Mexican bishop: People suffer, forced to emigrate due to unfair trade

Published: 2007-03-08

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- A Mexican bishop said that indigenous and poor people in Mexico are suffering from poor health care, which is a consequence of being left out of the benefits of trade agreements. "Indigenous people are neither lazy nor disorganized," said Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristobal de Las Casas in Mexico's Chiapas state. "If they continue to be poor, it is due to the consequences of free trade agreements which favor the intermediary buyers and speculators on the stock exchanges." Poor Mexicans do not get a just price for the products they sell, said the bishop March 7 during Mass at St. Adalbert Parish in Chicago. His statements were published the same day on the Web site of the Mexican bishops' conference. Those who are poor are forced to emigrate and face the dangers of crossing the U.S. border, he said.

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