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CounterPunch
February
10, 2003
CAFTA
Free Trade vs.
Democracy
by
MARK ENGLER
In early January, U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick met with foreign ministers from Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to launch official negotiations
for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), a treaty
that would expand NAFTA-style trade barrier reductions to Central
America. The first bargaining session for CAFTA convened in San
José, Costa Rica on January 27.
Zoellick and other White House representatives
would like us to believe that their efforts to open markets throughout
the hemisphere will serve to "strengthen democracy"
abroad. Riding the wave of patriotic sentiment, they see themselves
as "Trading in Freedom."
There's only one problem with the rhetoric:
CAFTA provides a perfect example of a "free trade"
agreement that actually undermines democratic freedoms.
The White House asserts that CAFTA will
commit Central American nations to "even greater openness
and transparency." Ironically, the negotiations for the
trade deal themselves are anything but transparent. Despite demands
from watchdog groups, draft texts of the CAFTA proposal have
not been made available to the public in Central America or in
the United States, stifling open discussion and debate. The
undemocratic nature of the CAFTA negotiations obscures more substantive
problems. "Free trade" advocates are keeping their
negotiating positions secret because they have plenty to hide.
If implemented, CAFTA will erode key democratic norms such as
workers' rights and the ability to legislate environmental protections.
Bush Administration officials claim that
market reforms would produce "improved working conditions."
The labor records of the maquiladora factories in existing free-trade
zones in Central America, however, suggest otherwise. In the
Guatemalan context, Human Right Watch issued a report earlier
this year saying that "efforts to form labor unions in the
maquila sector have met with devastating resistance from the
industry as a whole and, at best, government negligence. Unionization
efforts have been countered with mass dismissals, intimidation,
indiscriminate retaliation against all workers, and plant closings."
Since CAFTA threatens to weaken the labor
standards mandated by the Clinton-era Generalized System of Preferences
(GSP) and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, it will
only encourage efforts by factory owners to thwart the freedom
of association and the right to form a union. That's why CAFTA
is opposed not only by the AFL-CIO, but also by a wide range
of Central American labor organizations. Democratically instituted
environmental safeguards are also endangered by CAFTA. Previous
trade provisions, such as NAFTA's Chapter 11, grant corporations
the right to sue governments for environmental protections --
and any laws -- that cut into their future profits, on the grounds
these constitute unfair trade barriers. In 1998 the Ethyl Corporation
sued Canada for its public health ban on MMT, a fuel additive.
Canada chose to overturn its environmental provision and pay
a $13 million to Ethyl, rather than risk $251 million in damages.
The State of California came under similar attack for its ban
on MTBE, a documented water pollutant that poses risks to human
and animal health.
Will CAFTA expand the reach of NAFTA's
Chapter 11 provision? Probably. But since the negotiations are
secret, we won't know for sure until the last minute.
Worse yet, when the agreement comes up
for a vote, our legislators will not be able to use amendments
to strike out such offensive planks. Last July President Bush
pushed "Fast Track" trade negotiating authority through
the House over the objection of 212 Representatives. The bill
requires Congress to accept or reject trade policies wholesale.
As Congressman Sandy Levin (D-Michigan) explains, this leaves
"a minimal, meaningless and last minute role for Congress
at a time when trade policy is increasingly intertwined with
all areas of domestic policy."
In another calculated rush, trade ministers
want to finish CAFTA negotiations by December 2003, before new
elections in Central America that might produce leaders opposed
to the pact. One key concern is El Salvador, where pre-CAFTA
moves to privatize public services -- like health care and basic
utilities -- have widely discredited the current right-wing regime.
Should Salvadorans elect an opposition President in March 2004,
the White House would like to have the new government locked
in to the same trade policies endorsed by the ousted leaders.
So much for freedom. The truth is, CAFTA
won't promote democracy. And democracy may be the best hope left
for sinking CAFTA.
Mark Engler,
a commentator for Foreign Policy
in Focus, has previously worked with the Arias Foundation
for Peace and Human Progress in San José, Costa Rica.
He can be reached at engler@eudoramail.com.
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