Chavez Says CAFTA Is 'perverse' Deal That Will Harm Central America

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBLO5BSTBE.html

Venezuela's Chavez Says CAFTA Is 'perverse' Deal That Will Harm Central America

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sharply criticized the Central American Free Trade Agreement on Sunday, calling it a misguided deal that will harm Central America's small economies.

Chavez, a frequent critic of the U.S. government, also said he had read reports of President George W. Bush "putting money in circulation to buy votes and to blackmail, through the so-called (U.S.) intelligence agencies, to approve an initiative which is perverse."

Chavez did not give other details of the claims, leaving it unclear whether he was accusing the White House of buying votes in the U.S. Congress or in participating countries.

The Bush administration lobbied intensely for the free trade agreement, which the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved Thursday in a 217-215 vote. The Senate backed the measure four weeks earlier.

[Cha]

1. No accusation is too Foul for

the chimpregime..

"Chavez, a frequent critic of the U.S. government, also said he had read reports of President George W. Bush "putting money in circulation to buy votes and to blackmail, through the so-called (U.S.) intelligence agencies, to approve an initiative which is perverse."

[skids]

2. If Chavez wants to really jab at BushCo...

...and seeing how Venzuela's "anti-U.S.-aggression military buildup" is a favorite subject for BushCo to harp on in the MSM, Chavez should release a statement saying that they are "basing the civilian defense forces on the strategy of insurgence that has been so successful in retarding U.S. domination of Iraq."

Now that would be a flamefest to watch. :popcorn:

[TahitiNut]

3. It's the epitome of Lose-Lose corporate neocolonialism

It substitutes franchised sweatshops for economic development - another 'trickle-up' loss of the commonwealth to ever more narrowly privatized plantation oligarchies.

[burythehatchet]

4. The only word I can think of that properly describes

this economic policy is perverse.

[SoCalDem]

5. Cafta will do what Nafta did.. It will lure poor peasants

from all over the countryside to cities, in hopes of getting "jobs". The land they leave will be ripe for the picking..by international companies to exploit, pollute and build roads through. The countryside will never again be able to support the indigenous people when they decide they want to go back.

The "jobs' waiting for them are "company-store" jobs that will pay them almost enough to get by in a place that they are ill-prepared to occupy.

The additional burden of thousands of poor people descending on the already burdened infrastructures of the cities and towns, will cause the standard of living for the current residents, and build in more resentment of the "other" (their own countrymen)..

More poverty, pollution and desperation will be the only result.Look at the maquilladoras near our own border...Have they been "successful"..not by a long shot..

The jobs those people migrated for are now mostly in China, and all that happened was that more and more poor people were lured close to OUR border, where they can see "prosperity" but not HAVE it.. They gave up their subsistence farms, in hopes of a better life that has not materialized, and now, more than ever, they see the US as their only hope.. Nafta created that mess..

[Robert Oak]

6. this guy rocks

I hope they don't kill him.

Unbelievable and amazing how corporations can just push this crap through when the majority of people are aware of what is going on and do not want CAFTA.

Democracy? Where? If we had a democracy this wouldn't be going on.