against the trade treaty. Latinos are on both sides of the issue playing critical roles according to NPR reporter Richard Gonzales.

In the pro-NAFTA camp, the major player is Congressman Bill Richardson of New Mexico. He is the chief deputy whip for the Democrats, one of the leaders trying to save the NAFTA. In the anti-NAFTA camp, I think that the one of the leading players is California Congressman Esteban Torres. Torres is interesting because he could possibly go over to the other side and support NAFTA if the administration were to accept his proposal for a North American Development bank, which would go to help fund border cleanup and worker retraining throughout the country for people who get hurt by NAFTA. But until now, the administration has been just kind of leading him along, saying, "Yes, Mr. Congressman Torres, we will consider your bill," but they've yet to sign onto it.

NPR reporter Richard Gonzales. He says, "Cuban American Congress members remain opposed to the trade agreement." In California, three of several bills seeking to limit immigration and access to services by the undocumented have been approved by the state legislature. Armando Botello has more.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. From mom-and-pop stores to computer corporations, the number of Latino-owned businesses in this country is growing rapidly. According to the US business census, 20 years ago, there were just over a hundred thousand such enterprises. Today, they number over a half a million with total revenues of over $34 billion. That figure is expected to rise to $49 billion by the year 2000. A number of CEOs of the top Latino-owned business firms were in Washington, DC recently for a dialogue with policy makers in the nation's capital. Latino USA's, Patricia Guadalupe reports.

Organized by Hispanic Business magazine, this gathering brought over 250 chief executive officers of top Hispanic companies to communicate their concerns and legislative priorities to members of Congress and President Clinton. Among their concerns, the North American Free Trade Agreement and healthcare reform. Nancy Archuleta, CEO of MEVATEC Corporation, a small aerospace company in Huntsville, Alabama, is concerned that available details from the President's healthcare plan indicate it may pose problems for many Latino businesses.

Almost a resounding message that we've received is that small to mid-size business America has not been heard. We currently provide full pay medical benefits to our employees, but given the tax reform, given healthcare as a mandate, those things would really make me consider seriously whether I would be able to even be profitable any longer. And if I can't be profitable, obviously, I can't stay in business.

Archuleta added that as part of their meetings with congressional leaders, the Hispanic CEOs will propose tax incentives for small businesses as a way to help pay for participation in the healthcare system.

I think there's a good compromise somewhere in there. It's a great start. I hope we can take our time with it.

A majority of the business leaders assembled support the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Many say that as Latinos, they can take advantage of the common language and cultural identification with Mexico. Gilbert Moreno, a senior partner for a telecommunications company in El Paso, Texas, says that even though he has problems with the enforcement powers of the labor and environmental site agreements to NAFTA, he feels those who are against the treaty don't realize it as beneficial overall.

I think there's a lot of issues, environmental, a lot of concerns that existed with or without the NAFTA environment here that I think are muddying the water relative to what's happening. And I think that we have no choice as American business people to use some provisions that are not to our liking as the excuse not to move forward. We have no choice, and what I'm afraid of is that most of the legislators who for political reasons may be making the decision not to vote for NAFTA are not taking a look at the big picture and the common ground that we can reach between the three nations.

According to the latest US Census and Department of Labor Statistics, new business growth, even in a recession, is greatest among Hispanics and even outpaces the population group in that community. Democratic representative, Lucille Roybal-Allard of California, one of the lawmakers meeting with the Latino business leaders says that with the growing influence of Latinos, more members of Congress are paying attention.

The Latino community and the business community is growing tremendously, and it has tremendous influence, not only in terms of the contributions that the Latino businesses will make to the economy of the United States but in terms of their political influence, their influence and a lot of the policy decisions that are going to be have been made and are being made today.

Those attending the business leaders conference also met with members of Clinton's cabinet. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.[transition music]

Un río dos Riveras, one river two Riveras is the title of a book written by Dr. Guadalupe Rivera, a writer and historian. Dr. Rivera is the daughter of famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Dr. Rivera is visiting this country, and she joins us now from Austin, Texas where an exhibition of her father's work is opening at the Mexic-Arte Museum. Welcome, Dra. Rivera.

Thank you, Maria Hinojosa. I am very pleased to meet you.

There are probably a lot of people who don't know all of the facts about your father, and they may have one question on their mind about you. And that question might be, are you the daughter of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo?

No, no, no. My father was married several times. And I am the daughter of Diego Rivera and Lupe Marin. She was the second wife that my father had.

Dr. Rivera, there is so much known about your father. I mean, his murals inspired a whole movement across the world. I mean, he's one of Mexico's most important artistic icons, but what is the one lasting memory that you have of your father that might tell us a little bit about who he was as a human being, as a person, as a father.

He was an extraordinary person because he allow my sister and I to become professionals and to go to university and to study and to learn how Mexico is and how revolution was and to be a real Mexican because he was very proud to be a real Mexican, and he teach us how to really appreciate who we are as member of a very important cultural movement.

One of the things, Dr. Rivera, about your father was that he really wasn't into... As far as I can tell and remember just from reading about him and seeing his work, which was very political, is that he really wasn't into the commercialization of art. I mean, he was really into art for communicating, what you've said, a history of the people of Mexico. But your father's work has now sold in this country and across the world for hundreds of thousands of dollars and really has an incredible market value. How do you think he would've reacted to this what is, I guess, the commercialization of his art in the art world?

Well, I think that he was not so proud of that as he was proud about the mural painting he realize in public buildings. He never want to commercialize his art. He painted paintings, let's say this small paintings, all canvas or all things like that or watercolors because he thought that he must have a way of life when he cannot paint murals. But in a way, his enormous desire was to paint murals much than everything in life.

Your father also of course loved Mexico, his country, and he was really quite radical in his politics and extremely nationalistic. What do you think your father, Diego Rivera, would've thought of NAFTA, the tratado de libre comercio- the free trade agreement?

I think that he was not very, very happy about it.

Why?

He always talk about that the necessity that each country keep his own identity. And maybe, he will realize that with NAFTA, the identity of Mexican people is going to be lost an enormous way.

And there's an interesting turn of events right now because on this celebration of el dies y seis de septiembre, or Mexican Independence Day, the 16th of September, you will be here in the United States. Your father's paintings will be on exhibit in Texas, and Governor Ann Richards of Texas will be in Mexico during the grito there. What does all of this say about Mexico y los estados unidors, the United States at this point in time?

Personally, I think it's a paradox, but at the same time, I am very pleased to be asking to come here as a guest to this exhibition because, in a way, my father is, again, a bridge between both countries as he was before in the '30s when he was asking to come to United States to paint the murals. It was in a special moment in the Mexican history in the '30s in which it was necessary for the Mexican government to establish a stronger contact with United States. And I consider that now, it's important to Mexico, to my country to establish a stronger contact with United States again.

Dr. Guadalupe Rivera is the daughter of Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, the exhibit Diego Rivera and the Revolution in Mexico in Times of Change will be on view at Austin's Mexic-Arte museum through December 31st.

This healthcare system of ours is badly broken and it is time to fix it.

Nothing short of a social revolution is how some describe President Clinton's attempt to reform the nation's health system and provide comprehensive health coverage for all Americans.

If you lose your job or you switch jobs, you're covered. If you leave your job to start a small business, you're covered.

As many as a third of you as Latinos now lack health coverage. Perhaps no group stands to benefit more from an extension of health insurance, but members of the Hispanic Medical Association, a coalition of 25 Latino health groups say they have several concerns about the administration's health plan. Among these, what happens to community health clinics and to the public health if there is no coverage for the undocumented. Association president, Dr. Elena Rios.

Very few Latinos have been involved with the policymaking process and we think that we can add more of our own insight if we can be involved at every level, but we think that once the new health system happens, in whatever form, that Latino representation be mandated.

Latino health advocates also want to see a health system that is culturally and linguistically accessible to the country's 24 million Latinos. Mexican president Carlos Salina de Gortari paid a visit to the US recently to promote the embattled North American Free Trade Agreement. In California, Salina said free trade is the key to stopping illegal immigration from Mexico. Isabella Legria reports

In a speech before corporate VIPs from 65 countries meeting in San Francisco, Salina said Mexico needs to invest in itself if it is to curb the flight of Mexicans to the US in search of work.

I will also emphasize that we want trade and not aid. It is trade that will provides us with the opportunities to invest more, to produce more, to create more job opportunities in Mexico.

Salinas went on to say that undocumented Mexican immigrants are wrongly accused of relying on government support at the expense of US taxpayers who see them as a burden, not a resource.

Mexicans who come to the US looking for jobs in this country take risks, are very courageous and very talented people. That is why we want them in Mexico.

Earlier this month, California governor Pete Wilson wrote to the Mexican president saying that NAFTA was endangered by a perception that Mexico was not making efforts to curb the illegal immigration of Mexicans to the US. Wilson has proposed denying healthcare and access to public education to the undocumented in California. For Latino USA, I'm Isabella Lagria in San Francisco.

Now that Missouri congressman Richard Gehart has announced his opposition to NAFTA, analysts say its proponents will have an even more difficult time gaining support for the North American Free Trade Pact. Andrew Hernandez, of the Latino consensus on NAFTA, agrees but believes many of the arguments being used against the treaty including the loss of jobs to Mexico obscure what he calls the real issues.

I think it's easy to scare the American workers about jobs leaving to Mexico because we are in a recession. People need a scapegoat when they start losing their jobs, when they start facing economic hardships and the most convenient scapegoat right now are immigrants and Mexico.

I would like to ask each and every one of you to please produce your birth certificates. We want to make sure that you're legally here in the United States. I doubt if any of you could do so.

California State Senator Art Torres was in Washington recently at a speech before the National Policy Council. Torres called for a cooling off period on anything having to do with the increasingly emotional issue of immigration.

A cooling off period on legal immigration, illegal immigration, legislation, legislative efforts in states and in the Congress until people get a realistic hold of what's in front of them.

Torres feels immigration should be dealt with in all of its complexities as an international issue.[Transitional Guitar Music]

Latino business owners and entrepreneurs met in New York City recently for the 14th Annual Convention of the US Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. The gathering took place as Latino business people ponder the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement and as more and more US companies try to make inroads in the rapidly expanding Latino market. Latino USA's Maria Martin was in New York for the business convention and prepared this report.

In one exhibit booth, you could call anywhere in the world from a giant telephone for free. At another a mega television screen blared out soft drink commercials.

With four floors of exhibits representing major corporations trying to reach the Latino market, like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sprint and AT&T, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce International Business Expo was indeed a major marketplace for buying, selling and networking between Latinos and corporate America.

My name is Eduardo Lara. I work for Nabisco Foods Group in East Hanover, New Jersey.

I'm Evangelina Lopez. I'm with UPS.

Well, we have two primary reasons we are here. First, we're here to help the organization itself. The second reason is to market [unintelligible 00:11:02] products to the Hispanic community.

From small concerns to some of the largest enterprises, many of the more than 600,000 Hispanic-owned businesses were represented at the Business Expo. The combined sales of these companies are estimated to be some $38 billion annually. John Cortez of Goya Foods, the largest US Latino-owned business.

Today we are listed as the number one Hispanic food company in the United States of America. We are presently grossing about $450 million, and our growth for the last 20 years has been phenomenal. We are entering new markets in various other states every day. We're currently in about 42 other states.

Well, I'm working with Bustelo. We are here in the Bustelo booth. We've been very busy. People love Café Bustelo.

At the Café Bustelo booth, young Latinas portioned out small paper cups of espresso. Luis de la Mata is the marketing director for that top Hispanic owned company.

This is a fastest growth segment in the nation. Latinos and Hispanics spend more money, are more loyal to products than the Anglo counterparts. This is a country of immigrants and we foresee that the new wave, the wave of the future, is going to be heavily influenced by the Hispanic consumer and population.

Goya Foods and Bustelo coffee, both companies traditionally associated with Puerto Rican products, are branching out. Bustelo to salsas, Goya to guacamole and other Mexican products. Meanwhile, some major corporations like JC Penney have begun to make inroads into the so-called ethnic market. After several years of studying the tastes of its minority consumers, that giant retailer will start to offer lines of clothing and cosmetics designed to appeal to African American and Hispanic women. It's estimated that this country's 25 million Latinos have a combined annual purchasing power of over $185 billion. That fact isn't lost on the media industry. In many major Latino markets, the daily newspapers have begun to include weekly inserts aimed at their Latino readers, such as the case in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and now Chicago, where the publication called La Raza is now distributed by the Chicago Sun-Times. Alfredo Valderas is the communications director for La Raza.

For many years, it's been the intention of the larger newspapers to penetrate the Hispanic market. Our association with the Chicago Sun-Times is exclusively for distribution. We are totally editorial and novice publication independence. And this shows how important the Hispanic market has become for corporate America.

The increasing demand for products by Latino consumers, a diverse group, not easily categorized, calls for managers who know that market. Corporate recruiter, Manuel Abuedo, came to the conference to look for Spanish-speaking executives.

Certainly the number of companies interested in Spanish-speaking people has grown immensely. And not only they're interested in them as workers, but they're interested in them as executives, people in professional capacities, accountants, lawyers. I'm looking for a lawyer right now. I'm looking for a marketing director for an American company from Mexico. So even if NAFTA were defeated, which I don't think it will, you have such a powerful market so close to our borders, that why to bother with China and all these places if we can sell it down the border?

As deals were struck and business cards exchanged in the glorified atmosphere of the New York Hilton, Jose Niño, the president and CEO of the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, recalled a time when the situation for Latino business persons was very different, back when the Hispanic Chamber was founded 14 years ago.

Today we have over 400 exhibits here. 14 years ago, we held our first convention in a high school gym. In 1979, there were less than 250,000 Hispanic-owned businesses. Today, as I said, there are over 650,000. We have been organizing and helping Hispanic businesses get into areas they had never been before. Corrugated boxing, meat packaging, different type of advertising programs, different type of services program, franchising industry.

The members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce adopted resolutions strongly supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement and calling for more aggressive action to remedy the lack of Latino representation on corporate boards. Of the more than 10,000 board seats pertaining to Fortune 500 companies, only about one third of 1% are held by Latinos. In New York City, for Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin.

A North American Free Trade Agreement has been signed by Canada, the US, and Mexico. Once it becomes law, we will be in the process of becoming the largest artificial economic community of the planet.

Negotiations between the US, Canada, and Mexico continue regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement. If the three parties should come to an agreement regarding environmental protection and labor issues, and if the US Congress approves NAFTA, free trade will be the economic order on the continent. But there are many opposing views on the impact NAFTA will have, should it become law. For performance artist and Latino USA commentator Guillermo Gomez Peña, many questions regarding the free trade agreement remain.

In terms of geography and demographics, it will be much larger than the European community or than the fashionable Pacific Rim. From the myriad possibilities of free trade agreements that could be designed and implemented, the neoliberal version we have is not exactly an enlightened one. It is based on the fallacy that the market will take care of everything. Avoiding the most basic social labor, environmental, and cultural responsibilities, there are many burning questions that remain unanswered. Given the endemic lack of political and economic symmetry between the three countries, will Mexico become, as Mexican artist Yareli Arizmendi says, the largest Indian reservation of the US? Or will it be treated as an equal by its bigger partners?

Will the predatory Statue of Liberty depower the Virgin of Guadalupe, or are they merely going to dance a sweaty cumbia? Will Mexico become a toxic and cultural waste dump of the US and Canada? Who will monitor the behavior of the three governments? Given the exponential increase of American trash and media culture in Mexico, what will happen to our indigenous traditions, social and cultural rituals, language, and national psyche? Will the future generations become hyphenated Mexican-Americans, brown-skinned gringos and Canochis or upside-down Chicanos? And what about our northern partners? Will they slowly become Chicanadians, Waspacks and Anglomalans?

Whatever the answers are, NAFTA will profoundly affect our lives in many ways. Whether we like it or not, a new era has begun and the new economic and cultural topography has been designed for us. We must find our new place and role within this new federation of US Republics.