Documents relating to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is an attempt, principally by the United States, to expand the failed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to every country in Central America, South America and the Caribbean, except Cuba. Negotiations began right after the completion of NAFTA in 1994 and were intended to have been completed by January 1, 2005.
As countries in South America began to elect leaders with more independence from Washington, a number of difficulties began to arise with the agreement. The response of the U.S. has been to simultaneously negotiate regional and bilateral agreements through out the hemisphere, while continuing to cajole and pressure countries to get on board with the FTAA.
By 2004, it became clear that significant changes would need to happen to the text of the FTAA in order to get a sign in on countries like Brazil and Argentina. At that point, Hugo Chavez from Venezuela began articulating a much clearer position against the imposition by the U.S. of their vision for the region, which he has called ALBA. He has emphatically refused to continue negotiations on the FTAA.
At the most recent Summit of the Americas, a meeting of presidents from the hemisphere, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina in November 2005, President Chavez formally declared the FTAA dead. President Bush was clearly the persona non grata at that summit. While, it seems to be definitely in a coma, due to yet additional changes in governments of the hemisphere since that time, it seems unwise to believe that the U.S. will let it die so easily.
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RECALCA: Colombian Action Network confronting Free Trade and the FTAA
March, 2007.1. The Environmental Chapter of the Free Trade Agreement
An environmental chapter has been included in the proposed Free Trade Agreement with the United States. This chapter has the objective of ensuring that exports to the U.S. do not use natural resources where their cost is not reflected in the price of goods, which is defined as environmental dumping.The U.S. Democratic Party has demanded this chapter in order to protect U.S. production in the face of competition from countries with which it signs agreements. This regulation implies, for example, that the cost of the wood exported by Colombia would not just reflect the cost of cutting it down, but also the cost of replacing it and reforestation, which would make it impossible for Colombian wood to compete with wood produced in the U.S.
RECALCA: Colombian Action Network confronting Free Trade and the FTAA
March, 2007.At the beginning of the 1990s, the World Bank promoted a policy of making "labor flexible" in order to attract investment to developing countries by decreasing labor rights. In Colombia this policy was put into practice by Law 50 of 1990, introduced by then Senator Álvaro Uribe, which permitted the significant reduction of costs by companies, allowing them, amongst other things: to stop the back-payment of unemployment benefits; to privatize unemployment funds which they were allowed to manage themselves; to hire short-term contract workers for less than a year; to summarily fire workers; and to introduce the so-called ‘integral salary'.[1]
Years later, as President of Colombia, Uribe approved Law 789 of 2002, which intensified his attacks against labor rights by the lengthening the work day until 10 pm, reducing the compensation for work done on national holidays, and reducing the remuneration for those fired without just cause.
Discusses the potential impacts of the FTAA on workers, women, agriculture, consumers, the environment, and migrants. Provides answers to frequently asked questions and suggests alternatives to the current model.
Dr. Adalberto Rodriguez Giavarini
Chair, Trade Negotiations Committee
Esmeralda 1212
(1053) Ciudad De Buenos Aires ArgentinaDear Dr. Rodriguez Giavarini:
We are writing to express the growing concern of civil-society organizations throughout the Americas about the secrecy of the negotiation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). We urge you to publish the current negotiating texts of the FTAA so that an informed public debate on the nature of that accord can take place.
- This document contrasts two competing visions for the future of the hemisphere. One column describes the main elements of the draft Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). It covers the nine official FTAA negotiating groups as well as four important areas that have been ignored by the negotiators: labor, environment, human rights, and gender. In the other column, the pamphlet off
Compilation of statements made by social networks and organizations of the hemisphere regarding free trade and alternatives.