On César Chávez Day, some people reflect on the civil rights gains made thanks to the struggle of farmworkers decades ago.

But for farmworkers in El Paso, the struggle continues.

Monday, about 100 former and current farmworkers marked the day by marching from the Centro de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos to San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso.

One of them was Prisciliano Serna Velasquez who has spent his life going back and forth between his ranch in the Mexican state of Zacatecas and American fields, where he worked as a seasonal field hand.

"To make it, we have to work a little bit here and a little bit there," he said.

Mexican farmers, who have had to compete with imports from heavily-subsidized American farmers, are now faced with the removal of all remaining tariffs, which is expected to make American produce even more affordable in Mexico. The removal of the tariffs, which took place in January and ignited farmers’ protests in Mexico, was mandated by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Carlos Marentes, director of the Centro de los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos and the organizer of Monday’s march, said he believed César Chávez would be fighting NAFTA if he was still alive.

"There are 5 million farmworkers in the United States. Eight out of 10 are Mexicans. They are poor peasants sent into poverty because of NAFTA and U.S. farm policies. What alternative do they have but to cross to the U.S. and work in the fields? It creates a cycle because here they will work under hard conditions to produce cheap food that will be sent abroad and create more displacement," Marentes said.

The subject of revisiting NAFTA has crept into the U.S. presidential campaign recently with both Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton saying they’ll renegotiate the treaty and push for a more worker-friendly trade model if elected.

Some observers, however, call such statements politics as usual.

Donald Michie, president of NAFTA Ventures Inc. in El Paso, said overall the treaty has been beneficial to all signers, the United States, Mexico and Canada.

"The three countries met last June to liberalize the rules of origin which enables $150 billion more trade. They don’t want to do away with it. What you’ve got is a lot of support for NAFTA," Michie said.

U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico increased 19 percent last year to $13 billion, Michie said.

But for small Mexican farmers, it is getting tougher.

"They have hurt us a lot with NAFTA," farmer Serna said. "Our harvest is not worth anything because the United States brings beans and corn and fruits here. They say their seeds are better than ours, but ours are all natural."

Jesus Beltran Ramos, a farmer from the Mexican state of Coahuila and a farmworker in the United States, said NAFTA benefits the big agro-industrial companies.

"As for us, we live in the same conditions as before. I see a lot of small farmers abandoning their land. I think the government is doing it so that they (can) take over the land again," he said.

Recently, the struggling hit close to home with the murder of Armando Villarreal Martha, a farmer in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, and a popular leader among farmworkers. Villarreal, 50, was gunned down in his pickup by masked men last month. His murder has not been solved.

Beltran, like many, is convinced the killing was tied to Villarreal’s activism.

"They shut him up," Beltran said.

Villarreal’s last political action had been to block the Bridge of the Americas in January to protest the NAFTA tariff elimination.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.