Canidates Debating NAFTA "Too Risky" Says Ex-MxPres: "There are mechanisms within NAFTA to address any concerns the three countries have without formally reopening (talking openly about) the pact."
Don Gabacho
updated 4:44 p.m. ET May 15, 2008
WASHINGTON - Reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement to address
concerns raised by U.S. Democratic presidential candidates could kill the
three-way pact, former Mexican President Carlos Salinas said on Thursday.
"We need to change the perception that it would be good to renegotiate the
agreement. Any reopened negotiation would lead to its cancellation,"
Salinas, one of the architects of the pact, said in a speech to the
U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.
Salinas, who was Mexico's president from 1988 to 1994, said reopening the
pact would unleash "a Pandora's box" of special interests all wanting the
deal changed in their favor.
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He said the 14-year-old agreement had greatly benefited all three countries
by eliminating costly tariffs and encouraging more cross-border investment.
Both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton said they would want to add
stronger labor and environmental provisions to the agreement, as well as
change investment provisions that critics have long said favor corporate
interests.
"I agree with the president that it will be a Pandora's box because we also
will have issues to put on the table," Guy Saint-Jacques, deputy head of
mission at Canada's Embassy to the United States, told Reuters at the
event.
"I would just like to remind (you) that we are the main supplier of energy
to the U.S., over $100 billion per year," Saint-Jacques said. "Canada
supplies 18 percent of the oil to the U.S. We supply uranium. We supply
electricity. We supply natural gas."
Under NAFTA, "Canada has to basically share its resources with the U.S.
This was very contested at the time it was negotiated, but it has turned
out to be a big advantage in terms of energy security for the U.S.,"
Saint-Jacques said.
Trade with Canada also supports some 7 million jobs in the United States,
he said.
Both Salinas and Saint-Jacques said there were mechanisms within NAFTA to
address any concerns the three countries have without formally reopening
the pact.
lux et veritas
smuggling? The same Salinas who had is cousin murder the
man he himself picked to succeed him. The reason was because the man was
too honest? The same Salinas who is hiding out in the US so that the
Mexicans won't lock his ass up? Carlos Salinas is an international
criminal and assassin with his hands so deep into drugs he has to hide.
Don Gabacho
> Is this the Carlos Salinas whose sister is doing time in the US for drug
> The same Salinas who had is cousin...
Half-brother Raul now free.
> ...murder the
> man he himself picked to succeed him.
That would be Colosio. Killed in Tijuana. He was chosen to succeed
Salinas probably for getting Salinas' loot out of the country. After
being selected he began to attack the government and his own party for
its corruption tarnishing Salinas' effort to become the President of
the World Bank which Bush Sr. supported enthusiastically. During his
presidency Bush Sr would visit Salinas constantly working out most of
the accords that would become NAFTA. Colosio, I speculate, probably
also pocketed too big of a percentage of Salina's loot.
>...of The reason was because the man was
> too honest? The same Salinas who is hiding out in the US...
Yes. He's suppose to have one quinta, among others, estate in
McAllen.
> so that the
> Mexicans won't lock his ass up?
That's MxGov bullshit. He quietly goes in and out of Mexico often
enough.
Same with Portillo (while alive), Bush Sr's first Mexican butt-buddy
in the Campeche oil scam that tanked over 400 U.S. Savings & Loans.
Salinas still, if not sold recently, owns a Mexican airline.
> Carlos Salinas is an international
> criminal and assassin with his hands so deep into drugs he has to hide.
And pal of Bush Sr.
It is common knowledge and a subject of even serious talk-shows in
Mexico that, at the age of eight, he shot and killed his own nanny.
He is also the fellow who first appointed to Mexico's notorious
judicial police (stationed at the then very rebellious Autonomous
(there's that false label again) University of Mexico) and for
sometime the current director of the Mexican Government's so-called
Commission on Human Rights.
lux et veritas
and running for Governor of the Baja? I never found out any more.
Don Gabacho
:-) His father set him up for that one. They were expanding especially
their gambling interests ("Caliente") at the time from that border
city to Mexico's vacation destination resorts. The "capture of
dollars" you know.
>... the last I heard,
> and running for Governor of the Baja? I never found out any more.
He ran but, if I recall correctly, lost.
lux et veritas
was a skank with acne and whatever. Unbelievable that she could win,
even with Jorge's clout. One time a reporter from Mexico City, I
believe, came to Mexicali to get a story on Jorge, and ended up in a
trunk. Two of Jorge's bodyguards went to jail for the murder.
Don Gabacho
I just ran into this, From Fontline PBS:
adriana salinas yanez
Carlos Hank Rohn Gonzales is the son of Carlos Hank Gonzalez and
manager of the family business empire. After Raul Salinas was rejected
as a client by Chase Manhattan Bank, Carlos Hank introduced Raul to
Citibank representative Amy Elliot, who opened accounts for Raul in
the private banking division. U.S. investigators are looking into the
role of American banks in moving Raul's millions out of Mexico.
Carlos Hank was one of thirty of the richest men in Mexico who
attended 'the billionaire's banquet' (2/93) at which Carlos Salinas
asked each guest to contribute $25 million for the upcoming
presidential campaign.
Carlos Hank Rohn is being investigated for money laundering and many
suspect he has links to the Tijuana-based drug cartel,the Arellano
Felix Organization (AFO).
* "The Hank Family of Mexico"- Read a background report and
exclusive interview (video) with Carlos Hank by Lowell Bergman
Carlos Hank's younger brother Jorge Hank Rohn Gonzales is known as
"the Gambling King of Northern Mexico." Many suspect he also has ties
to the AFO. Jorge Hank also is under investigation by U.S. agencies
for money laundering.
* FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman's background profile on
the Hanks
* "Political Corruption and Drug Trafficking in Mexico,"
Andrew Reding's August 8th, 1995 testimony before the U.S.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, explores the Hanks suspected ties
to drug cartels, as well as the assassination of presidential
candidate Donaldo Colosio.
* Family Portrait
* Photo of Jorge Hank Rohn Gonzales' zoo
* Forbes Magazine list of billionaires
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mexico/family/carlosjorgehr.html