with the Latin American governments' interest in shifting national economies toward

businesses in which they could use their comparative advantages: abundant natural

resources and manual labor, low wages, and low operational costs (CEPAL 2002).

 As a result of trade liberalization, which is the main purpose of structural

adjustments, traditional agriculture was severely affected. Traditional agriculture, the

activity in which peasants were mostly involved in Latin America before the 80s, was

exposed to global markets by an intensified export thrust and an inundation of imports

from countries that often provide generous agricultural subsidies to farming sectors. This

trend provoked an asymmetrical competition among agriculture goods produced by non-

developed and developed countries, the latter being benefited by the exchange. Due to

subsidies still applied in many cases, processed and non-processed agriculture products

from rich countries were less expensive than those from poor countries. In addition, the

costs of transport, seeds, pesticides, nutrients, and other imported products used in

agriculture by peasants were increased due to devaluation of national currencies and new

terms of international trade. The consequence of this situation is that peasants of poor

countries could not pay these costs, and thus, they were displaced from their habitual

agriculture activities. This tendency explains why peasants have had to move from

subsistence agriculture to waged work, usually in industrial agricultural plantations, and

even to sell their lands for these activities.

 Another purpose of trade liberalization was the deregulation / liberalization of labor

and capital markets. To allow the flow of capital as foreign investment, countries were

prompted to reduce or even eliminate some labor benefits traditionally scheduled for

workers such as work security, fixed wages and work time, etc. Controlling these factors,