Oaxaca, The Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit, and Plan Mexico

Oaxaca has returned to a surface-level calm after the tumultuous events surrounding the folkloric dance festival, the Guelaguetza, which officially ended in late July. This put an end to Operation Guelaguetza 2007, the massive State, Municipal police, and military build-up that a march of the APPO and the Section 22 Teacher’s Union clashed with on July 16. In early August the popular movement also took down the small protest encampment in Oaxaca’s center square, with vows that the struggle had not ended, and before long they would be back. The August 5 elections for State Senators came and went with almost no reports of violent incidents, though many were worried about the lower voter turnout – at about 30 percent. Arbitrary detentions have continued; the latest incident was that of a lawyer for the 25th of November Committee who himself had been working on cases of the detained in the conflict. On a state level most eyes are turning to the elections for municipal presidents in early October, and tension may very well rise between now and then. However, the most dramatic changes may be at the international level. There were strong rumors that a U.S. multimillion dollar military aid package for Mexico would be announced during the summit of leaders from the three NAFTA countries, George W. Bush, Felipe Calderon, and Stephen Harper, on August 20 and 21st in Montebello, Canada. This could have huge implications for Oaxaca.

According to the Washington Post the package, dubbed “Plan Mexico”, would include U.S. arms and surveillance equipment, espionage technology and programs, and training for Mexico’s police and army to combat drug cartels. The Post reports that most are predicting that the aid package will be well-received in Washington, despite the fact that many in Congress have complained about the secrecy of the negotiations. It is possible that it will be presented to Congress as early as this month, as an emergency supplemental appropriation for next year’s foreign aid budget, following the same process of the approval and implementation of Plan Colombia in 1999.

According to Laura Carlsen in an article published by the International Relations Center the counter narcotics proposal falls under a new area of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) in which the U.S. hopes to extend counter-terrorism strategies to both Mexico and Canada. The meeting in Montebello in August was the third round of SPP negotiations that began in 2005 during a trilateral summit in Waco, Texas. The SPP has been called NAFTA Plus, or the second phase of NAFTA, and according to the joint SPP declarations, it is being built upon NAFTA’s “success”. However if the “Plan Mexico” proposal is any indication, the SPP is going well beyond the economic realm. Taking into account the wealth disparity, extreme poverty, and levels of migration exacerbated by policies such as NAFTA, many wonder if the next key ingredient to any trade agreement would be security measures to both quell the inevitable social discontent and protect private investment.

Civil society, labor, environmental organizations, and researchers who have documented many of NAFTA’s negative impacts have not (up to this point) had any voice in SPP development, which purports to be defining the future of North America. During this year’s summit, civil society found itself on the other side of a thick security cordon and its protests were met with tear gas as has been the case throughout the years as trade agreements are negotiated. Not only is civil society missing from the conversation, but so is Congress, which has Carlsen describing the SPP as a “gentlemen’s agreement between the executive branches and major corporations in the three nations.” Unlike NAFTA, the SPP is not one package but a series of side initiatives, often escaping Congressional oversight.

Big business has not had the same problem as Congress and civil society. The North American Competitive Council (the NACC), comprised of representatives of big business such as Walmart, General Electric, and Chevron, gave specific input and concrete recommendations during the summit. The NACC was formed at the second annual SPP summit in 2006 so that "leadership from governments recognize the importance of business issues to the overall social welfare, and empowers the private sector to engage substantively and pragmatically on trade and security issues without undue deference to political sensibilities," according to a NACC report. In late August the Mexican daily La Jornada reported that the Calderon administration will now follow the agenda and recommendations of the NACC to improve “Mexico’s competitiveness” while determining economic policy. The secrecy that surrounds the SPP makes both these policy “recommendations” and their impacts difficult to detect.

Although the aid package was not announced at the summit, Mexico’s Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said that it would be implemented in some form “sooner or later.” “Plan Mexico” could be the biggest clear policy initiative to emerge from the SPP up to this point. Many Mexicans believe it is much more than a counter narcotics proposal, especially in a country that has shown the capacity to generate massive popular movements, such as the on-going conflict in Oaxaca. One of the primary missions of the Federal Preventive Police (the PFP by its initials in Spanish) upon its founding in 1999 was to combat drug-trafficking. However, on countless occasions the PFP has been used to quell social movements, the most recent example being the November 2006 operation in Oaxaca, for which they now face serious accusations of human rights violations, according to reports put out by a variety of both national and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. WFP partner organizations in Colombia have well documented the drastic and serious human rights violations exacerbated by Plan Colombia; Mexico, and especially places like Oaxaca, may well be in for more of the same. Witness for Peace will be attentive to any congressional action on “Plan Mexico”, and will send out an action alert when that happens.

Sources: The Washington Post, International Relations Center, La Jornada, Wikipedia