Corn, Commerce, and Communities Conference

"Food security and labor security are the fundamental priorities for Mesoamerica: without dignified work, families don't have enough income, and without income, we have hunger, hopelessness, and migration. We must reinvigorate and reorient small and medium scale production in the countryside if we are to break the cycle of hunger and exodus from the region."

With this call to action, Armando Bartra opened the first plenary of the Corn, Commerce and Community conference held at the Garfield Park Conservatory on Chicago's west side on June 17 and 18, 2002. Bartra and other participants went on to suggest that recent patterns of migration from Mexico and Central America have made "mesoamérica" stretch all the way from Panama to Canada and we have to find ways to work together to make it a healthy region where the rights of all citizens are respected.

Meeting participants included leaders from Mexican Hometown Associations in Chicago; farmers' organizations from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and the United States; academics; and representatives of international, national and local non-profit organizations. Speakers addressed a variety of issues, including immigrants' rights, human rights, nutrition, trade policy, sustainable agriculture, and the environment.

Although discussions covered a wide range of topics, the theme of corn created a unifying thread which helped participants focus on concrete ideas for promoting what speaker Frank Sharry, Director of the National Immigration Forum, termed "regionalization from below, by the people." Current patterns of regional development have increased poverty in many parts of Mexico and Central America and have dramatically increased migration flows toward the United States. At the Corn, Commerce and Community meeting, participants signaled the urgent need for integrated solutions that will support a dignified way of life for all citizens in the "new mesoamérica."

To access a full version of the meeting report, click here.

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December 2002
A movement of small farmers and producers in Mexico calling itself El Campo No Aguanta Más (The Countryside Cannot Take it Anymore) is calling on the Mexican Senate to declare a moratorium on the agricultural chapter of NAFTA. These farmers and producers point to deepening rural poverty and Mexico's increasing reliance on food imports to support their demand. Several El Campo No Aguanta Más leaders participated in the June 2002 Corn, Commerce, and Communities conference. El Campo No Aguanta Más has prepared a document regarding NAFTA's impact on Mexican agriculture and the call for a moratorium. To access that document, click here.