Speech #980223879

Mr. President. earlier I was discussing the previously adopted sense of the Congress resolution on food aid assistance for the Guatemalan refugees in Mexico. The gesture of the Government of Mexico in accepting these refugees is truly a remarkable form of humanitarian relief. The longstanding policy of Mexico is to accept all refugees who are seeking asylum in Mexico. There are an unknown number of Guatemalan refugees in Mexico at this time. However. estimates range as high as 300.000 Guatemalan refugees spread throughout Mexico. The Mexican Government in a very formal humanitarian move provided camps for 65.000 Guatemalan refugees. The ages of the refugees range from infancy to the very elderly. Many families have fled their Guatemalan homes. that is. left all they possessed. to walk miles. some as far as 200 miles. seeking asylum in Mexico. The camps are located in the State of Chiapas in Mexico. but because there has been harassment by the Guatemalan Army crossing the border. sometimes trying to take some of the refugees back into the country and otherwise marauding the refugee camps. the Government of Mexico is moving the camps further inland in the state of Chiapas and also in other neighboring states. I must relate to the Senate that the United Nations High Commission on Refugees is assisting the Government of Mexico in running these. refugee camps.. From the viewpoint of the Guatemalan refugees. it is sort ofwell. it is a dead end when they get into a refugee camp in Mexico. They are afraid to return to Guatemala. There is no work for the ablebodied In most of the camps. However. a few of the camps do provide some work and a small amount of income for those workers. but that is very limited and is very meager. The food that is available through the United Nations High Commission on Refugees is rather limited also. and the part that the Mexican Government has to perform in distributing that food is not a small matter. The refugee camps themselves are a strain on Mexico. It is my intention in offering the original amendment to provide surplus wheat and dairy products from section 416 of the Agriculture Act from the United States for -assistance in food aid for these refugees. Let me explain that section 416 of the Agriculture Act. which we just amended this past spring. provides for monetarization of a portion of the surplus commodities from the United States. What that means is that a portion of the commodities can be sold on local markets commercially and the funds derived from selling a portion of the commodity can then be used for any processing or packaging or distribution costs of the rest of the commodity for the food aid in that particular country. With wheat products being unknown to the Mayan culture. let me stress that the monetarization of a portion of the commodities is extremely important because wheat. of course. when ground into flour would have to be baked in a different manner than is familiar to the Mayan refugees. All of these things sound like little items. Mr. President. but for the hungry refugees. with their families under particular stress. it is of a lifesaving nature. The fact that Mexico l ias provided this series of havens in these refugee camps for the refugees fleeing Guatemala is very commendatory. The part we would play in this proposal would be to augment their purposes. I spoke to President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado when he was in the United States .on his recent visit. I also have spoken to Secretary of Foreign Affairs Bernardo Sepulveda Amor and Secretary of Commerce Hector Hernandez. as well as one of the bishops in Chiapas. Bishop Rias. I hope we can see our way clear to emphasize this meeting. this need for the refugees. in this cooperative effort with Mexico and the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. as our part in the overall assistance.