MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006
Groups Release Monitoring Report Assessing Impact of CAFTA
September 12, 2006Washington DC, September 12, 2006: Members of Congress, solidarity organizations, leaders of the DC-area Salvadoran community, and student and faith-based groups held a press conference to announce the release of a report monitoring the effects of the US-Dominican Republic Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) appeared and made a statement challenging the Bush administration's current trade policy.
The 45-page monitoring report "DR-CAFTA in Year One" details the problems that have thus far been encountered during the implementation of CAFTA, as well as trends that are emerging related to textiles, agriculture, labor and other issues that were at the center of the CAFTA debate. According to the executive summary of the report: "The US Trade Representative has insisted on new concessions from Central American counterparts that go beyond items negotiated during CAFTA discussions", while "the process of rolling implementation has had negative consequences for the region and for the United States."
Many of the grassroots groups are members of the Stop CAFTA Coalition and the Alliance for Responsible Trade, which were active in 2004 and 2005 in raising awareness about the effects of "free" trade during the debate over CAFTA in the US Congress. Said Katherine Hoyt of the Nicaragua Network, "There has been no improvement of the human rights situation in Central America under CAFTA. Indeed, there is evidence that CAFTA and other neo-liberal reforms are increasing social conflicts and, in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the state is responding with increased violence."
Click here for the full report.
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