Nicaragua approves Central American Free Trade Agreement
Nicaragua approves Central American Free Trade Agreement
11 October 2005
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP)
Nicaragua’s legislature late Monday approved the Central American Free Trade with the United States.
By a vote of 49-37, with three abstentions, lawmakers passed the so-called CAFTA pact, which will take affect after President Enrique Bolanos directs that it be published in the official gazette.
Legislators from the ruling Constitutionalist Liberal Party joined with independents to support the measure, which would eliminate trade barriers between the United States and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
Those opposed included lawmakers from the leftist Sandinista party, whose leader, Daniel Ortega, has been an outspoken critic of the proposal.
CAFTA’s approval will help fulfill "demands of employment, production, health and education for Nicaraguans," said Carlos Noguera, head of a legislative commission charged with studying the proposed agreement.
Industry Secretary Azucena Castillo was even more excited, calling CAFTA "the first document in 20 years that opens the door to Nicaraguan economic revitalization."
"We have to take advantage of it," Castillo said.
The would-be free trade agreement had divided Nicaragua’s congress, with lawmakers failing to reach consensus on the measure in sessions past.
Liberal lawmakers first said their voting bloc would support the measure, then pledged to vote against it.
In recent months, the party has formed an alliance with its traditional foes, the Sandinistas, in an attempt to undermine Bolanos. The president is a Constitutionalist Liberal, by angered many in his own party by leading an anti-corruption campaign against his predecessor, former president Arnoldo Aleman.
The U.S. Congress approved CAFTA following a bruising political battle, and President George W. Bush signed it into law in August.
Bush and other CAFTA proponents say the deal will benefit both the United States and Central America, by opening the region wider to U.S. goods and services and lowering obstacles to investment in the region, as well as strengthening protections for intellectual property.
Critics of the measure say it would cost U.S. jobs, particularly in the sugar and textile industries, while poor Central American nations would not be able to compete with U.S. imports.
In particular, opponents are concerned that an increase of imports from U.S. farms will drive Central American subsistence farmers off their land, leading to overcrowding in cities and an increase in illegal immigration to the United States.
