[Dryerase] ‘Globalizing Justice’ tour to address GM products, free trade in Guatemala

[Asheville Global Report]

'Globalizing Justice' tour to address GM products, free trade in Guatemala
By Willy Rosencrans
Asheville, North Carolina, Oct. 16 (AGR)-- Guatemala, still reeling from 
the civil war which devastated its' people in the 70s and 80s, faces new 
threats today, including incursions by biotech giants and a new free trade 
initiative. On Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7pm, the Network in Solidarity with the 
People of Guatemala (NISGUA) will bring its fall tour, "Globalizing 
Justice," to address these issues at UNCA's Laurel Forum in Karpen Hall.
Carlos Humberto Muralles, a Guatemalan agronomist, will speak at the tour. 
Muralles works with the Association for the Promotion and Development of 
the Community (CEIBA), which promotes participatory community development 
on the topics of health, agriculture, women's rights, and education. CEIBA 
works primarily in rural communities of the northwestern highlands which 
were affected by the Guatemalan civil war; much of the region is marked by 
extreme poverty and high infant mortality.
CEIBA has long conducted field research on agricultural topics and has 
recently made transgenic products a primary focus. The UN World Food 
Program and the United States Agency for International Development 
distributed genetically modified corn to Guatemala in the form of 
international aid, including Aventis' Starlink corn (never approved for 
human consumption due to its genetic resemblance to known allergens). GM 
FlavrSavr tomatoes were grown in Guatemala without the knowledge of 
authorities and may have spread beyond test sites.
CEIBA is also part of the growing movement to stop the Plan Puebla Panama 
(PPP). The PPP, a $10 billion development plan proposed by President Fox of 
Mexico, seeks to physically and commercially connect southern Mexico with 
the rest of Central America. It has the backing of all seven Central 
American countries, as well as the World Bank and the IMF. Establishment of 
the PPP would lay the groundwork for the US-backed Free Trade Area of the 
Americas, the focus of massive protests in Quebec in 2001.
The PPP would open the natural resources of the northern Peten region to 
exploitation by the biotech industry. It calls for the construction of up 
to 5 dams on the Usumacinta River, which would flood 10-12 million square 
kilometers and lead to widespread displacement, and an oil pipeline through 
the protected Maya Biosphere. Half of Guatemala's 21,000 square miles of 
rainforest would be threatened by the PPP.
In addition to environmental damage, the PPP would open the doors to social 
adversity already familiar to the people of Mexico, whose already low 
standard of living has declined steadily under NAFTA for the last 8 years. 
Land privatization is a key component of the PPP, facilitating the shift to 
a maquiladora model in which indigenous populations are displaced and their 
lands sold to multinational corporations. Deliberations about the PPP have, 
as in other neoliberal planning sessions, been closed to the public.
This event is co-sponsored by UNCA Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, 
UNCA Presbyterian Campus Fellowship and Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church.
For more information, call UNCA's Diversity and Multicultural Affairs 
Office at 828/232-5110.