Coalition Denounces Flawed US-Central America Free Trade
Agreement

A national coalition of civil-society organizations has harshly
criticized the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA), which will be signed tomorrow by trade ministers from
the United States and Central America.

The Alliance for Responsible Trade (ART), a U.S. coalition of
labor, environmental, family-farm, women's and other citizens'
organizations, expressed strong concerns that CAFTA, if
implemented, would hurt workers, economies and environments in
all of the countries involved.

ART's Coordinator, Karen Hansen-Kuhn of The Development GAP,
said, "For years now we have seized every opportunity to present
concrete proposals developed with our colleagues in the
hemisphere for a more democratic and equitable form of economic
integration. Yet CAFTA, like the FTAA and a number of recently
completed trade agreements, simply duplicates the failed NAFTA
model, giving foreign investors new rights without requiring any
responsibilities on their part to the communities in which they
operate."

"CAFTA is a flawed trade agreement, added Mark Levinson, Chief
Economist for UNITE, a member of ART. "The labor provisions in
CAFTA require Central American countries only to enforce the
inadequate laws they already have. Workers' rights will not be
fully protected and wages and working conditions will thus
continue to decline both in Central America and the United
States until their labor laws are revised to comply with
international standards."

Provisions in CAFTA would dramatically liberalize trade in goods
and services between the United States and Central American
countries. Similar provisions in NAFTA, ART points out, have
resulted in some 1.3 million Mexican farmers losing their
sources of employment, as they were unable to compete with often
subsidized U.S. agricultural producers. The agreement would
also prohibit governments from placing conditions on foreign
investment to ensure that it promotes local development. CAFTA
includes strong protections for foreign investment and
intellectual-property rights (patents), but contains only weak
provisions to support labor rights and the environment.

Religious organizations also expressed serious concerns about
the proposed accord. Donna Graham (OSF) of the Franciscan (OFM)
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Council commented that
"Franciscans in Central and South America have asked us to work
against CAFTA, the FTAA and other proposed trade agreements.
They clearly see that the trade agreements are written to
benefit corporations, not the people of Latin America or the
United States. Until trade agreements include advocacy for
human rights, fair labor laws and environmental protection and
address the concerns of the people who will be affected, we
cannot support them."

ART has worked with colleagues in the Americas since the
inception of the NAFTA debate, analyzing the text of free-trade
agreements, tracking the impact of NAFTA, and offering
alternative proposals that would serve to promote just and
sustainable trade and development. Most recently, it has
engaged in this multinational collaboration as the U.S. chapter
of the Hemispheric Social Alliance.

Mike Prokosch, Global Economy Coordinator at United For a Fair
Economy, was concise in his objections to CAFTA. "We need a
trade agreement that will improve life for the majority in
Central America and the United States. We need higher wages, not
lower; more farms, not fewer; more services, not more
privatization. CAFTA is not the kind of globalization we need."

Alliance for Responsible Trade
A National Coalition for Just and Sustainable Trade Policies

CONTACT: Karen Hansen-Kuhn
27 May 2005