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Feature Articles:
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New Vision of the New Mexico-Chihuahua Border
by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor
New Mexico's Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Richardson, accompanied by long-time friend, Chihuahua Governor Patricio Martínez, told a
binational audience of business people, developers and politicians about his
plan for the development of the New Mexico-Chihuahua border. A former US representative from New Mexico, former US ambassador to the United Nations
and former secretary of energy, Richardson said that if elected he and Governor
Martínez would create a functional New Mexico-Chihuahua Economic Development Commission. Born in Mexico and with family in Chihuahua
City, Richardson cited his many contacts with people throughout Chihuahua and
Mexico and his international experience as reasons he should be elected to
office.
Ciudad Juárez: Economic and Political Crisis
by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor
While it is has not been reflected in the US press or that of other border cities,
the Ciudad Juárez newspapers have been filled for weeks with headlines, articles and editorials describing and analyzing political battles and
maquiladora close downs. Bloody confrontations between political protesters
and police have taken place over the issue of the annulled May 12 election while
the outcome of the election is still uncertain pending word from a federal election
tribunal. At the same time the city's political future is uncertain, Cd. Juárez has
also been hit with what seem to be daily announcements of maquiladora closings.
AriSEWna Advances: An
Employee-Owned Sewing Company Goes it Alone
by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor
[The following story is a follow up on an FNS article from December, 2001
entitled "Sewing is for China? Worker-Owned Sewing Companies in Sonora and Arizona."
That article can be located at http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/dec01/feat1.html]
AriSEWna is an employee-owned sewing company located in Douglas,
Arizona. Begun in 1999 with eleven owner-workers, AriSEWna was initiated
as a project that would both allow people to give up government assistance
and create jobs in a city with high unemployment, a high poverty rate and
a number of garment-factory closures.
Since its first year, with eleven employees and $1,500 in sales, AriSEWna
has grown quickly, according to general manager Connie Gastelum. By
2000, AriSEWna's sales had risen to $78,000, and by 2000 they were
$254,000. While the beginning of this year has been slow, Gastelum
predicts that the company should finish 2002 with $300,000-$400,000 in
sales.
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