For too long, debates over international trade have been dominated by corporate elites and economic ideologues, rather than rooted in the experiences of ordinary Americans. 

The Trade Stories Project allows people who have been affected by policies and institutions like NAFTA and the WTO to share their views on a matter crucial to the global economy. 

This includes displaced workers, farmers, small business owners and immigrants who have been typically excluded from the trade debate.

Benedicto Martinez

Mexico City, D.F., Mexico

Benedicto is a leader in the Authentic Labor Front (FAT) and a vice president of the National Union of Workers (UNT), Mexico’s independent labor federation. 

 Hear part of Benedicto's story...

“In 1994, 1995 and 1996, we saw the closure of thousands of small businesses in Mexico.  Almost all of the small and medium-sized businesses were practically destroyed in Mexico during that period.  The big businesses did not really generate employment, and, of course, it was only the government that believed they were going to do so.

“There were many, many cases of small and medium-sized businesses that were sold to foreign investors.  They invested in a moderate amount of technology and started producing again, but with a smaller number of employees.  The only place that generated employment was in the maquiladoras.

“So, we’re seeing an increase in poverty, a decrease in the purchasing power of workers’ wages, and an increase in unemployment.  We’re seeing the institution of new methods of contracting labor.  This is the cost of our entrance into the first world, as former President Salinas sold us.

“Many of the small and medium-sized employees are now the ones selling gum on the street corners.  The fact is, after you’re thirty years old, in Mexico, it’s very difficult to get a job.”