Lesley Lichko, Director Peace through
Interamerican Community Action (PICA) 170 Park Street Bangor, ME
04401 Ph: 207-947-4203 Fax: Fax: 603-457-6036 E-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: www.pica.ws
In Blow to Corporate-Driven Agenda, U.S. Forced to Complete a Scaled-Down
CAFTA Without Costa Rica Agreement Remains a Threat to Workers, Environment,
Public Health, Faces Uphill Battle in Congress
WASHINGTON - December 17 - U.S. negotiators announced the completion of
Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) talks today, but with only four
nations after Costa Rica walked out yesterday, objecting to U.S. demands that
it open its telecommunications and insurance industries to privatization.
CAFTA, if passed by Congress, would in effect create a NAFTA-style
relationship between the U.S. and the Central American countries of El
Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala. The Dominican Republic would
also be annexed to the agreement, as well as Costa Rica, potentially. CAFTA
would have to be approved by the U.S. Congress and by the governments of the
Central American nations next year before it could take effect.
Because of concerns over workers rights, investment,
access to medicines, the anticipated impact on the sugar and textile
industries, strong Congressional opposition to the agreement is expected. A
recent U.S. Zogby poll found that the majority of respondents opposed
extending NAFTA to other Latin American countries. At a news conference
earlier this month, Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) suggested that CAFTA would fail
in Congress due to contentious issues.
"You have
Costa Rica walking out of CAFTA talks because it refuses to adopt the
Worldcom-Arthur Anderson model of telecom and financial services deregulation,
the FTAA nearly imploding in Miami over U.S. demands for expansive investor
and intellectual property protections, and the WTO melting down in Cancun,"
said Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "What will
it take before the Bush Administration stops desperately pushing the same old
NAFTA model that has so clearly failed?"
"CAFTA
would further undermine workers' rights in Central America and in the U.S.,"
said Bill Klinefelter, Legislative and Political Director of the United
Steelworkers of America. "Moving forward with this agreement without ensuring
safeguards for workers shows clearly that CAFTA is designed to benefit huge
multinational corporations at the expense of the workers who make their
products. CAFTA would strike a blow against working families in Central
America and in the U.S."
Another controversial
aspect of the agreement are the new rules it would impose on countries over
pharmaceutical patents for life-saving drugs. "CAFTA as completed would deny
vital medicines to AIDS and HIV patients," says Gretchen Gordon, Director of
Citizens Trade Campaign. "The Bush Administration is going to bat for big drug
companies' patent profits while people with AIDS are literally dying for their
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