CAFTA awaiting Congressional vote in the U.S.

School of the Americas Update

CAFTA awaiting Congressional vote in the U.S.

The US-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) was officially signed by trade representatives from the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica by the end of January 2005. Although each country’s trade minister ratified the agreement, participating countries are still required to obtain domestic congressional approval in order for the agreement to take effect. Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have ratified the agreement under questionable democratic processes and despite massive public opposition particularly in Guatemala. While not an initial participant in the negotiations, the Dominican Republic has been added to the agreement.

The Bush Administration signed CAFTA on May 28, 2004. CAFTA will come to vote in the U.S. Congress by the end of April or beginning of May 2005, as hearings began in the Senate and House on April 13th and 21st , respectively. Due to the reauthorization of a U.S. trade law known as “Fast Track,” President Bush can push through this trade agreement without congressional revisions. This means that no changes to the actual written agreement can be implemented and once debates on the trade agreement close, Congressional members can vote only a simple yes or no to pass or fail the legislation.

CAFTA is controversial due to the many reasons it would negatively affect both the Central American countries involved, as well as the U.S. Some of these reason include: the majority of the citizenry of the Central American countries involved have been locked out of negotiations—this is especially the case with indigenous populations; multilateral corporations are set to gain most while small farmers and the working poor in the region will be undermined; Central American countries do not adhere to even the most basic labor rights and CAFTA makes no move to improve this but rather creates what has become known as “the race for the bottom” in wages and labor protections; the remaining textile jobs in the United States will quickly be outsourced to those countries providing the cheapest labor—a practice always obtained through repressive means; CAFTA would promote privatization and deregulation of basic public services and allow for the continuance of poor environmental standards; alternatives are available—fair trade versus free trade agreements would provide for more sustainable and wide-reaching development.

TAKE ACTION TODAY!!!
A movement of organizations covering a wide berth of interests, ranging from international human rights activists to Colorado sugar farmers, has been working hard to block CAFTA’s approval in Congress. Some success has been achieved in finding allies within the House and Senate. However, our work is not yet done. Colorado legislators are divided. Republican House Representatives Bob Beauprez and Marilyn Musgrave have expressed their intentions to vote for the bill, while Democrat Representatives Mark Udall and John Salazar say they will vote against it. All other representatives remain undecided at the time of this printing. PLEASE contact your representatives, notably Senator Ken Salazar, Senator Wayne Allard, Rep. Diana DeGette, Rep. Joel Hefley, and Rep. Tom Tancredo before they vote on this legislation.

CAFTA affects wages, jobs & labor rights

• 90 cents = Average hourly wage for a Honduran worker creating goods for the U.S. market
• 42% = % national unemployment rate in El Salvador
• 0 = Number of CAFTA countries found to be in compliance with basic International Labor Organization (ILO) standards.

These statistics were compiled by Public Citizen. More figures at: http://www.citizen.org/documents/CAFTAbyNumbers.pdf

Raise your voice to help stop CAFTA!

• Write a letter to the editor!
• E-mail your Representatives and Senators.
• Better yet, print out the letter and mail it via snail mail—a method which garners more attention.
• Call your Representatives and Senators today!
• Sample letters, talking points and easy e-mail links are available through the DJPC website, click here

The School of the Americas

On March 10th, House Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) reintroduced HR 1217, “The Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2005”, a bill which would suspend the authority of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), the successor institution to the United States Army School of the Americas (SOA) in the Department of Defense. HR 1217 would close WHINSEC until further investigation is completed by a joint Congressional task force. The purpose of the task force would be to conduct an assessment into the nature of education and training appropriate for the Department of Defense to provide for military personnel of Latin American nations. A separate human rights commission would investigate the past activities of SOA/WHINSEC. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Armed Services of which Joel Hefley and Mark Udall are both members. Currently, the bill includes 91 bi-partisan introductory co-sponsors—13 more than previously.

Action:
Out of Colorado’s seven US Congressional districts, only Rep. Mark Udall has signed on to this pertinent legislation towards suspending and investigating SOA/WHINSEC. PLEASE contact the six other Colorado House Representatives to express your desire that they co-sponsor and/or help pass HR 1217. For more information about the School of the Americas, please visit the SOA Watch Website at: www.soaw.org.

ACTION: Contact Rep. Musgrave's office and express your opposition to CAFTA. Educate new Colorado congress members about the impacts of this legislation before it is voted on. DJPC is planning to meet with congressional members, specifically with Senator Salazar, in February. If you are interested in participating or for more information please contact us at 303-623-1463. For more information about CAFTA please visit the DJPC's globalization webpage or STOP CAFTA at www.stopcafta.org .

Congressional Contact Information