------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 6, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
REPORT FROM HAVANA CONFERENCE: U.S. TRADE PACT CHOKES LATIN AMERICAN ECONOMIES By Gloria La Riva Havana Osvaldo de Leon, Indigenous leader from Panama, was one of almost 800 delegates who met in Havana, Cuba, on Nov. 13-16 for the Hemispheric Conference Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The delegates discussed the effects of capitalist globalization on the region's peoples, their sovereignty and environment. "With FTAA and Plan Colombia, our peoples will be more discriminated against, more exploited, our rivers contaminated, our forests devastated," predicted de Leon. And, he added, "Biogenetic pirates are appropriating our traditional medicine for the benefit of the big transnational pharmaceuticals." The participants, representing more than 230 labor, community, Indigenous and social organizations from 34 countries of the hemisphere, met to analyze the FTAA pact now being negotiated. As importantly, they discussed action plans to fight and defeat it. FTAA is virtually unknown to the U.S. public, but it is the linchpin of U.S. corporations' strategy to more fully dominate Latin American and Caribbean economies through a sweeping "free trade" agreement. The term "free trade" belies another reality. Like its principal precursor, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it gives U.S. agribusiness and industry the ability to overwhelm the national economy of any country that is less developed and unable to withstand the onslaught of monopoly capital. In the case of Latin America, that is every country. One delegate characterized FTAA as the new Monroe Doctrine, because U.S. corporations can effectively annex any economy in the region through the sheer power of monopoly control and productive advantage. Like other trade-liberalization accords, the FTAA means the elimination of tariffs and barriers to foreign investment, including worker-rights laws and environmental protections that are seen as obstacles to the maximization of profits. It is an "equalizing" of terms between potential trading partners, a formal equality between huge U.S. conglomerates and the economies of less developed countries. Or, as Cuban economist Osvaldo Martinez Martinez described it in his opening talk, "the integration between a shark and sardines." Opposition to the FTAA broke onto the world stage last April when tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated in Quebec, where the FTAA summit was taking place. Cuba, the only country excluded from the U.S.-led conference, is helping lead the struggle against this latest annexationist scheme of U.S. imperialism. Each conference session opened with analyses of legal and economic aspects of FTAA and their effect on social and community issues. Martinez, director of the Research Center on the World Economy in Cuba, presented a panorama of the unfolding world economic crisis in the main opening talk. Why the hurry by the U.S. to get FTAA implemented, Martinez asked. "Their haste is explained by the great destructive potential of the economic crisis that is coming upon them. They want Latin America to be a shock absorber for them, a form of certain trade relief. "Thanks to the preferential circulation of U.S. transnational capital," he continued, "they can take advantage of a labor force that is many times cheaper than in the U.S. and exceptional conditions of investment that are tolerated by submissive governments." Martinez reviewed how the U.S. economic crisis came in the wake of economic collapses from Japan to Mexico, South Korea, Russia and Argentina in the 1990s. "Now the situation is more grave than all the previous ones. The global recession has arrived and never in the post-war situation has there been such a recession of this magnitude in the three great centers of economic power. "The crisis did not break out with the terrorist acts of Sept. 11. It already existed by that date after a long incubation in the belly of globalized capitalism .... "In the current crisis, besides the drop in the NASDAQ and other losses on the stock market, we need to take into account the real economic indicators ... and show the gravity of what has happened. "World trade grew 12 percent in 2000. This year it is expected to rise by 2 percent at best and it could be zero percent. The sale of computers will fall this year for the first time in their history of almost three decades. "Direct foreign investments in the year 2000 reached an all- time high of $1.3 trillion. This year it is estimated they will reach only half that, which would be the greatest drop in 30 years." He continued, "Lowering the interest rate in the U.S. 10 times in the year 2001, three times after Sept. 11, has not been able to either stop the recession or bring the U.S. economy out of recession. The interest rate is now virtually on the floor and there seems to be no margin for further lowering." He urged that it is imperative to unite all progressive forces in Latin America and the Caribbean to defeat the FTAA while there is still time. Speaker after speaker denounced the destruction already wrought on their economies by globalization policies, and shared the struggles they are engaged in to defend their sovereignty. Pacha Teran, 18, an Indigenous Quicha woman from Ecuador, spoke of the level of poverty among children in that country. She said that in 1995 the percentage of children living in poverty was 40 percent; four years later it had grown to 63 percent. In 1999, 78 percent of the children in the countryside lived in poverty. Leo Aldrich, a youth activist from Puerto Rico, talked of the military aspects of free trade, shown by the U.S. bombing exercises on Vieques island. "FTAA is not just an economic question, it is also military and sociopolitical. ... When they put the absurd question to our people of whether they wanted the bombing to continue, the overwhelming majority, 68 percent, said no. The following day, the U.S. carried out the heaviest bombing since 1941, the year the U.S. began its war exercises on Vieques." But he assured the crowd that resistance continues on the island. "The role of youth has been vital in the struggle to liberate Vieques. We youth are not passing through life without a purpose!" MEXICAN AGRICULTURE DEVASTATED BY NAFTA Over 120 Mexican delegates attended, from universities, rural organizations and labor unions. Gerardo Fernandez Cazanova, president of a Mexican corn producers' association, spoke of the vital importance that corn holds for Mexico's economy. But, he said, that substantive element has been wiped out by U.S. agribusiness. "The peasant is seeing all his hopes for well-being cancelled. Now we see only Continental-brand grain or Cargill corn. Because of the agreements set by the World Trade Organization, we see the disappearance of state intervention that earlier benefited our national interests. "In theory it is horrible, but for the family, for the stomach, for the pocket, for the health care, for education for our children, it is criminal." NAFTA took effect in 1994 and has dealt a crushing blow to Mexican agriculture. Giant U.S. agribusiness firms have flooded Mexico with U.S. goods, selling corn to a country that used to feed its own population and export the surplus corn. José Naro, a member of Mexico's national parliament, said, "The Mexican government stopped subsidies to Mexican farmers at the demand of international banks, but the U.S. continues to give massive subsidies to its agribusiness. "This year U.S. companies will introduce close to 5,500,000 tons of corn [into Mexico]. We used to export it; now the northern states are practically bankrupt." The mass exodus of emigres from Latin America was raised by Rocio Mejia, an Ecuadoran activist. The crisis comes from the inability of nationally grown products to compete with U.S. and other foreign-owned goods. Mejia said, "Potatoes, rice, soy, corn, cocoa, coffee--not even 45 percent of the costs of production are covered by the prices we receive. Some 15,000 to 25,000 Ecuadorans have to leave the country each month. In the first half of 2000 alone, more than 600,000 Ecuadorans had to emigrate, mostly to Spain." Almost 50 people attended the conference from the United States, as well as dozens of labor and social activists from Canada, with a large contingent of youth. U.S. autoworker Martha Grevatt spoke on behalf of the U.S.- Cuba Labor Exchange. "We join with all of you in condemning the annexation scheme known as the FTAA," said Grevatt. "It is a massive transfer of wealth created by all the workers into the pockets of the U.S. ruling class. The gains of the labor movement are under attack with these trade agreements ... from letting a woman take off work because she's pregnant, or equal health benefits for people in same-sex relationships." She got strong applause when she condemned the U.S. war on Afghanistan, as did other delegates. "We are part of a worldwide growing anti-war movement. On Sept. 29, before the bombing even started, tens of thousands protested in Washington and throughout the U.S. to say no to racism and war. ... During these difficult but necessary struggles, we will draw strength from the revolutionary example of Cuba." Cuban President Fidel Castro attended every session, listening carefully to all the speeches. A few times he intervened with insightful commentary on the issues of globalization, the dilemma of the U.S. dollar dominating the currency of oppressed countries, and Cuba's impressive social gains in recent years despite the economic crisis imposed from outside and the 43-year-long U.S. blockade. During each recess, as the hundreds of delegates streamed out of the hall to take a break, Castro took the time to talk to dozens of youth and other delegates who sought to chat with him, ask a question, or take a picture of the great revolutionary leader. President Castro gave the closing speech. He remarked on the preparedness of the conference attendees, the depth of their analysis, and how the four days of deliberations allowed him to see how serious the crisis is in the continent. "I had thought that FTAA was something bad, very bad, and here I've seen that it is twice as bad as I had thought." He reviewed the country's newest plans for elevating Cuba's already impressive education system by introducing some 44,000 computers in the schools. Even in the most remote corners of the island, children will have access to a computer, because solar panels will provide their power. Just days before the conference opened, Cuba was slammed hard by Hurricane Michelle. As the country digs out, workers are constructing housing materials night and day and volunteers are working to save the crops. Because of the evacuation of 750,000 Cuban citizens, only five lives were lost in the storm. That the conference even took place is testament to Cuba's spirited example of leadership for workers and oppressed peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. A representative of Guatemala's revolutionary movement thanked Cuba for hosting the conference. "We express our recognition and admiration of Cuba, its people, its Communist Party, its leaders and Comandante Fidel Castro. They have constructed and are the symbol of hope, struggle and a revolutionary, democratic and socialist perspective for our peoples." - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
