Anti-Sweatshop Activist and Chief Nicaragua Negotiator on CAFTA Debate CAFTA

President Bush has made passage of the U.S.-Dominican Republican-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, among his top priorities this year. Like NAFTA did for the U.S., Mexico and Canada, the trade agreement would end most tariffs and import restrictions on trade between the United States and six Latin American Countries - Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

CAFTA is scheduled to be considered by the Senate Finance Committee next week and the House may vote on it in the next month. President Bush has intensified his campaign to pass the agreement in the last week. He has met with Democrats in Congress to convince them to support the agreement. And yesterday, in an effort to shore up votes for the pact, the administration pledged to devote more money to improving labor rights in Central America. But so far only four Democrats have announced their support for CAFTA.

On Monday in a speech to the Organization of American States, Bush linked CAFTA to his broader hemispheric agenda. He said, "When people throughout the Americas see their lives improve and opportunity more abundant, their faith in democracy will grow and our hemisphere will be more secure." However, opposition to CAFTA has come from an array of business and labor groups. Critics of the agreement say it does not provide enough protection for the environment and workers and could worsen the trade deficit. Opponents in Central America are concerned that CAFTA could hurt small farmers and lead to the privatization of public services.

We host a debate on CAFTA:

* Carlos Sequeira, CAFTA Negotiator for Nicaragua and Professor at INCAE Business School, a Harvard Affiliated Business School in Nicaragua.
* Charles Kernaghan, Director of the National Labor Committee ( http://www.nlcnet.org/news/ ).

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/10/1410254