Relaciones internacionales.indb - HOMINES

SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW AND THEORY OF SUBORDINATE INTEGRATION...
social protection they once awarded their populations in the past; “and it
(NAFTA) limits governmental capacity to define and pursue national development
goals.” 40 Furthermore, this type of subordinate integration does
not seem to indicate that the process will increase overall social productivity
and real development, a main goal of all integration projects. Instead,
this type of “subordinate dependent integration” will be transforming and
damaging Mexico’s productive structure. As a result, Mexico shall no longer
be able to provide and produce many of it’s own basic needs. Instead,
the emphasis will be placed on export promotion programs based on low
wage rates, with low social benefits and enormous environmental contamination.
As Prof. David Barkin has put it: “Mexico’s integration into the
world market is systematically closing off opportunities, excluding people,
and polarizing society, while it offers opportunities for enrichment (licit and
not) to a privileged few.” 41 The “Chiapas” local guerrilla and farmer uprisings
in southwest Mexico, in January of 1994, were signs of social problems
that are not being solved. The guerrillas reflect organized local farmer claims
of “ejido” collective community land. This land was formerly protected by
Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution, but now has been eliminated due
to NAFTA negotiations. Obviously, NAFTA is a threat to community land
claims and uses in Mexico and shall cause further problems to farmers in
their sale and production of corn, wheat and beans. (Herby Sachs/Stefan Effert,
“Keineswegs uberraschend” (pp. 19-20) and Isaías Villa González, “Das
Ende des Ejido” in: ILA-Zeitschrift der Informationsstelle Lateinamerika,
no. 172, Bonn, February, 1994, pp. 21-23).
In May of 1992, U.S. president George Bush announced that Chile
would also be included in the North American Free Trade Agreement as
soon as possible. 42 In December of 1994, during the Summit of the Americas,
in Miami, Chile's membership in NAFTA was once again mentioned
as forthcoming.
NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement), CBI (Caribbean
Basin Initiative), and the “Enterprise for the Americas Initiative” proposed
by the USA in 1990, are all part of a “new type” of integration which is
being organized in the Americas. We have chosen to call this “brand-new”
variety of regional trade agreements between countries “Subordinated
Integration.” This is due to the enormous asymmetry among member nations
in regards to their economic and social-cultural development and the
skewed power relationship between these countries and between economic
40
Ibid., p. 22.
41
Barkin, David, “About Face,” NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol. XXIV,
No. 6, New York, May, 1991, p. 31.
42
Moleon, Ary, (Associated Press), “Prometen incluir a Chile en el nuevo mercado,”
El Nuevo Día, San Juan, May 14, 1992, p. 42.
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