The Indypendent : The Plot = Against Mexican Ma=C3=ADz: Big Biotech Takes Advantage of Corn Crisis to = Force Farmers to Buy GM Seeds

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The Plot Against Mexican Ma=C3=ADz: Big Biotech Takes = Advantage of Corn=20 Crisis to Force Farmers to Buy GM Seeds

By John=20 Ross
From the February=20 22, 2007 issue | Posted in International | Email=20 this article=20

3Dmexicancorn=20 Corn is not just nutrition and livelihood for the = peoples of=20 Mexico and Central America. It is also culture and religion. = PHOTO: JAMES=20 RODRIGUEZ

MEXICO CITY=E2=80=94The diableros (hand truck hustlers) from = Lagunilla market=20 who were clustered around La Lupita=E2=80=99s Ricos Tacos in the = rough-and-tumble=20 barrio of Tepito were not smiling. =E2=80=9CYesterday these cost = me six pesos.=20 Today, it=E2=80=99s eight. Tomorrow, who knows, ten?=E2=80=9D = complained Rodrigo Aldama,=20 28, pointing at the three greasy tacos on his paper plate. = =E2=80=9CVitamin T is=20 rich man=E2=80=99s food now,=E2=80=9D he adds. Vitamin T, a staple = of urban diet here,=20 includes tacos, tostadas, tamales, tortillas, and most any kind of = street=20 food concocted from corn.

The steep jump of tortilla prices in January to as high as 18 = pesos a=20 kilo from six in November has unleashed a storm of protest and = suspicion.=20 =E2=80=9CSomeone=E2=80=99s getting rich on my =E2=80=98ricos = tacos,=E2=80=99 but it isn=E2=80=99t me,=E2=80=9D lamented=20 Lupita Perez. Many point fingers at the corn distribution system, = which is=20 run by transnational corporations. Rodrigo had another theory. = =E2=80=9CThe=20 tortilla is Mexico, but now they want us to eat white bread like = the=20 gringos,=E2=80=9D he said. Others see even more sinister motives = behind the sudden=20 spike in tortilla prices, which the government of President Felipe = Calder=C3=B3n blames on short supply and high prices for white and = yellow corn=20 =E2=80=93 the opening of the Mexican milpa or corn patch to = genetically modified=20 (GM) corn.

NAFTA DEVASTATES MEXICAN CORN BUSINESS

World corn prices are currently at an alltime high due to = burgeoning=20 interest in ethanol production as a petroleum substitute. Although = Mexico=20 is a major oil producer, the price of corn has been pushed upward = by the=20 cost of diesel and petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Crop = failures=20 due to drought, flooding, and even ice storms have contributed to = the=20 price surge. Whatever the immediate causes, the dismantling of = government=20 agricultural programs and the brutal impacts of the North American = Free=20 Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have deepened the crisis in Mexican corn=20 production.

Competition with highly subsidized U.S. farmers is driving = their=20 Mexican counterparts into bankruptcy. Whereas south of the border, = guaranteed prices for farmers=E2=80=99 crops are a thing of the = past, corporate=20 corn growers north of the Rio Bravo can receive up to $21,000 an = acre in=20 subsidies from the U.S. government, enabling them to dump their = corn over=20 the border at 80 percent of cost. The impact of this inundation = has been=20 to force six million farmers and their families here to abandon = their=20 plots and leap into the migration stream, according to a 2004 = Carnegie=20 Endowment study. This assault on poor farmers will be exacerbated = at the=20 end of 2007 when all tariffs on U.S. corn are abolished. = Meanwhile,=20 President Calder=C3=B3n seeks to tamp down tortilla prices by = importing up to=20 two million duty-free tons to augment what Mexican farmers can or = cannot=20 produce. Such a solution is guaranteed to drive more farmers off = the land.=20 Even worse is that much of the new influx of NAFTA corn will be=20 transgenic.

GENETICALLY-MODIFIED CORN CROSSES BORDERS

A great deal of the 36 million tons of corn Mexico has imported = from=20 the United States in the past six years is genetically modified = =E2=80=93 40 to 60=20 percent =E2=80=93 estimates the environmental group Greenpeace. = For U.S.=20 producers, barred from selling GM corn in Europe and Japan, Mexico = is a=20 dumping ground for the grain.

Although Mexico imports millions of tons of transgenic corn, it = remains=20 a crime to plant genetically modified seed. In 1998, the National=20 Biosecurity Commission, an interdisciplinary body that involves = the health=20 and agricultural secretariats, declared a moratorium on planting=20 genetically modified corn until its impact could be determined. = The ban=20 remains in place although under heavy attack from big biotech and=20 agribusiness and transnational grain purveyors, like the Cargill=20 Corporation, which now controls much of Mexican corn distribution. = Despite=20 the prohibitions on planting, there is plenty of transgenic corn = tassling=20 up in the Mexican milpas these days. Some of it is accidental. = Massive=20 import of NAFTA corn distributed in rural regions through = state-owned=20 Diconsa warehouses threaten vast swathes of the Mexican campo. = Diconsa=20 trucks are old and the roads rough and the GM corn blows off into = the wind=20 contaminating cornfields for miles around.
Despite the = prohibitions,=20 big corn growers have been sowing transgenic maize without = government=20 permission for years. Roberto Gonzalez Barrera, El Rey de la = Tortilla,=20 whose Maseca-Gruma, now one third owned by the Archer Daniels = Midlands=20 conglomerate, rules between 60 and 80 percent of the corn flour = and=20 tortilla market. He once boasted that he had thousands of hectares = under=20 transgenic corn. Maseca-Gruma is indeed a major player in the=20 =E2=80=9Ctransgenization=E2=80=9D of the tortilla industry. During = the administration of=20 the now-reviled Carlos Salinas (1988-94), Gonzalez Barrera began = marketing=20 an instant corn flour mix milled from both genetically modified = and=20 natural corn. Taco shells milled and confected by Gruma and = marketed by=20 Kraft were found to contain Starlink (the Novartis brand) corn, = then not=20 yet authorized for human consumption. The Starlink corn resulted = in the=20 largest call-back of any transgenically contaminated product in = U.S.=20 history.

The Maseca mix has largely supplanted the traditional Indian = way of=20 preparing corn for tortillas =E2=80=93 in which the kernels are = put to soak=20 overnight in a brew whose main ingredient is quicklime. As payback = for=20 market domination, the King of the Tortillas flew Salinas into = self-exile=20 in his private jet in 1995 after the ex-president=E2=80=99s = brother was arrested=20 for murder.

U.S. COMPANIES MONOPOLIZE CORN

Barrera and his ADM partners and their transnational associates = at=20 Cargill-Consolidated Mexico and Mimsa-Corn Products now control = the=20 Mexican maize market. When ex-President Ernesto Zedillo = (1994-2000) closed=20 down CONASUPO, the state grain distribution system in 1997, the=20 transnationals moved in and took control, said Luis Hernandez = Navarro,=20 op-ed editor at La Jornada, the national left daily, and a writer=20 intimately familiar with agricultural issues. =E2=80=9CWhen = Mexican corn is in=20 danger, so is Mexico,=E2=80=9D he cautions, echoing the old = refrain =E2=80=9Cno hay pais=20 sin ma=C3=ADz=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93 there is no country without = corn.

Hernandez and other veteran observers of the Mexican campo = strongly=20 suspect that the current corn crisis is being manipulated to end = the=20 moratorium on planting transgenic corn in Mexico. =E2=80=9CThe = transnationals want=20 to end the moratorium and are using this madeup crisis to pressure = the=20 SAGARPA [Agricultural Secretariat] to do away with it,=E2=80=9D = said Antonio=20 Serratos, an investigator at the prestigious College of Mexico = think tank.=20 =E2=80=9CIt is part of their strategy for taking control of the = entire=20 agricultural sector.=E2=80=9D As if to confirm Serratos=E2=80=99 = hunch, Big Agro is=20 already petitioning the Biosecurity Commission to permit = widespread=20 planting in 2007. =E2=80=9CBio-tech is the only solution to = growing more corn and=20 keeping the tortilla affordable,=E2=80=9D advises Jaime Yesaki, = director of the=20 National Agriculture and Livestock Council (CNA), the principal=20 agri-business federation in the country.

The CNA was joined in its petition to the secretary of = agriculture to=20 vacate the ban on growing GM corn by the National Association of=20 Supermarkets and Retail Stores, which is controlled by the U.S.=20 transnational Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is now Mexico=E2=80=99s number = one retailer of=20 tortillas and other foodstuffs and, with 700 megastores, the = nation=E2=80=99s=20 largest employer. The subtext of the corn conflict is control of = the seed=20 market. =E2=80=9CWe have been patiently waiting to end the = moratorium for ten=20 years now,=E2=80=9D complained Eduardo Perez Pico, director of = Monsanto-Mexico,=20 the St. Louisbased conglomerate that dominates world seed markets. = =E2=80=9CMeanwhile Mexico is falling behind the rest of the world = in applying new=20 seed technologies that can better feed its people,=E2=80=9D the = magnate recently=20 told the Mexican newspaper, La Jornada.

The Mexican geography produces hundreds of varieties of corn = that have=20 adapted to the country=E2=80=99s myriad bioregions over millennia. = The=20 introduction of transgenic seed will work to homogenize these = strains,=20 according to Dr. Ignacio Chapela, the University of = California-Berkeley=20 biologist who was the first to locate GM contamination here while = doing=20 fieldwork in the tiny Oaxaca Sierra town of Calpulapan in 2001. = =E2=80=9CMillions=20 of years of biological history will be lost if transgenic seeds = are=20 allowed to be planted in the Mexican milpa,=E2=80=9D Chapela = affirms.

COLONIZATION AND CORN

Corn is not just nutrition and livelihood in Mexico, it is also = culture=20 and religion. Ma=C3=ADz came from the gods and the Aztecs and = Mayas nourished=20 those gods with sacrificial victims to keep it coming. The = transnational=20 attack on corn stirs passions and paranoias among the descendants = of=20 Mexico=E2=80=99s first peoples. At a meeting of NAFTA scientists = charged with=20 investigating allegations brought by 17 Mexican NGOs that GM corn = was a=20 threat to the nation=E2=80=99s 57 distinct indigenous peoples, an = Indian farmer=20 from Oaxaca seized the mic and accused the scientists, some with = deep ties=20 to big biotech, of practicing genocide by pushing transgenics. = =E2=80=9CFirst you=20 killed your own Indians and now you want to kill us!=E2=80=9D the = farmer shouted=20 angrily. The Zapatistas are Mayans, and the Mayans are the People = of the=20 Corn. According to their sacred texts, they are actually made from = ma=C3=ADz.=20 Manuel, a member of the ecology-agricultural commission at = Oventik,=20 venerates these roots.

=E2=80=9CWe are the corn =E2=80=93 if it is poisoned so are = we,=E2=80=9D he insisted during=20 this New Year=E2=80=99s gathering of the Zapatistas and their = supporters from=20 around the world. Now the Zapatistas are freezing their seed corn = to=20 preserve pure Mayan germ plasma so that there will never be a = world=20 without it.

John Ross is currently on the road with his latest work = Zapatistas!=20 Making Another World Possible =E2=80=93 Chronicles of Resistance = 2000-2006.

This article originally appeared on counterpunch.org. =

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2 Responses to =E2=80=9CThe Plot Against Mexican = Ma=C3=ADz: Big Biotech=20 Takes Advantage of Corn Crisis to Force Farmers to Buy GM = Seeds=E2=80=9D

Mitchel = Cohen=20 Says:
March = 6th, 2007 at=20 4:49 am

Thank you for publishing John Ross=E2=80=99 brilliant and = extremely scary=20 article on biotechnology and corn in Mexico.

Twelve years ago I first raised the spectre of GE corn being = dumped by=20 the US into Mexico as a means of destroying the indigenous basis = for=20 Mexican food production, and consequently the Zapatista rebellion = based in=20 those Mayan communities, which had emerged in Southern Mexico the=20 preceding year. (See my 1990s essays =E2=80=9CThe Politics of = World Hunger=E2=80=9D and=20 =E2=80=9CBiotechnology and the New World Order,=E2=80=9D published = later as pamphlets by=20 the Red Balloon Collective, and numerous talks I=E2=80=99d given, = including one at=20 the Center for Global Justice in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in = 2004.)=20 My analysis at that time was based on scattered references from = Zapatista=20 communiques and by reading between the lines of the Clinton/Gore=20 administration, which was ramping up George Bush Sr.=E2=80=99s = promulgation of=20 biotech worldwide.

Indeed, the U.S. government has long held a policy of using = food as a=20 weapon to gain its geo-political (imperialist) objectives, = including=20 colonization of the world=E2=80=99s food supply. Remember Henry = Kissinger=E2=80=99s=20 accurate (if completely immoral) summing up of U.S. objectives in = this=20 area: =E2=80=9CTo give food aid to a country just because the = people are starving=20 is a pretty weak reason.=E2=80=9D The advent of genetic = engineering in the 1980s=20 and its accelerated development under Clinton/Gore is, combined = with NAFTA=20 (another Clinton/Gore policy), proving to be a powerful one-two = punch=20 being delivered by agribusiness and biotech corporations to = Mexico=E2=80=99s=20 control over its own food production and consequently to the = revolutionary=20 movements based upon those corn-growing cultures.

John Ross describes this in some detail in his devastating = article. The=20 situation in Mexico with regard to food production is growing = desperate,=20 despite attempts to protect the indigenous food supply. Ross = follows-up on=20 the work of Dr. Ignacio Chapela (of the University of California = at=20 Berkeley), S=E2=80=99ra DeSantis (Biotechnology Project, Institute = for Social=20 Ecology), Mexico=E2=80=99s Greenpeace, a multi-series t.v. = production surveying=20 Mexican agriculture by Jorge Casteneda (in Spanish; he gave me a = complete=20 copy during a visit to San Miguel de Allende in 2005 which I am = willing to=20 make available), and the Zapatistas.

An additional question to keep in mind during this reading is = the=20 following: Suddenly, there is being promoted here in the U.S. the = not very=20 efficient corn-based ethanol production for automobiles. = (Brazil=E2=80=99s use of=20 sugarcane for ethanol is reportedly 8 to 10 times more efficient). = This is=20 being marketed (green-washed) as =E2=80=9CGreen Energy=E2=80=9D. = Is this actually an=20 attempt to drive up indigenous corn prices worldwide, thus = enabling the=20 dumping of huge amounts of cheaper genetically engineered corn = grown by=20 U.S. agribusiness corporations and heavily subsidized by the U.S.=20 government into Mexico and other countries under NAFTA, with the=20 additional purpose of flooding away Mexico=E2=80=99s laws against = planting of=20 Monsanto=E2=80=99s GMO seeds there?

- Mitchel Cohen
Brooklyn Greens / Green Party

Virginia = Noto=20 Says:
March = 6th, 2007 at=20 8:15 pm

More outrage!..everything for the love of money=E2=80=A6 =

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