Mexico's president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari is trying desperately to enhance his country's international profile. Seeking to deliver credibility and to make Mexico an attractive place for investors, Salinas is working to create political stability.

NAFTA will give the Mexican president the leverage he needs to set fundamental change in motion. Its potential for promoting economic stability, and the prospect of growth can enable these policy objectives to be met. An essential tool is the implementation of the multi-billion dollar Solidarity plan, an important social reform program aimed at eradicating widespread poverty and corruption.

Salinas hasty retreat from a scheme which involved requesting a substantial donation of twenty five million dollars to his ruling PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) from a number of prominent Mexican executives was in part due to the increased scrutiny brought on by the ongoing negotiations.

These changes cannot be underestimated. After 70 years of benign neglect by the United States, it only makes sense that Mexico (its third largest trading partner) be involved in a deal which would ultimately be overwhelmingly beneficial. An alliance of this kind is also crucial in countering the emerging regional dynamos of the European Community as well as similar Asian groups.

President Clinton needs both to send an unambiguous message of support for NAFTA and to devise an effective strategy for sending it through Congress. He must move quickly to get all of the major players on board. Speed is a function of power. The longer it takes to send a pact through Congress, the higher the odds that the pact will be captured and eviscerated by vested interests.

NAFTA supporters agree that immediate action by Clinton is necessary. Former Republican Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin, now a Fellow at the Institute of Politics, noted that, "President Clinton has proved himself to be very adept politically and should be able to persuade his constituents that mutual self-interests would be effectively served by the ratification of the pact."

But the benefits of NAFTA go beyond economic benefits for the three countries involved. NAFTA is just the promising beginning of an attempt at hemispheric integration, a start to erasing hemispheric economic disparities.

The prospect of inclusion in a free trade area and of reaping its economic benefits would help facilitate the sweeping changes now taking place in the political economies of Latin American and Caribbean countries, thus encouraging widespread democratic changes and a renewed commitment to market-based economics. If we are to accomplish this important task, we cannot allow NAFTA to become a casualty of special interests.

Few will tolerate a principled desire for religious homogeneity

Lorraine A. Lezama '94 is an editorial editor of the Crimson.

Neither special interest groups' demands nor unwarranted concerns about Mexico should thwart NAFTA's ratification

In addition to its economic benefits, the treaty would take an important step toward hemispheric unity