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2 Development 3 External links |
The ongoing CAFTA negotiations encompass the following components:
US President George W. Bush announced in January 2002 that CAFTA is a top priority for his administration, and Congress gave his administration "fast track" authority to negotiate it. CAFTA negotiations were officially launched in January 2003. Originally, a fifth Central American country, Costa Rica, participated, but it withdrew from negotiations at the last minute because it was reluctant to open its telecommunications and insurance sectors to US firms. The Bush administration hopes to conclude the negotiations by 2004.
Because of the many activist groups, left-wing political parties, and strong unions in Central America, CAFTA is seen as a critical step towards FTAA, since imported and exported goods passing to and from the rest of Latin America will have to travel through this region. Without the participation of these countries, FTAA will be next to impossible.
As the details of the agreements become known, CAFTA has been meeting with growing opposition, both in the US as well as in Central America.
The US advocacy group Public Citizen says CAFTA is based on the same "failed neoliberal model" as NAFTA and serves to "push ahead the corporate globalization model that has caused the 'race to the bottom' in labor and environmental standards and promotes privatization and deregulation of key public services." Independent farmers in America, Canada and Mexico have been particularly hardly hit by NAFTA, says Public Citizen, with thousands wiped out and farmland shifting into the hands of huge agrobusiness concerns such as Tyson and Cargill; the group fears CAFTA will have same effect in Central America.
In El Salvador, the leftist FMLN party is in a strong position to win the presidential elections in March, 2004, a development that may affect the country's participation in CAFTA.
Provisions
Development
External links