printTrade and Development
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Introduction
CAFTA
Over the last two years, the U.S. government has negotiated, without serious
public participation or consultation, a free trade agreement called the Dominican
Republic - U.S. - Central America Free Trade Agreement, better known as CAFTA.
Modeled along the lines of NAFTA, CAFTA promotes the "rights" of corporations
at the expense of local populations.
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PPP
Introduced by President Vicente Fox of Mexico in 2001 and later joined by all
Central American Presidents, the PPP is a $10 billion, 10 to 25 year regional
integration project to create and interconnect transportation routes, industrial
corridors and a variety of infrastructure projects throughout Mesoamerica (Southern
Mexico and Central America), and firmly root the global "free trade" agenda
in the region. The primary objective of the PPP is to consolidate what is a
highly contested neoliberal "vision of development."
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FTAA
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is the expansion of the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to every country in Central America, South America
and the Caribbean, except Cuba. Being negotiated behind closed doors, with
little citizen input but plenty of suggestions from corporations, the FTAA
is yet another example of the kind of free-market fundamentalism that has created
a global race to the bottom that erodes environmental protection, workers'
livelihoods, and human rights.
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