Human Rts, Labor Activists Target Zedillo Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Human rights, labor activists target Zedillo in US By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES, May 18 (Reuters) - Human rights and labour activists said on Tuesday they would stage protests to try to make Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo focus on their issues during his visit to California. The activists are trying to put on Zedillo's agenda during his three-day visit issues such as Mexico's military crackdown in the southern state of Chiapas and concerns about the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Mexican workers. Humanitarian groups say thousands of indigenous people have been forced to leave their homes in Chiapas due to the government's crackdown. Activists said protesters would greet Zedillo in San Francisco on Tuesday night, carrying large white crosses and puppets of indigenous people and sweatshop workers. Zedillo is being hosted by California Gov. Gray Davis. ``The rights of workers do not stop at the border. We urge President Zedillo and Governor Davis to develop a fair trade, not free trade partnership. Californians support trade, but it has to be grounded in respect for labour rights,'' said Juliette Beck of the California Fair Trade Campaign. NAFTA supporters say the pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada has stimulated trade in all three nations and spurred job creation. Opponents say it has led to the exploitation of some Mexican workers and the loss of some U.S. jobs. Mexico has overtaken Japan as California's top trading partner. But the protesters claim much of that business comes from child labour and sweat shops where Mexicans workers are paid as little as 35 cents an hour and have few labour rights. Lydia Brazon, director of an activist group called the Humanitarian Law Project, said Davis and business leaders considering investing in Mexico must be reminded of what she called ``the other Mexico,'' which lacks education, housing and health facilities. ``We want Gov. Davis to make human rights a centrepiece of negotiations for further trade with Mexico. It is imperative,'' Brazon said. About 200 demonstrators were expected to be outside the hotel where Zedillo will be staying on Wednesday in Los Angeles. Zedillo's major public event in Los Angeles will be an arrival speech at Union Station. He later will speak at a Town Hall forum and attend a dinner at a private mansion in Beverly Hills. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-05.22.99-02:21:05-18429