The Path of the NAFTA Aftermath:

        On January 1, 1994, a Mexico still sleepy from new year's celebrations awoke to discover a passionate new revolution sweeping across the state of Chiapas.  The Zapatistas, a small, yet powerfully forceful group of indigenous people, exhausted from centuries of oppression, poverty and corruption, rose up to end this societal injustice, and most specifically, to battle the new tyrant that would be born that very day:  The North American Free Trade Agreement.  This revolt was viewed by the indigenous population of Chiapas as an essential act to stop the debilitating cycle of injustice and to prevent future harm to the Mexican people by adamantly opposing NAFTA.  "The Zapatistas have pulled back the curtain that covered up the other Mexico.  It is not the Mexico of eager entrepreneurs lined up to open Pizza Hut franchises or consumers eager to shop at Wal-Mart, but rather the Mexico of malnourished children, illiteracy, landlessness, poor roads, lack of health clinics, and life as a permanent struggle." (quoted in Russell, p. 1)

         NAFTA was essentially the last straw for the indigenous people of Chiapas, and their revolt was inspired by five centuries of oppression and injustice.  What they were asking for, effectively, was nothing more than the basic necessities of life -  both materialistic and abstract - so that their people could live without shame, fear, and humiliation.  One of their principal grievances was the status of the indigenous populations who, in spite of making up 30% of the state's population, continue to be treated as sub-humans and are constantly victims of discrimination and state repression.  Accompanying these factors were some of Mexico's most abhorrent social standards.  In percentages of illiteracy, lack of educational facilities, overcrowding, miserably low wages and lack of electricity, running water and sewage, the state of Chiapas ranks almost exclusively at the top of the list.  Other concerns included horrifying human rights violations.  In June of 1993 Amnesty International reported that in that year alone, over 1,000 members of the state security forces raided the villages of Chalán del Carmen, Río Florido, Nuevo Sacrificio, Edén del Carmen, and El Carrizal, and proceeded to threaten , injure, torture, rape, arrest, and murder their fellow citizens (quoted in Russell p.12).   Furthermore the Zapatistas, were concerned with the outright lack of education, health care, and lack of employment opportunities, without which the cycle of poverty has no end.  Finally, a major concern involved their ejidos, or communal lands, which, since the revolution have been the main source of their livelihood.  These lands not only provide the nourishment they need to survive, but also symbolically tie them to their cultural history, their ancestors and their traditions that are the backbone of their society.  When President Salinas amended Article 27 of the Mexican constitution, permitting the sale of ejido lands, the security of these plots fell victim to wealthy land owners and corrupt state officials.  Such losses caused massive rural-urban migrations, putting even more stress on overpopulated cities.

          It was feared that these already debilitating problems would be worsened exponentially by the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.  Most of the Zapatistas' concerns centered around the importance of their communal lands as the center of their livelihood and connection to ancestral heritage.  They knew the treaty would affect them personally, as President Salinas' decision to allow the sale of ejidos was a direct result of an ultimatum given by George Bush, implying that either the government clear these lands for use by multinational corporations, or the treaty would be broken.  Furthermore rural farmers feared that cheap agricultural goods flowing into Mexico would undermine their limited livelihood as farmers, thus forcing them to abandon their land and people to find new lives in the cities. Yet clearly their concerns expanded the beyond the direct effect that NAFTA would have on their own people -- they also feared what such a transition would mean for an already desperately impoverished Mexico.  They expressed concerns as to what the installation of a vast neo-liberalism would mean for desperately poor workers, the floundering economy, the environment and a dependency on foreigners that could lead their already troubled country into even harder times.  Unfortunately, many of the Zapatistas' fears have become reality, as NAFTA has proven to be drastically harmful to Mexico, in spite of some elements of temporary economic growth.  It is these negative effects that NAFTA has had on Mexico and its people, that we will attempt to explore in this web-site.