In 1996, the federal government began privatizing the state business Conasupo (The National Company of Popular Subsistence), importing more and more corn from the United States in the framework of NAFTA, eliminating price controls of the tortilla, and reducing subsidies and technical advisory.  In the same year, they also told the campesinos (subsistence or small farmers in the countryside) to stop growing corn, and to start growing other products because the Conasupo would now buy corn cheaper from the United States.  It was then that corn growers from the Central Zone and Frailesca Zone of Chiapas, the “tortilla basket” of Chiapas, blocked roads and brought the economy of Chiapas to a standstill for many days.  During this conflict, the private company Maseca that is located in the region, in the municipality Ocozocoautla, bought around 90,000 tons of corn from the United States, according to the Union of Corn Producers (UPROMAIZ, A.C.) located in the municipality Villaflores.

Pressure from the campesinos was so strong that the government and Maseca, now privatized as “Aztec Mills of Chiapas S.A of C.V., Industrial group Maseca S.A. of C.V. (GIMSA), agreed to continue buying corn from local growers.  But they were only setting a trap.  The same transnational corporations that sell corn to Maseca began to sell patented seeds and big agrochemical packets to local producers.   The new seeds in addition to fertilizers yielded more tons of corn per hectare, so Maseca argued that the Creole corn does not offer high yields, and threatened the campesinos that they would not buy the local corn because it was contaminated with fungus.  However, according to this organization, in the present year, Maseca bough 57,000 tons of corn from the local growers and 187,000 tons of corn for feed from the United States.

Producers from the countryside, facing the crisis and not willing to give up their lands, began to celebrate the mirage of higher yields and profits.  Starting in 1999, the transnational corporations and the government echoed these arguments.  While the companies promised higher yields, the government promised subsidies so that growers could buy the “technology packets” from the corporations.  Currently, UPROMAIZ sells producers five types of patented seeds from the companies Pioneer, Asgrow, Cargill, Cristiani Burcal and Novasem.  With these seeds, producers yield between 8 and 10 tons of corn per hectare, like in the United States, while paying lower production prices.  In this year, the producers were paid 1,510 pesos per ton, while in 1998 they were paid 1,350 pesos for the same amount.  This is only a 160-peso increase in price, which is negligible considering the cost of fertilizers, which continues to increase.  Today, a ton of fertilizer costs 1,850 pesos per hectare and a half, or maximum two hectares.

In this new system, the producer chooses the private seed they want to buy, goes to UPROMAIZ to get the form from the corresponding business, and later goes to the bank to deposit 220 pesos to the bank account of the company. Next, they are directed to the offices of the transnational located in the municipality of Villaflores to pick up their “technology packet” that consists of the patented corn seed, fertilizers, and agrochemicals.  Finally, the company applies to the government to charge 320 pesos for the rest of the cost of the “technology packet” turned over to the campesino, given that the cost of the packet is between 550 and 684 pesos depending on the brand.  The government program “Alliance for the Countryside” covers this cost, financed through external debt with multilateral banks like the World Bank or Interamerican Developmend Bank (IDB).  If the producer chooses the most expensive “technology packet”, they use resources from Procampo (Program of Direct Support to the Countryside) that not all producers have (829 pesos per hectare), to access the credit, or as collateral for the machinery that they can also rent, or they simply use the deed to their ranch as collateral.

UPROMAIZ has a presence in at least 14 municipalities including Villaflores, Ángel Albino Corzo, Villa de Acala, Chiapilla, Jitotol, Comitán, Villa Corzo, La Concordia, Venustiano Carranza, Socoltenango, Totolapa, Ocozocoautla, San Lucas and Chicomuselo. Recently, the program consisted of around 20,000 producers in Chiapas, a number that has grown because other municipalities in the highlands have begun to incorporate themselves in this system.  In the highlands region as well as the northern zone and jungle we see the billboards and advertisements of Monsanto, Novartis and other companies.

The ten largest transnational companies in the world that produce seeds control 30% of the world commercial market of seeds valued at 24.4 million dollars in the year 2000.  DuPont (Pionner) is in first place, followed by Monsanto, Novartis (Syngenta), Groupe Limagrain, Pulsar, Advanta and Netherlands, Dow (Cargill), KWS AG, Delta and Pine Land and Aventis.

UPROMAIZ accepts that the Creole corn no longer exists in the region, and nobody knows of or remembers this indigenous seed.  Growers are very familiar with, for example, the corn 30F94 and 3086 of the transnational company Pionner (DuPont), or of their hybrids 3086 and 30F94.  In this manner, food sovereignty is being lost quickly, without the state government taking notice or wanting to prevent the loss.  In many regions, previously, indigenous people and campesinos planted their corn, harvested it, ate part of the harvests and sold the other part or kept it for the next harvest.  Now they buy the seed from a company, produce many tons at a low cost for the company, consume millions of dollars of agrochemicals, and later sell the product at a low cost and buy a packaged tortilla from the company.

The Central and Frilesca regions of Chiapas are the image of the transnational empire.  On all of the roads and store buildings are advertisements for the brands of seeds and agrotoxics for corn from the principal transnational corporations like Decistab of Aventis, Rival, Faena, Faena Fu, Glyfos, Herbipol Glifosato, Harness and Rangel of Monsanto, Quron of Dow AgroSciences, Gesaprim of Novartis, Forza, Brigadier, Coloso, Nuvacron, Semevin, Esteron *47M, Tacsa Quat, Herbipol Amina, Herbipol Para Quat, Karate, Chapoleo-E 400 CE, Chapoleo-A 480 SC, Secaszone 25 SC, Gramocil, Finale SL 14, and others.

Last year, Novartis controlled 20% of the world market in agrochemical sales.  This transnational corporation sold a total of $6,100 million dollars, putting it in first place. Monsandto was in second place with 14% of world sales, Aventis in third place with 11%, BASF in fourth place with 11%, Pionner (DuPont) obtained fifth place with 8%, Bayer was in sixth place with 7%, and Dow in seventh place with 7%.  In other words, the ten largest agrochemical corporations in the word control 85% of the sales and market.

The government continued serving as an agrochemical distributor for the indigenous communities and campesinos.  They distribute the products of companies like Faena, Rangel or Rival of Monsanto whose base is glyphosate, active herbicide substance and biochemical agent.  This pesticide was the third highest cause of health problems among rural workers in California.  Glyphosate impedes plants ability to retain nitrogen, therefore eliminating fungi that help plants to absorb water and nutrients.  Monsanto, with its “agent orange”, sprayed millions of hectares of forest in Vietnam, and continues to do the same with Glyphosate in Southamerica under the “Colombia Plan”, which they spray from airplanes, destroying biodiversity because the chemical stays in the land for long periods of time. This has led to a debate between the government of Colombia and its legislators who demand the prohibition of glyphosate spraying because of harms to the health of campesinos and indigenous people. “What has been missing is that they say that you can eat glyphosate with Corn Flakes”, said Senator Rafael Orduz, who also stated that, “the fumigations are a failure because during the ten years that they have fumigated in Colombia, cultivation of illegal crops has increased from 40,000 to 160,000 hectares, and announced that he would present a law to indefinitely suspend the fumigations as Bolivia and Peru have already done.”

According to the International Foundation for Rural Progress (RAFI), just five powerful transnational corporations, the so-called genetic giants, dominate the agro-biotechnology sector, among them Monsanto (Pharmacia), DuPont, Syngenta (Novartis and Astra Zeneca), Aventis and Dow. Recently Bayer and BASF have joined the list.  Four industrial crops (soya been, corn, cotton and colza) represent 100% of the area of commercial crops that were planted in the year 2000 principally in the United States, Argentina and Canada, where 98% of the area was planted with genetically engineered seeds.  However, only one company that manufactures genetically engineered seeds is responsible for 94% of the area cultivated with commercial genetically engineered crops in the whole world: Monsanto.

It is important to remember the denunciations that Greenpeace made about the importations to Mexico from the United States, of genetically engineered corn mixed in corn flour produced by Maseca.   The imported corn is also used for the production of high fructose syrup that is a substitute for sugar cane, which has put sugar producers into crisis in the country. Chiapas has two sugar refineries: Pujiltic and Huixtla. 

Erika Pinzón Navarro, investigator of Agricultural Sciences at the Autonomous University of Chiapas, confirms that Chiapas is one of the states with the highest level of cancer caused by use of high-risk agrochemicals that have been banned in other countries.  In a meeting held this August about environmental and health evaluation, the Secretary of Health of Chiapas, Ángel René Estrada spoke of the necessity of lowering the risks that impact health.  What he does not know is that the same government that he works for is distributing through government programs the same risks, the same agrochemicals. 

In the region of Soconusco the use of pesticides like “Malatión” are causing grave harms to human health.  In the municipality Mazatán, eleven minors were injured due to consuming water contaminated with pesticides.  In the mentioned meeting, the fact was mentioned that 96% of growers apply high-risk pesticides, and 95% of those growers do not use personal protection devices.  In addition, there is traffic of pesticides from Guatemala, as well as deficient application of regulations, according to data from the National Institute of Geographic and Informative Statistics (INEGI). (Cuarto Poder, August 6, 2001)

In the month of July, drought in Central America threatened to unleash a humanitarian catastrophe worse than the one caused by Hurricane Mitch five years ago.  People were starving in the coffee growing zones of Nicaragua in the months of July and August, and children and adults died of hunger in the communities of Las Calabaceras, La Quemazón and El Aguacate. The Nicaraguans began to migrate towards Costa Rica in search of work, but they only found more immigration controls that impeded their entry to this country. (El Diario de Hoy, July 21 and 22)

Honduras declared a State of Emergency due to the starvation of 150,000 campesinos who depend on subsistence crops, in half of the provinces of the country. Around 1.5 million “quintales” (1 quintal equals 100 kilograms) of corn and beans cultivated on about 65,000 hectares of land were lost.  In July, the World Food Program sent the first 450 quintales of corn and 300 of beans to families in some regions, as part of a shipment of 227 tons of food that was meant to support the population.

In Guatemala, the government reported that the lack of rainfall has caused the loss of almost 20 million dollars in harvests and the situation was worsened by the increase in taxes as part of the Fiscal Reform imposed on them by the International Monetary Fund, which has led to a wave of protests and systematic repressions.

In El Salvador, 2.4 million quintales of corn were lost due to the drought.  In some regions between 75 and 100% of the harvests were lost.  Facing this crisis, the government launched the “Sowers Plan” through which once again the transnational corporations strengthened their market and the dependence of poor countries.  Between August and July, the government of El Salvador began to distribute 5,200 quintales of patented or hybrid corns seeds (variety HQ61) and 500 quintales of been seeds (variety Centa 2000) to the campesinos.  The government assured people that it was safe to consume the agrochemicals that these seeds require.  Later, the program would bring credits, the seed would not be given for free, and the cycle of dependency will start again.

“Africanization” and famine are coming to Central American and Chiapas.  Migration is growing and in this context the government of Mexico announced the creation of the “Southern Plan” to strengthen the sealing of the border with more soldiers and police bodies in an attempt to contain poverty in the south.  Recently, President Vicente Fox opened an office of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) in the border region of Chiapas to counteract the constantly increasing violations of human rights of migrants from Central America.

This August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (where personnel from the company Monsanto work) announced the imminent commercialization of the “Terminator” technology.  Under this plan, license is given to their private associate Delta Pine Land (DPL), one of the international giants in seed production.  This technology will produce sterile or “suicide” seeds of soya, rice, wheat, corn, and other crops, which will stop campesinos from keeping seeds from the harvest for use in the next growth cycle.  According to RAFI, in Mexico, 3 million producers of basic grains will be affected, and world-wide almost 400 million people, nearly all poor campesinos who depend on keeping the seeds for the next harvest.   Even though other transnational companies that are leaders in biotechnology like Monsanto, Aventis, Novartis and DuPont that do business in Chiapas, have patents on Terminator technology, only the DPL has openly reported their intention to commercialize these seeds.

With the use of this Terminator technology, 30 types of corn in Mexico will be put at risk along with hundreds of varieties.  Campesinos and Indigenous people would lose total control of their food, nourishment, sovereignty and varieties.  Because of them, we need a brave Governor who is capable of banning the patents and genetically engineered seeds before the campesinos, like in Brazil, become obligated to burn the factories and the thousands of hectares with genetically engineered foods.  In this case, Pulsar located in the state of Chiapas, is running this risk.   But also, it is necessary for the indigenous and campesina organizations to learn about the problem and organize to defend their corn that is their identity, food, autonomy, and spirit that inspires the soul of indigenous resistence. 

Therefore, to further the goal of education, it is important for indigenous and campesino communities to realize that: 

1) In several years, they will be unable to plant any other products on their land.   Agrotoxics will impact not only their lands, but also biodiversity and the poisoned water supply.     

 2) The Cróele corn has disappeared from the region and from their hands, which means they have already lost the possibility of self-sufficiency, of controlling their age-old seeds, of manufacturing their own foods when the companies decide to leave.  They have also lost the autonomous producing of their own food with dignity.      

3) The transnational corporations leave earning more money, selling their private corn seeds, they control prices and control the market, and they sell more agrotoxics then required for growing corn.

4) The campesinos turn in more tons of corn at relatively lower prices.

5) The federal and state governments support this policy, subsidize the transnational corporations with external debt, and expect that the campesinos and indigenous people will survive in misery under the mirage of great wealth.

6) The subsidies are not for the producers, but for the transnational corporations.  The 220 pesos that the companies charge is more expensive when the federal government has to return the loans they solicit by raising taxes for the population to pay, opening the border more to so-called “free trade” that benefits the big businesses, and selling them more state run businesses.

7) In a few years the producers will only have two options:  to immigrate to the cities or to the United States, or to change to cultivating products for agro-exports that the transnational corporations impose by whim, increasing poverty as well as increasing business profits.  This is already occurring in the border regions of Chiapas, most of all in the districts of the municipality Frontera Comalapa and Chicomuselo, where growers have already planted cantaloupe, watermelon, or the cempasuchil flower proposed to them by the companies.  This new production causes more migration, loss of corn, and indebtedness that they try to pay by giving the campesinos advance money from the Procampo resources of the coming years.  Even worse is the pretension to pay credits with the turning over of their lands, by demanding property title before giving credit, which was promoted by Procede, the Program of Certification of Common Land Rights.  In this context campesina and indigenous women suffer the worst consequences because the properties remain in the hands of men.

8) That if the invasion of patented corn enters the highlands, northern and jungle region, where the indigenous campesinos due to land conditions produce less tons per hectare, it will provoke more hunger and misery in the Chiapas countryside.

The Mexican government continues declaring war on the Mexican countryside and its producers, and with the Indigenous people this is aggravated by not complying with the San Andres Accords with the approval of the Cocopa Law on Indigenous Rights and Culture.  Mexico urgently needs a governmental policy for the countryside that benefits poor people, campesinos and indigenous people, guaranteeing food self-sufficiency without turning over our sovereignty to U.S. transnational corporations.  The indigenous people have had corn in their hands for millennia; they have cared for it and diversified the seeds.  Hundreds of species of corn were born and have been enjoyed by humanity.  Now we are losing this biodiversity and it is being patented and privatized by companies that are pirating the seed, wrenching it out of indigenous hands and returning it to them with brands, prohibitions, controls and more agrotoxics.  Indigenous resistance is not only political, but also deals with food.  Whoever controls food and seeds controls the lives and the resistance of the people.  Maintaining Creole corn is defending our identity, food, culture and future.  The resistance of the Creole corn is the resistance and responsibility of everyone. 

Note: If you wish to be placed on a list to receive this English version of the Bulletin, or the Spanish, or both, please direct a request to: ciepac@laneta.apc.org and indicate whether you wish to receive the bulletin in plain text or as a Word 7 for Windows 95 attachment.

Note: If you use this information, cite the source and our email address. We are grateful to the persons and institutions who have given us their comments on these Bulletins. CIEPAC, A.C. is a non-government and non-profit organization, and your support is necessary for us to be able to continue offering you this news and analysis service. If you would like to contribute, in any amount, we would infinitely appreciate your remittance to the bank account in the name of:

CIEPAC, A.C.
Bank: Banamex
Account number: 7049672 Sucursal 386
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México.
You will also need to use an ABA number:
BNMXMXMM

Thank you! CIEPAC

Telephone:
in México: 01 967 674 5168
from outside Mexico:: +52 967 674 5168