CAFTA: Recolonizing Central America

Competition or Massacre? Central American Farmers’ Dismal Prospects Under CAFTA

by Tom Ricker

Already struggling to compete with subsidized imports from the United States, small farmers in Nicaragua are concerned about the prospect of being inundated with corn and rice imports sold below costs of production if the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is implemented. CAFTA -- referred to as El TLC, the free trade treaty in Spanish -- is already well known and much feared in Central America. The roadsides in Managua are full of graffiti denouncing the agreement. The favorite is "TLC = miseria" (CAFTA equals misery).

The ruling governments in Central America, however, celebrate CAFTA. In March 2004, trade and commerce ministers from Central America came to Washington, D.C. to lobby members of the U.S. Congress to pass the agreement. Ministers argue that CAFTA will help consolidate democracies in the region and open a new path for development. "This is the consolidation of a very difficult, very grave process that for some of our neighbors started with civil war. It has taken courage and vision to get to this point," Alberto Trejos, Costa Rica's Trade Minister told reporters. MORE>>

Dying for Drugs How CAFTA Will Undermine Access to Essential Medicines

by Robert Weissman

U.S. drug companies presently export about $50 million worth of drugs a year to the Central America and the Dominican Republic. With adoption of the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which includes the five Central American countries, plus a U.S.-Dominican Republic deal that is being "docked" on to CAFTA, the drug companies think they can make more. According to Renard Aron, assistant vice president for Latin America and Canada at PhRMA, that's due in part to the tariff provisions of the agreement, which would bring down tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals -- and enable the brand-name drug companies to raise their prices commensurately. But most important to PhRMA is the intellectual property provisions of CAFTA. "A higher level of intellectual property protection is important to the research-based pharmaceutical industry," Aron told the U.S. International Trade Commission at an April hearing.

Things look different to public health groups. They say PhRMA should leave the poor Central American countries alone, without demanding the imposition of heightened intellectual property rules to extend and expand brand-name drug company monopolies. CAFTA's patent and other intellectual property rules will, they say, delay generic competition and artificially raise the price of drugs, with the result that Central Americans will be denied medicines they need to treat illnesses, including life-threatening diseases. MORE>>

An Invitation to Disaster: Corporate Power and Central America’s Environmental Future Under CAFTA

an interview with Ricardo Navarro

Ricardo Navarro is the chair of Friends of the Earth International and the director of the Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology (CESTA)/Friends of the Earth El Salvador. He holds a doctorate in engineering, and has 25 years environmental campaigning experience. He is a recipient of the Goldman Prize and Global 500 Awards. MORE>>