12/18 Action Update on CAFTA

Witness for Peace
Action Update
December 18, 2003
US signs CAFTA with 4 Countries
Now We Turn our Energy to Congress

UPDATE

Early yesterday, December 17, the United States strong-
armed Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala into
signing the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
Costa Rican negotiators walked out of the talks over the
issues of opening their telecommunications and insurance
markets.

There were protests in all the cities of North and Central
America where CAFTA talks were held, including daily
protests here in Washington outside the Mayflower
Hotel. Many Central Americans, journalists, legislators,
etc. in town for the talks said they appreciated our
presence and wished us luck. WFP gave media interviews with
a Pacifica Radio Affiliate, a national Nicaragua newspaper,
a Guatemalan radio station, a Costa Rican radio station,
the Associated Press, and a local Spanish-language television station.

Now come the battles in the legislatures of the US and
Central America. Most analysts feel that the accord will
be ratified in the Central American legislatures over
opposition announced by FSLN (Nicaragua), FMLN (El
Salvador)and other opposition legislators who were in
Washington for the talks (but who were not involved in
actual negotiations).

WE CAN STOP CAFTA!

That means it is up to us to stop the approval of CAFTA in
our Congress. And if we put our minds to it, we can do it!
Analysts are saying that given NAFTA's miserable 10-year record,
the election year, and strong concerns in Congress about specific
parts of the agreement, it is going to be tough for the Bush
administration to pass the CAFTA through Congress. If we do defeat
CAFTA in Congress, it will be a huge victory for the fair trade movement,
and will be a major blow for "free traders" who see CAFTA as their stepping
stone to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The Stop CAFTA Coalition (of which Witness for Peace is a member)
is preparing an action plan for 2004 so watch this space for guidelines
for meeting with your member of Congress and other creative actions this
spring!

Much of the text for this alert was prepared by the Nicaragua Network
http://www.nicanet.org.

EARLY ANALYSIS OF CAFTA

Below is an early analysis of the CAFTA by Karen
Hansen-Kuhn of the Alliance for Responsible Trade on the
accord. She can be reached at: Development GAP:
202-898-1566 - khk [at] developmentgap.org

U.S. Civil Society Coalition Denounces Secrecy & Terms of
Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)

By Karen Hansen-Kuhn,
Coordinator, Alliance for Responsible Trade

The Alliance for Responsible Trade (ART) is a U.S.
multisectoral coalition on trade that has been working
with partners in other countries in this hemisphere since
the beginning of the NAFTA debate. We are also the U.S.
chapter of the Hemispheric Social Alliance, a coalition
with member networks in North, South and Central America.
Together, we work to combine protest with proposal,
critiquing official trade talks and developing and
promoting our own alternative proposals for just and
sustainable development.

Until recently, we had focused our attention on the FTAA
debate, but now that those talks are stalled, we have
shifted much of our focus to CAFTA and other bilateral
accords. The U.S. government is negotiating those
agreements in a kind of end run around Brazil, Argentina,
and Venezuela, governments that are resisting these U.S.
corporate-inspired free-trade agreements.

We have extensive critiques of the FTAA, but at least in
that case we can read about what issues are on the table.
Three drafts of the FTAA text have been released in four
languages. The CAFTA talks, in contrast, are being held in
utter secrecy. We are forced to rely on bits of
information and general statements about what is being
negotiated. One thing that seems clear from statements by
USTR is that CAFTA is based on NAFTA, the FTAA and the
recent U.S.-Chile free-trade agreement. Those agreements
drastically limit the ability of governments to implement
national development policies. They allow foreign
investors to sue governments because of public-interest
laws that might undermine their profits. They ban capital
controls except in extremely limited circumstances. Even
worse, they are static -- governments are locked in
forever to whatever terms they manage to negotiate now,
even if conditions and opportunities change in the future.

The United States is a large, powerful country negotiating
with much smaller economies in Central America. One would
like to think that a trade agreement among such unequal
partners would be designed to promote development in the
smaller countries. Instead of allowing for special
treatment to narrow these differences, however, the U.S.
government is insisting on reciprocity, demanding
significant concessions from Central American countries
for what appear to be small increases in access to U.S.
markets. The Costa Ricans, for example, are being pressed
to change their constitution so as to abandon public
ownership of their telecommunications sector, even though
that service is apparently well run. All of the Central
American governments are being pressured to phase out all
protections for agriculture, even for basic food grains,
despite the evidence that that that will be devastating
for local producers.

Last night, the Costa Ricans walked out of the CAFTA
talks. We admire their resolve not to cave in to the
United States on issues of critical importance to their
country. It is a shame that the other governments did not
follow their lead. The CAFTA text should be released
immediately to allow for public scrutiny and debate. Any
agreement that does not serve to promote just and
sustainable development in all of the countries involved
should be soundly rejected by the U.S. Congress.

These calls *really* make a difference-- Thanks for all your help!! Please pass this email on to a friend! You can subscribe to this once-a-week mailing at call-a-week-subscribe [at] topica.com. These alerts are also online at http://www.witnessforpeace.org/call.html