Honduras, Nicaragua Join U.S. Trade Pact

[Breeze54]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/01/ap/business/mainD8GNGIU85.shtml
Honduras, Nicaragua Join U.S. Trade Pact

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Apr. 1, 2006

(AP) Honduras and neighboring Nicaragua on Saturday joined a regional free trade
agreement with the United States that has provoked protests throughout Central America.

At a ceremony to inaugurate the Central American Free Trade Agreement, Honduran President
Manuel Zelaya said his country is embarking on a "different and extremely important path
for the strengthening of democracy."

The treaty, he added, is
"a way for us to broaden our growth possibilities and reduce our poverty."

Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos _ at an agricultural plant outside his country's
capital Managua _ certified his country's first export under the treaty,
a $20,000 shipment of beans.

A spokesman for Bolanos said Nicaragua hopes to increase its exports by 20 percent
and create more jobs.

Last month, El Salvador became the first Central American country to join the pact.

Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic remain left
to join after implementing U.S.-demanded reforms, such as increasing intellectual
property rights.

Thousands of farmers, street vendors, university students and others have marched
in cities across Central America to protest the trade agreement.

Doris Gutierrez, a leftist Honduran lawmaker, said the pact violates the constitution,
omitting "all possibilities that small and medium-size producers can compete."

She added that while U.S. products already dominate Honduras' import market,
the United States "buys few products from Honduras ... and that's going to hurt us."

In the United States, the deal to eliminate tariff and non-tariff trade barriers
cleared Congress last year.

[Selatius]

1. What the hell are the governments of these countries thinking?

Is there even any labor protections in these agreements? Environmental protections? Will this allow corporations to more easily move around and exploit the cheapest labor possible and fire the original workers in the name of increasing profit margins?

[Breeze54]

2. That would be a big NO! to your questions...

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/cafta/2966.html
Latin American bishops urge caution on free trade agreements
(this article is dated but is still relevant, imho)
snip-->
A World Bank evaluation of the North American Free Trade Agreement among Mexico,
the United States and Canada found that after 10 years any benefits of increased
trade had not trickled down to small peasant farmers. While 39.4 percent of Mexicans
live in poverty and 12.9 percent are considered indigent, those figures rise to 51.2
percent and 21.9 percent, respectively, in rural areas.

Across the region, 44 percent of the population lives in poverty, according to
the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America; that figure that climbs to more than
60 percent in Bolivia, Paraguay, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and to about 50
percent in Colombia, El Salvador, Peru and Venezuela. <--snip
------------

CAFTA Signed; Protests Continue
http://www.nicanet.org/global/CAFTA-signed-protests-continue.php

snip-->
CAFTA will also result in liberalization of service markets, meaning that
foreign corporations will be encouraged to provide such basic services as
utilities and public health. Often, because of the privatization of these
services, the poorest citizens cannot even afford to pay their electric or
water bills. Consequently, many will bedeprived of their basic rights, as
the goal of these corporations is to maximize profit, not to meet people’s
fundamental needs. Intellectual property rules give the clear advantage to
business by extending medical patents, thereby ignoring the real needs of
the population.
This is a serious problem with regard to the international AIDS crisis.

Other issues include the fact that under CAFTA, there will be no improvement
in the area of labor and environmental standards. <--snip