Relaciones internacionales.indb - HOMINES

ALINE FRAMBES-BUXEDA
will be pernicious. Of course, in the short run, the national bourgeoisie,
international technocrats—or other dominant social groups—can enjoy
their usual prey. It seems as if the “free trade zones” generated by the
North American Free Trade Agreement (and mentioned by U.S. President
Bush in June 1990) were the beginning of another method to continue
the customary historical pillage. For the time being, the national Latin
American and Caribbean bourgeoisies, international bourgeoisies (central
countries) and some associated technological petit bourgeoisies—with their
elaborate network of mass communication—appear to have success in selling
the idea in favor of the integration of Mexico to the North American
Free Trade Zone; astutely consolidating a process that the United States
initiated by force in the Mexican-U.S. war of 1848. Instead of integration,
what is probably materializing is the subordination of Mexico to the
United States.
It would be pertinent to examine in greater detail the actions taken
by the former Mexican president, Carlos Salinas Gortari, and the way
in which bilateral cooperation with the United States was systematically
increased during those years. Some analysts cynically state that, although
Mexico’s “heart” looks to its friends to the South in Latin America, its
“pocket” depends on its relations with the North. In 1989, 70% of Mexico’s
exports were to the United States, while only 6.5% were to Latin
American countries. 31
It will be necessary to study in more detail the impact or the consequences
that the integration of Mexico into the North American Common
Market have had on Latin America, especially for Central America and
the Caribbean after 1992. 32
31
Weintraub, Sidney, “Mexico’s Marriage of Convenience” Hemisfile, California,
March, 1990, pp. 4-5.
32
Other material covering the topic of Mexico and mentioned in other parts of
this essay are:
a) Vega Cánovas, Gustavo, “El Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre Canadá y
Estados Unidos.” “Implicaciones para México y los países en Desarrollo,”
Comercio Exterior, (1988).
b) Miller, Morris, “El Acuerdo de Libre Comercio entre Canadá y Estados Unidos:
lecciones para América Latina,” Integración Latinoamericana, (1990).
c) Edgar Ortiz, “México y el Mercado Común Norteamericano: Integración
silenciosa o concertada” Revista Relaciones Internacionales, (1990).
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