Manuel Pérez Rocha is an Associate Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. where he directs an advocacy and research project on "the Security and Prosperity Partnership and the NAFTA Plus Agenda." Manuel works in coordination with the Alliance for Responsible Trade in the United States and is a member of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC).

He has worked for more than a decade with Mexican and international civil society organizations and networks including the Hemispheric Social Alliance and Oxfam International doing advocacy work for fair economic relations among countries, particularly for trade with justice.

Manuel studied International Relations at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a M.A. in Development studies for the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague.

-- As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) turns fifteen it is time to get the facts out about how this defining agreement has failed. Manuel can detail the indisputable yet seldom mentioned links between bad continental trade and economic policies and accelerated Mexican migration to the US. He presents a critical view of the "NAFTA-plus" economic and security arrangements being forged behind closed doors between the leading corporations and executive branches of Canada, the US, and Mexico without genuine consultation with the legislatures or public in any of the three countries—otherwise known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

Topics covered

• Impacts of NAFTA on Mexico
• The Push and Pull of Free Trade and Immigration
• Security and Prosperity Partnership