The Zapatistas have a motto: “everything for everyone, nothing for ourselves,” which seems to have been twisted by Mexican officials, as the government almost gleefully denies the indigenous group its autonomy. This includes being repeatedly denied the ability to assemble peacefully and work their own land freely. Their homes have been seized in the name of private investments, they are being forced to sell themselves as cheap labor to the corporate machine, and the...
The freehold buying and selling of residential real property became legal in Cuba on November 10, 2010, marking a major milestone on the island’s road to economic liberalization. The Cuban government is encouraging the creation of small businesses and private farming. More than 180,000 “self-employment” licenses have been issued since 2010, and the government has turned over four million acres of land to 143,000 private farmers since 2008. Today there are over 350,000 small...
President Obama reports that free trade agreements (FTAs) with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea should be enacted by the end of the year In the past, FTAs such as NAFTA have prompted the outsourcing of U.S. jobs, in spite of Washington’s claims to the contrary, causing unemployment in the U.S. and deleterious working conditions in low-wage jobs in partner states abroad Maquiladoras, whose proliferation under liberalized trade policies fostered the creation of NAFTA, provide...
The effectiveness of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in reducing immigration levels in a given country is well documented within the European Union (E.U.) as part of the E.U. regional policy governing admittance of new member states.1 Given the current failure of U.S. policies to stem tides of illegal immigration from Mexico, Washington policymakers would do well to better understand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a vehicle for adapting a similar FDI-centered...
•Agricultural performance has been particularly disappointing At the end of 1992, the leaders of Canada, the United States, and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Once ratified, it took effect on January 1, 1994. Though its White House proponents hailed NAFTA as a transcendent step towards mutual advancement for the three partner countries, there was significant opposition in each NAFTA nation. As the years since NAFTA’s implementation have passed, many significant...
