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CAFTA

CAFTA on the ropes: Agreement must protect people and the environment
29-Jun-2005 Voice of San Diego
The lack of worker and environmental protections leads the list of concerns as CAFTA is modeled after the failed 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. At its 10-year anniversary, the verdict on NAFTA is in: It is an economic, social and environmental failure.
US trade rep helps powerful drug industry
28-Jun-2005 Seattle Post Intelligencer
When George W. Bush and the U.S. pharmaceutical industry team up in Washington, you know it’s bad news for U.S. consumers. Now they are taking their show on the road — to Central America.
CAFTA deserves a quiet death
27-Jun-2005 Znet
The White House’s failure to push forward its latest "free trade" deal is a victory for working people throughout the Americas.
Urge Congress to vote NO on CAFTA!
27-Jun-2005 Global Exchange
Global Exchange, an international human rights organization, calls on citizens across the country to make their voices heard with their elected officials in opposition to CAFTA.
Bush likely to pay high price for CAFTA accord
27-Jun-2005 Financial Times
A US trade official acknowledged that the lack of Democratic support [for the congressional vote on CAFTA] “means we are going to have to make some trade-offs with elements of the Republican party that do not normally support trade agreements. That will probably involve making some uncomfortable deals.”
Conversation: Rob Portman
25-Jun-2005 Public Broadcasting Service
Rob Portman, the new US trade representative, discusses the US trade deficit with China and the controversial Central America Free Trade Agreement.
Free trade free-for-all
11-Jun-2005 BoiseWeekly
US farmers are already sitting on 700,000 tons of surplus sugar nationally, stockpiled as the result of deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and pacts with the World Trade Organization. Farmers must store the surplus at their own expense and fear those tons could multiply under a CAFTA deal.
Are corporations hog-tying conservation groups in CAFTA fight?
3-Jun-2005 Grist
Missing from the fight against CAFTA is an elite subset of the environmental movement: the international biodiversity conservation organizations. Not one of the four major groups in this field — Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and the Wildlife Conservation Society — has demonstrated the courage to oppose CAFTA, despite ample opportunity over the past year.
Latinos debate free trade’s cost
27-May-2005 Washington Post
In the Dominican enclave of Upper Manhattan, where street life thrives on mom-and-pop stores and the sound of bachata, trade debates are scrutinized through the lens of daily survival in the city and on the island.
Bad and getting worse
18-May-2005
As North American citizens, we have an obligation to stand with the people of Central America in their struggle for just and sustainable development. CAFTA’s backers are pushing for a vote in Congress this month. We must send a strong message to our elected officials that CAFTA, and the faulty economic model it represents, is unacceptable.
New US trade czar faces tests at home and abroad
11-May-2005 IPS
US Trade Representative Rob Portman, now in his second week on the job, faces numerous challenges as he seeks to build support at home and abroad for an ambitious US trade agenda, observers say.
Free trade pact faces trouble in Congress
10-May-2005 New York Times
The current centerpiece of President Bush’s trade agenda, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, is facing unusually united Democratic opposition as well as serious problems in overcoming well-entrenched special interest groups like sugar producers and much of the textile industry.
Dominican president to visit US for FTA
6-May-2005
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez will visit the US next Monday to attend a meeting convened by President George W Bush to examine free trade agreements (FTA) together with several Central American counterparts.
Nicaraguan parliament postpones approval of FTA
5-May-2005
Nicaragua’s National Assembly has delayed the approval of the free trade agreement (FTA) between Central America and the United States, on grounds that its population will not benefit from the deal.
Central America lags on labor rights for trade deal
5-May-2005
Sitting in a dark room beneath photographs of union leaders slain in the 1980s, workers at a Guatemalan factory say they have been punched, threatened and followed by cars with darkened windows since forming a union in 2003.
Costa Rica balks at free-trade pact
4-May-2005 WSJ
With President Bush’s plan to bind Central America and the US in a free-trade pact already facing tough opposition in Congress, an obstacle has surfaced that further threatens the pact’s chances of passage.
Sound CAFTA alarm bells
26-Apr-2005 Bangor News
International trade agreements are boring. Mention the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in most social settings and people’s eyes glaze over. The pros and cons of NAFTA, and now CAFTA, debate trade-offs between tariffs, consumer prices and job growth or loss. Since most of us are not economists, these discussions seem tedious and complicated.
AIDS patients see life, death issues in trade pact
23-Apr-2005 LA Times
Public health experts fear that hope might fade for thousands of the region’s chronically ill if the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA, is approved this year.
Statement of Farabundo Martí National Liberation Party
22-Apr-2005 House and Ways Committee
The FMLN rejects the mercantilist logic of the “free trade” agreements. A critical analysis of the CAFTA texts reveals the many negative impacts of the agreement, which would have on the daily life of the people and ecosystems of our countries—especially on women and impoverished families—as national sovereignty is eroded, legal frameworks are corrupted, and the neo-liberal nature of public policy is reinforced.
Senators voice concerns over CAFTA
19-Apr-2005
The Bush administration’s proposed free trade agreement with Central American nations was met with a barrage of objections from senators Wednesday, signaling a hard road ahead.